Happy Memorial Day! Hope you all had a chance to get outside to enjoy your grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. I’m sitting here on our covered porch overlooking a pond. There’s a light breeze and my beagle is at my feet… thanks to all of the men and women serving our country… Life is good.
I spent the first half of the day spring cleaning. Most of the pollen has finally subsided so it was time for a thorough dusting of every flat surface in the house. The second half of my day was spent finishing up this mid-century modern console.
Believe it or not, this was a sidewalk find. Sometimes I just get a feeling I should drive down a particular street – my intuition served me well that day. I was doing my happy dance when I came upon this beauty. The nice woman across the street actually came outside to help me load it into my truck. She seemed just as happy that someone was saving this gorgeous piece of furniture from the trash truck. There are so many nice people in this world!
Here’s how it looked in the before stages. Notice the several different wood color tones; but also notice the fantastic modern shape, the dove-tailed drawers, and the tapered legs. There are also three sliding doors that go across the front.
As soon as I brought this one home and started sanding it, my sister-in-law claimed it. A light sanding revealed a gorgeous grain and very smooth wood. It had the grain of a maple or birch, but with some red tones. The wood was in beautiful condition aside from one small burn mark on the top – this was my one challenge with this piece.
Our goal was to leave the top and sides in this natural wood tone and paint the doors and legs a bright white. You’ll see this modern look in stores like West Elm right now. Unfortunately, that burn mark was really making a statement on the top and something needed to be done.
So I lightly washed the entire piece with a Pecan stain. The Pecan was actually very close to the natural wood tone (which was actually a little more red than pictured) so I figured the wash would cover the mark. Wrong! It actually enhanced it even more because the burned area wouldn’t absorb the stain.
Thinking I’d have to paint the entire console bright white, another idea struck. I pulled out the Driftwood stain and white-washed. The parts washed in the Driftwood stain ended up looking Old World. Contrasted with the modern bright white on the doors, the result was perfect!
Although still visible in this up-close picture, in person the mark is actually much less noticeable.
Old World mixed with a modern bright white. Very nice!
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Thank You & Enjoy!
Vicki
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