Here’s a cap to one of a half dozen Fir posts that came through the shop today. They were removed from a mansion on Capitol Hill. The actual railing is behind it.
Victorian rail posts
Wrought Iron pulls
I thought this wrought iron drawer handle was interesting. I doubt I would allow it on a piece of furniture in my house, but I guess it depends on the piece.
Art Deco Vanity
Here is an Art Deco vanity I found in a second hand store. I usually stop by there on the way home from work to look for interesting projects. This guy was pretty beat up, the veneers looked like a trip to the beach, waves, water damage and decay. It had a drawer that was unglued but otherwise its structure was perfect. It has a nice little band of checkerboard marquetry in all the horizontal face trim and the type of bold symetrical curved stepping in all the handles that promised the future is going to be a great place where no-one works and everyone has everything. Kind of like Metropolis. 
This bright industrial promise is one of my favorite historical styles. I would have picked this short little dresser up just for the hardware
if I thought the piece itself was beyond repair. Luckily I’ve been looking for a good candidate to try some veneer work on. I started out trying to leave the patina intact as much as possible but as I got further into it I realised I would have to sand down the top to blend my repair work. I believe the veneer on the upper surface looks amazing but I didn’t quite feather the sanding correctly and I can see where its original finish starts. Anyway, live and learn. I have it on consignment at work now in order to hopefully fund another project later on. Sorry I didnt go into too much detail on the actual repair, but I did this about a month ago just before I started this blog. I promise ill properly document the next veneer job.
Kurt
RRRich Corinthian Columns
Here is the capitol of a really nice pair of 10′ high fluted Corinthian half columns from an Italianate Victorian house in Seattle. This is unusual for Seattle as most of the Victorian houses in the area are much more mundane.
Old Oak side chair
I picked up this beat up old chair on Friday. It has a lot of character and even though it had black enamel paint all over it my spider sense was telling me that its pretty old and probably made of Oak. I know from the way the legs and support structure are doweled into each other and the seat that its from the 20th century. I cant really get any more information from the makers tag that barely exists. Though I would guess based on wear and tear, as well as its traditional style that its pre 1950s.
The seat pan has split into four pieces, well its always been several pieces but the glue is so done that its not holding anything together anymore. So my goal is to pull it gently apart and re glue it. Because I got it dirt cheap and I know its not an “Important” antique I’m going to go ahead and remove the black enamel paint thats hiding the Oak beauty underneath.
Ill show you more once I get into it…
Snake or alligator skin trunk
My friend Anna recently moved and I keep seeing her amazing collection of stuff lying around at work. I am afflicted with stuff envy every time I pass this old steamer trunk. Its covered in some sort of ochre reptile skin. Unfortunately I dont know much detail about it yet. Ill ask her when I see her again.
…Well I found out its actually pressed Tin in an aligator pattern.
Backyard fire in 1950s cast iron enameled sink
Boe, Brenda Martin and I are hanging out in the yard drinking wine around the fire. I barbequed and we had dinner al fresco which is nice for march. This is the first use of my new fire pit which I pulled out of the metal recycling bin at work, its an old cast iron sink thats not too deep . I dug up our in ground fire pit today and buried the ash and nails below what will hopefully be grass by the end of the summer. I like the concept of having the fire be moveable whenever I want to locate it somewhere else. Boe kept complaining about the fire burning the plants where it was located so now its not an issue. By the way I was initially concerned that fire would shoot hot enamel at my guests (or worse me) but its withstood several hours with no problems. Well see how dousing it with the hose effects it.
Victorian heating grate
When they introduced central heat in american homes it was all the rage. There were myriad health benefits to “clean” air circulating through your home as well as a general decrease in cost associated with hardware that was mechanically produced during the industrial revolution. These things conjoined to create an environment where these incredible decorative patterns were incorporated to show off the fact that your home had central heat. I cant blame them for wanting little hardware bits to be amazing. Im in love with it 100 or so years later.
Red
When I saw this delicious fire engine red beauty my knees went weak for a moment. This sweetheart has a built in roaster (also in red) which sits in the rectangular opening in the right. 3 burners and maybe a double boiler? Shes got an oven and a warming oven a broiler and a storage drawer. Im actually looking for an amazing range for the house, but unfortunately red here wont do. I really want gas and more burners than she has.
