Shabby Chic -- new challenge

[jocelyn plummer]

I have acquired a small late Regency rosewood bookcase that has seen better days! Although it has the original key, the top and the door inserts are missing, and have been temporarily replaced with mahogany veneered ply wood.

My Antiques dealer Son says he simply does not have the time to fully restore it for me, so we thought we might chic it up a bit--- any ideas?

So far I have come up with silk in the doors and a painted marbled effect for the top.( time consuming and I had to chuck most of my decorative kit when we moved)

Pen and Ink classical motifs spring to mind -- cheaper to facilitate, but I need a steady hand, so will have to keep off the gin.

Annoyingly the piece of gilt wire that I have left over from a previous repair doesn't fit into the doors--grrrrr.

Over to you Folks.

( by the way, I am usually very loathe to mess around with decent antique stuff, but budget and a challenge prevails this time!)

 

[robgil]

now that's a weird coincidence , ive just been looking through e bay's antiques section and i was just about to post a moaning thread about how all the nice old antique furniture , or at least a lot of it has fallen prey to the chabby chic farrow and ball paint brush weilding shabby chicers.
i cannot find a decent dresser base for love nor money that isnt painted up , sanded down then painted up again in either cream , white , light blue or light green , or gray.
i cannot understand why you would take a nice old piece of furniture , paint it in farrow and ball (not a fan , sorry) and then sand it down to make it look old again.
unless of course its to hide repair work such as in your case.
aaaaah , moan over.i feel better now. thank you.

 

[MdB]

 

[robgil]

jack's cupboard perhaps?

 

[DaveBrigg]

I want one of those!

 

[Nigel Watts]

You could fit a brass grille into the doors in front of the pleated silk. You used to be able to buy this from Beardman's shop near Charlotte street but since they closed I wouldnt know where to suggest to source this:

This chiffonier was the first serious piece of furniture I bought at auction, in Godalming, in the mid 1980s. When I saw it I knew it was wrong (the shelves have been cut down and the escuteons and handles replaced to make it look earlier) but didnt walk away as I should have. When the hammer came down all the dealers at the back drew in their breath very audibly. One half of the inside is fitted with very nicely made drawers, like in a specimen cabinet, which makes it a very handy piece of furniture and stops me from disposing of it. Ladies would no doubt have kept their sewing things in it originally, as I do again today.

For the top as an alternative to marbling you could try ebonising it. I recently redecorated some old white painted bookcases which I made at about the same time as I acquired the other piece. My intention was to add classical decoration on top in yellow ochre eg an anthemion freize etc. Perhaps I will one day:

I painted it a chocolate coloured eggshell then applied a home made glaze comprising linseed oil, turps, black oilpaint and some Terebine dryers. Slapped in on then draw a dry brush through it to create the stripes, finishing off with a badger softener.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I remain blown away by the skills, talent and good taste shown on here. And now Feltwell knows exactly what furniture should go in his son's room...

Joss - I think that's a great idea! Such beautiful embroidered silk around at the moment, have you looked through the James Brindley stuff? http://www.sandersonfabrics.co.uk/acatalog/James_Hare_Silks_-_Chinon_Silks.html

i cannot find a decent dresser base for love nor money that isnt painted up , sanded down then painted up again in either cream , white , light blue or light green , or gray.
i cannot understand why you would take a nice old piece of furniture , paint it in farrow and ball (not a fan , sorry) and then sand it down to make it look old again.

Well, it all depends on your definition of "nice old piece of furniture"! I don't think anyone would treat a fine antique that way, and don't forget all the wrongful and damaging stripping that went on in the 80s to Viccy painted pine. And quite frankly I think an awful lot of furniture looks better painted - take modern "Old Charm", which to my eye has no charm at all until it's got a nice thick layer of blue/grey/green on it!

I watched a lot of warbrobe Farrow and Balling in Crouch End, most of the pieces were truly nasty in their stripped state.

What's really wonderful to see is antiques in original paint - pretty rare I admit. http://www.roosterrunantiques.com/html/furniture.htm


Having said all that, what would look best in your cottage is early oak, I'll have to give you the code to the bank's vaults to buy it though!

 

[Moo]

Early oak. Um.
Come and do some Christmas shopping in Naarch, Joss, and I'll take you round my lovely neighbour's showrooms. He's got stuff that would make you* go weak at the knees!


* - and your bank manager,. unfortunately

 

[Nigel Watts]

I'll take you round my lovely neighbour's showrooms. He's got stuff that would make you* go weak at the knees!

Brett's antique shop perhaps? I bought a nice Georgian mahagany tallboy there a few years ago.

 

[Flyfisher]

Being nowhere near as creative and skillful as the above suggestions, I'd probably just resort to installing some glass in those doors.

 

[Moo]

Brett's antique shop perhaps? I bought a nice Georgian mahagany tallboy there a few years ago.

The very same. He does have lovely stuff in there, doesn't he? Which proves that you do all that wonderful craft work just for the love of it. If you can afford James's prices* you can easily afford to employ a team of craftsmen to do it for you!




* When we were working on the house I used to lust after the glorious breakfront bookcases that he had in his front showroom. One day I idly enquired how much the current one was.
I could have bought a small terraced house in the city's Golden Triangle for much the same money.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Hey Moo! You know I don't need more stuff, it's coming out of my ears------- and still costing me a small fortune to store,and restore. We are now down to the last unit. Typically, left over are the sundry bits that just won't fit anywhere in this downsize! I do have a piece from Bretts bought in 1970.!!!!!!

Nigel, I reckon your idea is the best. (I'd better throw away my Beardmore catalogue then, but I think they are still around somewhere, I'll check.)
Would you be willing to part with your 'recipe and quantities for the oily mix? PM me.

Robgil, I couldn't agree with you more about painted up stuff, I even saw a pretty little Regency bowfront that had been GOLD LEAFED ALL OVER , it seems that anything goes in the bid to persuade people to 'green up' and support the 'Antiques are Green' campaign. Don't worry, the rosewood carcass will be untouched, the top slots in and can be easily replaced with a piece of rosewood , and the door 'panels' are just fixed with a couple of panel pins. If I go for the brass grille (unlikely due to cost) or the pleated silk there will be little or no damage.

I have found the Auction rooms at Tring very good, they've sold all sorts of bits for me, their commission is the lowest around the MK area.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Looks like there are some other suppliers, eg:

http://www.grilles.co.uk/index.htm

Will look up my glaze receipe when I get home.

 

[robgil]

I remain blown away by the skills, talent and good taste shown on here. And now Feltwell knows exactly what furniture should go in his son's room...

Joss - I think that's a great idea! Such beautiful embroidered silk around at the moment, have you looked through the James Brindley stuff? http://www.sandersonfabrics.co.uk/acatalog/James_Hare_Silks_-_Chinon_Silks.html

i cannot find a decent dresser base for love nor money that isnt painted up , sanded down then painted up again in either cream , white , light blue or light green , or gray.
i cannot understand why you would take a nice old piece of furniture , paint it in farrow and ball (not a fan , sorry) and then sand it down to make it look old again.

Well, it all depends on your definition of "nice old piece of furniture"! I don't think anyone would treat a fine antique that way, and don't forget all the wrongful and damaging stripping that went on in the 80s to Viccy painted pine. And quite frankly I think an awful lot of furniture looks better painted - take modern "Old Charm", which to my eye has no charm at all until it's got a nice thick layer of blue/grey/green on it!

I watched a lot of warbrobe Farrow and Balling in Crouch End, most of the pieces were truly nasty in their stripped state.

What's really wonderful to see is antiques in original paint - pretty rare I admit. http://www.roosterrunantiques.com/html/furniture.htm


Having said all that, what would look best in your cottage is early oak, I'll have to give you the code to the bank's vaults to buy it though!

those painted antiques look fab Joce , i dont think shabby chic could ever imitate that.
i did go to an antique shop recently in a little village in east sussex , to be fair it was more of an overly priced junk shop. anyhow they had this big green cupboard , it said antique cupboard on the price tag. it had been scortched and covered in a kind of plastic which had been melted to make it look ancient. it really did look (bad descriptive word here) and worn.
i asked the guy how old it was , 'not that old' was the reply , 'its just made to look old' , even though it said 'antique' on the tag. and the price? 799 quid.

the same shop was also selling bits of drift wood , painted white and then sanded down for 45 quid a pop. i do believe i am in the wrong part of the country to be buying antiques.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

There is no right bit of the country to be buying Antiques!! Most Dealers are now mussed in with others in centres, many of which I find most depressing.

Although the price tags still seem exorbitant they have actually gone down. Your average bow front or brushing slide chest has gone down from £1300 to about £400, tea caddys, unless exceptional, are tagged at around £400 as opposed to £1k plus, silver corinthian pillar candlesticks, unless exceptional ,are dramatically less.

Pine furniture is now mainly made up from old bits and pieces and, as has been pointed out, decorative paint finishes applied, with really stupid price tags. A couple of years ago I bought a 'french' style shabby chic kitchen dresser for over £500 ,( well it fitted the kitchen a treat!) , when we left North Norfolk the 'dealer' gave me back £ 175!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm just lucky to have a son in the trade, but he is constantly grumbling that it costs so much, both in hours and materials to restore stuff back to a decent standard to offer to the public, who in turn, do not understand what has to go into the price tag.

Hence my rosewood carcass !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It fits my purpose, it would be three times the price if in the shop.

Our Restorers have to make a living too!!!!

 

[Penners]

Joss - if you're going to go with Nigel's glaze/graining idea, do you know about graining tools? Given your experience I imagine you do, but just in case, have a look at this interesting demo.

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/40288/scenic-art/woodgraining.html

 

[Nigel Watts]

I bought my piece from Bretts at the top of the market. What I really wanted was their Chippendale style linen press which was of superb quality - pediment with fretwork, canted corners with blind fretwork, thumb jointed doors, original cast rococo handles, serpentine feet, fabulous veneers etc. It was more expensive than the very handsome and un-mucked-about-with tallboy (also with canted corners, fine veneers and original handles), but not that much more, linen presses being an unpopular type because the cupboard section is not tall enough for a modern hanging wardrobe. My wife, being a more practical person, preferred the tallboy and she largely uses it now.

I dont regret buying it for the price becasue it is absolutely right. Unlike the longcase clock I bought from a London dealer for a similar price. It's in a flashy Gillows style mahogany case with a nice engraved brass and silvered dial by a Rochdale maker (consistent perhaps with the Lancashire-style case). However I later discovered that the mechanism did not start off life with the face (it was from a 30 day clock but the mechanism is from an 8 day), nor did the hood with the trunk, or probably even the mechanism or face with the hood or truck. It's decorative certainly, but I was severely ripped off.

I now buy antiques at auction, usually for a bit too much, but at least I am avoiding the dealer margin. I subsequently bought this at Christies South Ken. Its a bit knackered, but I like it and have it in my dressing room. I hang my trousers, ties and waistcoats in it. Jackets dont fit.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

What do you mean-- 'JACKETS DON'T FIT' dear me!

 

[Nigel Watts]

The hanging space is about an inch and a half less that the height of a man's jacket. These presses originally would have had sliding shelves behind the doors not a hanging rail. Mine had been converted before I bought it. I assume that in the 18th C all clothes would have been folded and placed on shelves or in drawers, not hung in wardrobes as they are today.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Great video Penners. My glaze takes much longer to dry than that. Interesting how they vary the technique for different stages.