Busy, busy. I got my house-number sign restored, repainted and back up.

Since I’m limited in what I can do because of a (hopefully temporary) knee injury, I’m tackling a project I meant to do long ago. When my husband’s grandfather died we rescued a dresser that was used in the garage as a work bench. It was going to the dump because no one wanted it at the garage sale. It was made out of solid quarter-sawn white oak but was banged up and painted black and who knows what other colors underneath (I saw some blue and some green) and had backboards nailed to it probably to clamp on vices. It had clear glass knobs that didn’t look right with it and some pieces of linoleum glued to the top. I stripped one drawer on the right to see the pretty quarter-sawn oak but decided to paint the stripped drawer back to black, got the linoleum off and sanded and painted the top. Still trash (picture below) but just wait, someday it will be my treasure!

At some point, I’d like to strip it back and restore it to it’s original condition but I need something to bring red into one side of my living room. I’m leaving the black color and adding dark green in places and then crackling colonial red on top. It will give me a place for an antique table lamp and some pictures as well as magazine storage. I like the curved bow on the front of the top and the little detail cuts in the apron on the bottom front.

I like the unique “dovetail-like” joinery on the sides. I did a little research (I love research!) and I found this website. The joinery is called Knapp’s pin and crescent drawer joints and dates between 1870 and 1900. I have seen in woodworking catalogues the past couple of years, a tool that reproduces that kind of joinery. See what it looks like below or follow the link to the website listed for history of the joint. The joints are very tight on all the drawers over 100 years later!

As we were loading up the dresser to bring it home, we were given a plastic sack and was told this was the original hardware for the dresser. They were taken off and the paint stripped off of them and polished back up and stored away. I’m excited to have the original hardware and the work was already done on them.

I know this type of dresser is not valuable monetarily but it is so valuable to me knowing someone from the Victorian era had this dresser and used it. The wood is so superior to the stuff you get today and antiques just never go out of style. Now starts the fun stuff.

I posted earlier that I would let you know what product I used that worked good for me. I have tried several products that are made for the outdoors but the only one that actually worked through our cold winter snow and through humid heat of the summer (and got full sunshine) was Varathane Diamond Wood Finish. See picture of the product below.

It worked wonderfully on my garden art and didn’t change the color like oil-based ones do. (below)

I used the above product on the front and back of the art board after painting it. The frame (a reclaimed antique window frame) that was painted with exterior paint cracked and peeled badly. So I have to strip the frame but the artwork is the same as when I painted it. The colors didn’t fade, either. Of course the colors were acrylic artist colors and I used ones that were not suppose to fade in light. I’ll strip and paint the frame soon and coat the frame with this stuff.  I’ll put it back out for the winter see how it holds up then.

I bought this stuff mail order about 5 years ago because our stores didn’t carry it. I just did a search on it and I think they now call it Varathane Exterior Waterborne Spar Urethane and the company is now RustOleum. They must have bought out Flecto? I hope it is the same product because I’m running low on it I really like it for things that will be left outdoors. My birdhouse and bird feeder is coated with it and looks the same as when I first put them outside at the beginning of the summer. I’m leaving them out for the winter to see if they hold up like my garden art did.

The shelf I painted with just regular exterior paint didn’t hold up at all.  I have to take the heat gun to it and strip it down and repaint it.  This time I’ll top coat it with a couple of coats of this stuff.  It sure would be nice to only have to do this work once and have it last for years.  That’s a tall order when you live in an area with extremes between icy snow and humid heat.

I actually loved working outside yesterday.  It wasn’t hot, it wasn’t cold, it was just the right temperature for working.  We were given an extra week or two of gorgeous weather to do things we thought would have to wait until next spring.  But all good things end.  It’s raining today.

My husband and I spent the day cleaning with mineral spirits and painting the front porch pillars and top rails.  Had it been hot or cold it would have been miserable.  But yesterday it was relaxing and fun.  I also cut back all the Russian Sage and pulled up and separated my dahlias.  What a crop I got.  Each dahlia made about 7 bulbs.  I’m not sure if we want to plant them again, though.  They grew so high I could see them through my kitchen window.  We had to stake them and then run a support system to keep them upright.  They went crazy.  The tallest was over 6 ft.

I brought in my custom-made house-number sign.  The paint is peeling badly and I will have to strip it…so was the frame of my garden-art painting I had on my garden fence.  The painting itself held up beautifully through hot sun and snowy winters with no sign of cracking, peeling or fading.  I’ll look up the name of that product and post it in another post.  I remember it was pretty expensive but looks like it is worth it.  The painted frame, on the other hand, peeled like crazy.

We finished  working and headed out for dinner and a movie.  Unfortunately, there was a traffic jam going to Upper Peach because of  construction work.  It took 28 minutes to go through 3 stoplights near the mall area.  No time for a movie by the time we got finished with dinner.

I received this comment on my retired blog and thought I’d share it in case anyone was interested in this linoleum.

Shannon // Oct 18, 2007 at 4:42 pm

Hi!!!

Soooooo excited to find your site. I just bought an old 1865 farmhouse and am trying to do it justice. It is my first home AND my first attempt to rennovate so it is a LOT to learn at once.

The whole house has linoleum over top of other linoleum (or vinyl, not sure) over top of hard wood floors. We are going to peel back to the original wood in most rooms, but I hate to lose all that beautiful design (I’ll try and send photos). I can’t find the url you speak of in the above post. I am going to try to save some for little rugs and art if no one else wants them and the way I was considering the age is by the dates on the newspapers under each layer (1960-something and 1942).

I’d love any other info or guidance. Thanks!

Shannon@BigSkyScreens.com