Refurbished built-in/ oiled sills

After. Color sample at lower left.

Detail of before

Before

Above are the window sills that I coached my customer through. Sills were stripped, sanded and finished with four different coats of oil with overnight dry between coats. Difference was dramatic. Oil has a depth that varnish or lacquer cannot match.

I originally was tasked with refurbishing the baseboards after the new floors were installed. Also this built-in didn't really go with the floor color and had wear and joint compound from earlier mud work on the walls.
I got a scrap of wood and mixed a color that worked well--though not intended to match--the new flooring.





















The material is a water borne stain with water borne satin varnish. Pretty much a no-odor finish. Very durable as well. And it was well-received.

Dining room wall stencil// living room glazed mantel

This is a dining room I finished using a stencil on the upper walls. I skim-coated the upper walls to afford a smooth surface for the stencil.Off-white base coat, mottled stencil work in silver. Topped off with a van dyke glaze sponged and stippled over the entire wall to dirty up the finish. The wall trim was a simple dry brush technique over an off white base coat.

This fireplace was originally painted off white. Finish was several years old. I basecoated in an off-white. Rarely is white a good base color for a glazed finish--it is just too bright. I did four layers of different hues of red using different effects with each color. I picked out some of the molding in gold and then applied a van dyke glaze to keep from having the gold look too "sharp". I varnished with a gloss given the formal nature of the setting. I also refinished the tiles which were worn. I picked the  wall color to accentuate the color of the mantel. The woodwork is finished in the same glaze color as in the above dining room.

Faux marble fireplace mantel/ stenciled wall

Mimi's chairs and tabletop

stripping process

                                                                   


 I picked up these chairs up from

completed finish including a flat varnish top-coat

a long-time customer who was debating what to do with them. They were solid oak but had a heavy spattered paint finish on them. We looked at the other pieces in the room, flooring and countertops. We decided on a simple wash. A flat varnish is an imperative for a washed finish. Varnish does not increase in sheen over time--it dulls.









I stripped them and washed them using wire and plastic bristle brushes. The wire brushes do a better job of removing the old finish from the pores of an open-pore wood like oak and  still not scratching the oak like it might scratch a soft wood like pine .

Pieces in situ w/ fabric sample

  The picture on the below right is of a picture frame I refinished. The original finish wasn't off much but it was off. Based on the rest of the colors in the room ,
I changed the base color and re-glazed the piece.

detail of mirror frame

        

Various colored glazes in umber&ochre.

                                                                                                                                                               

 The top on the left goes on a table in the foyer. The original finish had yellowed quite a bit. I refinished it in a faux travertine to pick up the colors in the space. I topped it off with a water-borne flat varnish that doesn't amber nearly as much as an alkyd finish will.