One of our most pleasant surprises is the outcome of redoing an oak dining buffet that we found the last day of an estate sale. The daughters said that the buffet was one of their mother’s favorite treasures as her husband had it custom-made for one of their anniversaries in the 50’s.
We couldn’t see the wood because the piece had been painted dark brown many years ago. I really liked the shape of the piece, especially the pedestal, and the attachment the family had to it. When the paint was stripped, what a surprise – the oak wood uncovered was really beautiful and obviously selected for a fine piece of furniture.
Under the old brown paint were a couple of coats of varnish and stain. After finishing stripping everything, and to bring the wood back closer to the original finish, I wood bleached the wood. My wife did a great job with the stain and clear coat – it was exciting to see how beautiful it was going to be and envision what it looked like when first made.
As is sometimes a problem, over the years, the door handles had been changed several times and one door was missing its handle.
After some time researching drawer handles to complement the great wood grain and unique pedestal, we decided to fabricate new wooden drawer pulls along the line of the Cross Credenza from DWR, which the buffet actually resembles.
After a few trial runs with the router, we had the handles we wanted.
When everything was put back together and finished, we were blown away at how gorgeous it was.
Maybe we’ll find a young couple that will give it another 50 years of love. (We did find a wonderful young married couple who fell in love with the Buffet and expect to enjoy it for many years to come!)