{"id":1124,"date":"2013-03-13T20:06:13","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T00:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=1124"},"modified":"2014-09-03T21:28:31","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T01:28:31","slug":"painting-furniture-felony-or-awesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=1124","title":{"rendered":"Painting Furniture: Felony or Awesome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anytime you speak about rehabbing, restoring, rewhatevering of furniture, one argument always come up.\u00a0 There are almost militant members on both sides.\u00a0 It can become a nasty business. And as with so many things online, people will say things, usually rude things, on the internet they wouldn\u2019t ever say in person.<\/p>\n

The issue is whether it is OK to paint wood.<\/p>\n

(I can already hear the uproar of everyone yelling like we are debating a bill on the Senate floor.)<\/p>\n

To be upfront and clear, here is where I stand on the issue: \u00a0I think it depends.<\/p>\n

One part of my job that I really love is finding out what the piece of furniture is supposed to be. \u00a0Under all the layers of grossness, what should it look like. \u00a0 It’s ‘After picture’ if you will. \u00a0There have been pieces that have hung around the house for months because I just couldn’t figure it out. \u00a0 I feel it’s important to look at each piece as an individual and not just slap one color of paint on everything. \u00a0I think of it as both a challenge and an obligation.<\/p>\n

I understand that I have a much bigger love for stripping furniture than most people. \u00a0I know it can be a lot of hard work. \u00a0But there are those pieces where it is so worth it. \u00a0Whatever is under those layers of paint, once freed cannot be covered up again. \u00a0I recently worked on a piece that was so beautiful that I didn’t even charge for all the hours it took to get it stripped. \u00a0I didn’t want the owner to say that it wasn’t worth the time and expense and have me paint over it. \u00a0I felt like it was my duty to the wood gods to bring it back to life.<\/p>\n

There are times that I look at makeovers online of beautiful antiques that have been painted over. \u00a0I can’t tell you it doesn’t make me cringe, it does. \u00a0But you know what? \u00a0It’s not in the landfill right? \u00a0This is not a perfect world and sometimes painting is the only way to spruce the piece up enough that someone will want it in their home. \u00a0 And now it has been saved. \u00a0And one day maybe someone will come along who has the time\/money\/energy to bring it back to it’s original greatness. \u00a0If this is all true, then painting isn’t such a bad thing.<\/p>\n

I am about to say something that you may find crazy, especially from me. \u00a0Long, long ago they made crappy things too. \u00a0 Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s awesome. \u00a0If you remember the Green & White Dresser<\/a>, it was painted wood. \u00a0Why? \u00a0I originally wanted to stain the drawer fronts but after stripping and staining them I realized the wood was, well, let’s say not exactly stain grade. \u00a0It was sturdy and well built but not beautiful. \u00a0And by using the paint layers like tree rings, I could tell this dresser was quite old. \u00a0If I had stuck to the plan \u00a0of staining it just because wood shouldn’t be painted, the dresser would have looked pretty awful.<\/p>\n

Moral of the story, different treatments are appropriate for different pieces and that’s what makes it so fun. \u00a0Moral of the story 2, if you love it then who the hell cares what I (or any of those nasty people who say mean things online and never sign their name) think.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anytime you speak about rehabbing, restoring, rewhatevering of furniture, one argument always come up.\u00a0 There are almost militant members on both sides.\u00a0 It can become a nasty business. And as with so many things online, people will say things, usually…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[77,183,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/RR-logo-square-300-pix.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1J4KT-i8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2080,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2080","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":0},"title":"New found furniture","date":"August 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As you know I have been trying to figure out my schedule so I can fit everything in. \u00a0I have been working on a lot more signs because they are much easier to stop at anytime in case the baby wakes up from a nap. \u00a0I can fit a little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Ridiculous-Redhead-Toy-Chest-Inside-Before.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":764,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=764","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":1},"title":"A Link Party at Miss Mustard Seeds","date":"May 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"When I worked a corporate job that I pretty much hated, I would use my free time to keep up on other design blogs around the web. 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First, lets back up a bit so I can explain how this came about. \u00a0As we talked about late last summer, I wanted to start getting out and talking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Furniture"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1045,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=1045","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":3},"title":"The Green Hex Table","date":"December 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As we have discussed before, I love to bring home ugly things and prove that they can look nice and be useful again. \u00a0I especially love doing that when TB has asked me why I am putting \"that piece of crap\" into the car to bring home. So case in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/etsy-1-025-crop-ksd.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2497,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2497","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":4},"title":"The Habitat Luncheon Dresser After","date":"May 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I have for you the last of the Habitat for Humanity pieces, the dresser. \u00a0 The dresser, along with the desk and the rocking chair, will be auctioned off this Thursday at the Women Build Luncheon with the proceeds going to Habitat. \u00a0If you would like to attend the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Ridiculous-Redhead-Habitat-Dresser-After-Side.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1554,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=1554","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":5},"title":"Vintage Wood Folding Chair","date":"May 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently told TB that I would take a break from finding furniture to bring home. \u00a0While I was pregnant I apparently had really stocked up and there are piles of ugly furniture everywhere. \u00a0I promised to get through some of the back log I have acquired. \u00a0I can't make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/KSD-Folding-chair-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1124"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2005,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124\/revisions\/2005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}