Around 2 years ago a colleague gave me her gran's old bureau as they didn't have space for it and Mrs jbj was in the process of filling our new place with superfluous shit we didn't need!
It's sat in the garage until around Christmas.
It rock solid and probably was beautiful before someone haphazardly over the wood!
I'm going to turn it into a bar.
Going to keep some of the nicks and bumps because history and shit but if it turns out half as well as I plan, it will look great. Free mojo points for anyone who guesses the colour scheme and hardware finishes im going for...
Didn't take photos from the very start but here's it after a couple of hours of gentle destruction via crowbar and bolster
The drawers were locked and the replacement keys I bought snapped in the lock so it took me ages to get into them without irreparably breaking stuff.
Once opened I found a couple of old scraps including this old cigarette card. I've not found a perfect match online but it sounds like it's from around WW2 - granny liked a smoke. I've given it back to my colleague and she's going to put it in a little frame.
Lots going on so not much progress until tonight. Tiny little 80+ year old brass screws are a pita btw.
This is the fold down lid. I was hoping to keep the top original so there's the nice patina and it's still got a little bit of the original character. I've had to go to town on the edges thanks to the old paint they'd just slapped on and the holes for the hinges don't line up with the new ones so I need to find a way to fill them without it sticking out like a sore thumb or sand back the whole thing and stain it from bare eood.
I think I'm going to give it a good clean and degreaser, slap some oil on and see how it comes up - I love that patina at the top and really don't want to cover it up even though that would be the easiest option.
Got all my hardware for it including some really nice art deco handles from Etsy that are going to look great.
but no.