Plum Studio - Custom Furniture Design & Antique Restoration - Seattle WA

Antique Furniture Restoration – Mosaic Inlaid Table

admin — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:31:54 +0000

This small Antique Table was a good representative, typically used as a small side table and displayed very intricate mosaic design. When it arrived in the studio it was in extreme disrepair.

Obviously, it first needed a good cleaning to first determine what the missing elements were. It is not uncommon to have these sorts of restorative projects turn up in Plum Studio.

Furniture Restoration Seattle Woodworking Studio

admin — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:20:01 +0000

I am just working on repairing the legs on a bench; these older pieces of furniture are so worth restoring and a pleasure to work with. Jut the other day someone was telling me how the new furniture they purchased was falling apart while the antique furniture of yesteryear is solid and holding up fine. While it’s a worn out, if not cliche, “they don’t make them like that anymore” is a true one.

Rhodes Mansion Capitol Hill Seattle

admin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 03:16:57 +0000

I’ve been working at the Library in the Rhodes Mansion in Capitol Hill. Due to the bleaching effect of the sun, the wood surfaces had faded and I’m restoring them to their original luster.

Custom Furniture- Seattle Woodworking Studio

admin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 02:44:42 +0000

This is going to be a very rewarding and interesting project; I just been commissioned to reproduce a Chippendale Ottoman. Chippendale Furniture a brand name known the world over earned their reputation, producing simple lines and sound structure. It’s a pleasure to re-create such an elegant piece of period furniture.

Ornamental Antique Restoration

admin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 11:38:48 +0000

I thought some of you might be interested in this wonderful piece that came in from a very ‘southern’ client in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She recalls her family members referring to this piece as, ” Blacky”.
When it arrived, it was broken into several pieces; it was grimy and dusty with bits of the carving, paint and gilt missing.

These figures were known as, torchieres (torchbearers) and they usually served as candle stands. Hundreds of them were made in Venice during the 18th. century; they were carved of linden wood, then covered with gesso, water gilt and finally painted. The Venetians, a declining power, demonized their mortal enemies the ‘Moors’ (Muslims) in this very personal way. That period of history is quite thought provoking and like most history, it repeats itself.

I really enjoyed working with this piece of ornamental furniture it affords me the opportunity to use my many years of experience in antique restoration.

If anyone out there has any questions about this job or something similar that you’d like to discuss with me, please don’t hesitate to pick up the phone. I’m posting these photos but as you’re about to discover, I’m not a photographer but there’s probably enough here for you to see a few ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots. (I just ran into a technical glitch… not a computer geek either !) anyway, they tell me the photos will be up very soon.