Some years ago, Hubby and I took a vacation trip up through Oregon. While we were in Portland, one of the places we visited was the somewhat famous Hippo Hardware. Have you heard of it?
Hippo Hardware is kind of like a hardware thrift store. They collect and sell vintage and antique hardware and architectural restoration pieces. For instance, if you have an old home and you need a glass doorknob to match your other doorknobs, Hippo Hardware just might have what you're looking for.
When Hubby and I were at Hippo Hardware, one of the best places I searched was the basement. I was half thinking I'd like to find an old multi-paned window or something like that to bring home, but they were asking more than I wanted to pay. Instead I found several old cabinet doors for around $5 each. Really cool! I had been thinking for awhile about building a cabinet for the kitchen; in my imagination, it would have an open upright spindle-type plate rack and a cabinet above that to store my cookbooks. I figured I could buy two of those antique cabinet doors and work them into the cabinet to make it look like an old piece, so I bought them, packed them carefully into the trunk of my car, and carried them home to Sacramento where we stored them in the garage.
So far, a couple years have gone by and I haven't gotten around to building that cabinet yet. I've talked about it with Soccer Son, who has experience in woodworking and building kitchen cabinets. He also has the tools he'd need, but so far, we've just kicked around a few plans.
Tonight Hubby told me he'd come across those cabinet doors recently and decided to take them to a friend to have them stripped; he wanted to know what kind of stain I wanted. Really? Are you kidding me?
At this point, if I could beat Hubby with patina, I think would, but all the patina I had has been stripped away. I swear I'm never going to let him watch Antiques Roadshow again--it's simply wasted on him. ARGH!
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5 comments:
MEN!!!! I guess he's going to have to go back and buy more for you!
He's Still Alive? Lucky he's your husband not mine! and i think you should tell him that, just so he gets the picture.
The easiest way to restore some of the patina is to strip some old varnish off of something else and smear the sludge on them. If the stripper didn't use the environmentally friendly white pasty stuff (can't remember the name) but used something like the chemically toxic KleenCuter you may be ok. Most of the nasty stuff takes the varnish off, but doesn't strip the stain out of the wood. There is also Soy Gel (brand name) that doesn't strip the patina out of the wood. MR and I use to buy old broken furniture and repair it with old more broken furniture wood. The key to an even finish was to smear the two finishes together and you could hardly tell it had been refinished.
LOts of luck! for your doors and your hubby :o)
Our Husbands must be brothers.
He told some friends that I made blankets. BLANKETS! I have been making beautiful quiltsa for 20 years. BLANKETS!Sounds like I need a trip to a quilt shop to spend some money.
That is so MALE! Reminds me of the time I carefully planted nasturtium seeds all along the driveway, envisioning a bank of summer color leading to our door, and my husband proudly came in to tell me he'd pulled all the "weeds" coming up along the drive!
OH NO!!!!!!!!! One question...WHAT IS IT WITH MEN? Why do they think that just because we have not used something in several years, they can just TAKE IT?!
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