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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: blondphotographer on July 04, 2009, 08:44:05 PM
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Hi everyone.
Was hoping someone would know the era of this old bed and the approximate value. It's a double/full size that has been painted white and distressed. I do know that it originally had casters on the feet. Thank you for your help!
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Do you have the original rails & slats , blondephotog ?
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yes, I have the original rails- they are not painted. And I have slats for the bed but no idea if they are the original ones though.
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the bed is done in a french provincial style. Most likely Mahogany.or walnut. $75.00 to $150.00 Dollars
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Yeah.............Fr ench Provencial style!!! Betting walnut first then mahogany second (just to rile up D&b - Ha - not really). Agree with value as well as is. If you get this stripped and cleaned up....more value especially if it is a fine wood!
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I've never understood why people paint fine wood on a vintage or antique piece of furniture. I was watching the DIY station the other day and the guy was bragging on his 6"X6" old hard yellow pine pieces he found to make table legs. He had them lathed and then painted them black. Why he didn't go the the local lumber yard and buy modern lumber to paint black is beyond me... ::)
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That's what 's you call a shame. The bed stead mentioned above look's to enamel paint. no primer. paint is the scourge, of antique furniture,
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Ditto railman44 and D&b!
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Although it's lost a lot of value by being painted, I would bet it could be quite beautiful again, if stripped with a paint remover (not sanded) and nicely re-varnished, with the lovely curves and lines it has, and the large open areas, I would be willing to bet there is some beautiful wood hidden there in those wide open spaces.
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Painted stuff is a pain , with a few exceptions .
There was a bunch of furniture sold in the 60's & 70's that had been home-painted with buttermilk paint & stripped down to wood ( I like most of the Buttermilk paint appearance , more than the stripped stuff ) .
There's so much lead-based paints on everything 'old' now that I often suggest folks who are going to use -serving ware , toys , furniture ,tools , etc. ,etc. & etc. to do the simple home-test for lead ( esp. around stuff intended for kids ) .
***This suggestion goes double for folks intending to strip down or otherwise refinish their finds .***
Just imagine , 100 years from now , how much fun it will be to strip down old latex paint without damaging the wood-grained vinyl or the chipboard on an antique entertainment center ....
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Yes agreed, painted stuff is a pain, but it can be a labor of love too. There is something wonderfully rewarding about watching old wood emerge from under layers of paint and knowing that you are seeing something that has been hidden away all those years.
Not too long ago I bought an old ships wheel that had layer upon layer of old marine paint on it. It was horrible. I don't think there is anything much worse than marine paint. It took me weeks of painstaking work with strippers and a heat gun. What made it more difficult was that the old varnish had seeped down into the wood, and the heat gun would bring up gobs of melted goo! But I loved doing it anyway.
The final result, although it looks good, it isn't worth much more than I paid for it. But, I have a cool old piece of history, and on the spindles the wood is dark from where dirty, sweaty hands gripped the wheel. You can see the history in it, now that the horrible "easter chick yellow" paint is off, and that's what I love about old things. I sail, and I spent 2.5 years as crew of a historic tall ship, so I have a great appreciation for that kind of thing!
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you have earned my ''Respect'' if you have stripped marine paint by hand. theres nothing harder to get off than marine or lead base paint.
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Totally agree. Did that once in the past....and I stress once!!!!!!!!!
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LOL Yup I really did! ;D It was a nightmare project, messy as all heck, but fun and really neat to see the old wear on the wheel from days at sea come out of the mess. Once I got it down to the wood and original old wear I left it there and just put a little clear coat on it and let the original wood show through. Here are the before and after photos as inspiration for Blondephotographer. I bet there is a beautiful bed hiding under the paint!
Before... yuck!
(http://www.gvtc.com/~sbwii/aw2k/LotImg2292.jpg)(http://www.gvtc.com/~sbwii/aw2k/LotImg2293.jpg)
After...
(http://www.talesofthesevenseas.com/Wheel2.jpg)
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That's nice work. at one time I had access to a large, supply of old and antique furniture. damaged painted but all Free ! accidently Gained a reputation as one of the best refinishers in the area.
No dipping, all hand work. Now I'am old Hatefull & Grouchy along with Congestive Heart Failure. can't do it any more.
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That's really cool D&b (about the furniture I mean of course, not about... um, your health conditions :-[ )! I have been meaning to do some furniture restoration work myself. My grandparents had a house near where I live stacked full to the brim with antique furniture, and two barns with furniture. My grandfather wanted to open a shop and restore pieces, but died before he could- well, that, and he probably ran out of money. Anyway, as far as I know, the house is still full of furniture, my parents own the house now and haven't done anything with it. Just sitting there, full of furniture. I was hoping to take a weekend, drive down and get maybe one or two pieces, and start working on them. Can anyone recommend any books to help get me started? I have only done very very very minimal restoration work.
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HELP! My first thread has been hijacked! ???
My husband has been eating the paint chips from the bed and he's ok- so I'm pretty sure it's not lead paint.
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Nice job. Beautiful piece! You have something to be proud of!
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lux , in response to your last post , I'd seriously suggest that you start your quest to learn about restoration (refinishing?) by choosing a low-value item to work on .
Restoration is a whole bigger skill area , vs. refinishing .
A historic/valuable piece can be devalued quite a bit by not really having much experience at it (innocent mistakes can and will happen) .
Everybody I know has goofed up a piece or two when they began to learn how to do either of these skills .
If ya' goof up a cheap piece , well , it just means that the valuable lesson was obtained @ below wholesale (always a good idea) .
Public libraries are a good starting point & you might even get a feel for how things have changed (without having to shell out $ for a book that's no good) ...check out the older as well as the newer books .
There's really no substitue for experience , though (according to me) .
It took me 10 years to get very competent at it , landing a contract for my first huge restoration job in 1975/1976 ( and getting recognition for the "Restoration of the Year" from the Mobile , Al. Historic Society ) ....
....And I'm still learning .
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Thanks everyone! ;D
Blondephotographer, I didn't mean to hijack your topic, I was just hoping to provide some encouragement, since my ship's wheel was in far worse shape and a more difficult project. I bet you could do this and would find a beautiful bed under the white paint! My apologies and best wishes for a fun and successful project!
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We all do that here at times....our minds tend to wander....but they usually have something to do with the original post.....just may take awhile for them to figure it out.
I think you ships wheel is an inspiration and should be for the original poster!!!!!!