Welcome to the first of Yoe's blog posts, where we will get into the details of our projects.
Our largest restoration project so far was a Danish style sideboard that was brought in by a lovely local man who had been holding onto the piece for some years, though it was in dire need of repair.
It had previously been owned by David Bromley, a renowned artist who had used it to store heavy paint tins which had done some structural damage. The piece was a very dark brown which didn't match any of the customers other furniture.
The first step was to attach a metal plate on the underside, to secure the bottom panel so that it sat square with the walls. Though this was a strong solution it did create an aesthetic issue of an aluminium strip that was unsightly when you opened the cupboard. We had some plywood of a similar thickness so we cut a piece to cover the rest of the space. We then covered the bottom in a traditional green felt so any inconsistencies were barely noticeable.
The legs on one side were barely attached after a past attempt at restoration so we removed any old glue and used a ratchet strap to clamp them on as the fresh glue dried.
The varnish was very weathered on top so we took to stripping all the external veneer, initially using Tricleanium Citrus Strip, which was slow going. We switched to Diggers Paint Thinner which was much more effective. After scraping and sanding the piece was lighter in colour and had a much more contemporary appeal. Cabothane Clear was the finish we chose.
We were proud of the final result. This was a gorgeous piece that had languished in a garage for years and would now be on show