Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Pink Piano stool

I found this piano stool at an outside antique flea market sale in Hanmer Ontario. I saw the piano stool as soon as we got there, how could use miss that pink. I negotiated with the dealer and got the piano stool for $40.00. Who ever had painted this piano stool did a horrible job, I am thinking a kid did it . They even painted the feet, for those of you who don't know, these piano stools have brass feet like a birds claw, with a glass ball in its grasp. The glass ball is flat on the bottom side that touches the floor. And every nook and cranny had pink paint in it.
I knew stripping it was going to be alot of work but I was excited about taking it back to its original look.

This is what the piano stool looked like when I got it, the mirror frame and step stool are other projects for the future.

If you have never stripped furniture I will let you know it is a messy messy job.
First do all stripping outside because most furniture strippers have strong odours that will make you sick if you inhale it in an enclosed space. Also if it can strip paint and layers of stain and finishes then it can also take layers of skin off too, so wear protective clothing, long sleeves, thick rubber gloves and safety glasses. I hope I didn't scare you off there, just want you to be safe, I am still here and there are lots of people that do this so you will be fine.
Follow the directions of the paint stripper and take your time, working in small areas at a time because the stripper dries fast and then its too gooey to work with. Scrape small areas but be careful not to gouge into the wood. Depending on how much paint and varnish is on your project you may have to deal with a few layers at a time. I used a small paint scrapper, cloths and steel wool. Dispose off all waste in a sealed container, so no one will come in contact with the paint stripper.

After I removed the pink paint I had to deal with the stain and varnish underneath. The stripping on this was very time consuming because of the design on the legs and all the little grooves, plus the feet and thick thick coats of paint on them.

here is a pic of the stripping process


Finally got all the pink paint off



Now to deal with the stain and varnish, using more stripper working in small areas I just kept applying the stripper and wiping it off, using cloths with no lint, j clothes worked good and steel wool. I went through alot of cloths and alot of steel wool. And yes I cursed the person that painted this a few times, ok more than a few times
Once I was finished with the stripping I let the stool sit for a few days to dry, also I needed a break from it lol.  I was seeing pink paint in my sleep for a few days.
Once the stool was dry I sanded it down to remove all the bumps and left over paint chips, I did not use an electric sander because I did not want to take away any of the shape of the dip in the stool seat, and with the curved legs had to be sanded by hand.
Once your finished sanding clean off your project with a cheese cloth to get all the dust.
I chose a dark stain for the piano stool, I used min wax walnut stain. I used two coats of stain sanding in between coats.The min wax I used had a clear polyurethane finish already in it.
You can buy stain that has polyurethane in it for a nice shiny coat or you can apply polyurethane over the stain after it is dry. I also used a brass cleaner on the feet to bring up the shine on the brass.




Here is the finished product, notice the nice brass feet and the glass balls. I am so glad I was able to restore this piano stool to its original glory. Underneath the seat is a metal inscription from the company that made this piano stool. After researching it online I have estimated that this stool was made in Woodstock Ontario somewhere between 1915 and 1930. Removing the pink paint was a real pain, but I love the finished product.
Now the piano stool looks like it did when it was first made.
















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