Many years ago, in town far, far away (at least 10 years and Clairmont, Wyoming is a long way) I acquired a church pew. The old church needed new pews. We hauled new to them pews up in a trailer. The youth and workers cleaned and stained the pews and put them in the church. There were a few old pews from the church there. Parts to make two pews went home with us to Longview. It was one of those projects we planned to do, but never did. We hauled the pieces to El Paso. Again, it sat in the garage. We hauled it to Round Rock. I figured it would stay in the garage here. I was wrong!
I like foyers, welcoming foyers, that it is. This house doesn't have one. It has an area at the front door, but no real separation. A few weeks ago, Dean hung up the crosses and the Greenwood church memorabilia. Dean grew up in the Greenwood church. Before Joy Anna was born, he had the honor of designing their new (at the time) building. We have a painting of the original building, a print we bought in Baton Rouge of the new building and a couple of commemorative plates. There are a few other things that are special to us in there, too. There is my prayer square from the Nicaragua mission trip, a Jesus Loves Me print a friend made me when Joy Anna was a baby and a scripture plate one of my Sunday School girls made me several years ago. The crosses in there all have meaning, too. Not just the obvious one - mission trips and gifts from special friends. When he was hanging them, he left room for a church pew under the crosses on one wall. Because it had sat so long, I didn't really have a lot of hope to have it completed.
This morning, he suggested we work on the pews! Woohoo! I was so excited. We pulled all the pieces out, and I took a few 'before' pics.
When I was working on the buffet, Dean had taken the ends out and cleaned them up.
This is the back and the bottom. They look really, really bad.
This is spider's nest. It was one of several in the pew rack. I thought it was pretty cool.
So, have I mentioned I am married to a perfectionist? This pic below shows him figuring out how to get the exact measurements while figuring out the best places in the wood to get those exact measurements.
Now, don't get me wrong, I know the measurements needed to be exact to make it fit right. So, finally he got all the pieces cut exactly like they needed to be.
Remember last week we had to buy a new sander for the buffet? He really likes that thing. He decided he would sand all the pieces and then we would stain them. This is where the perfectionism comes in. He likes old things, but he would rather them look a lot newer. I, on the other hand, was looking forward to seeing them with wonderful patina. I wanted to see the scratches and bruises. There is even a name carved in one of them! I can just imagine all the people sitting there, singing hymns, listening to the preacher, praying. Mamas and Daddies making those wiggling youngsters sit still. Yeah, patina seemed like a good thing to me.
I saw a link on Pinterest for making wood look great without refinishing. I was all for that. The link is: http://missmustardseed.com/2010/06/oil-vinegar-not-just-for-salads/ I thought this might be the perfect thing.
He wasn't crazy about the idea. He very grudgingly said to go ahead and if we need to refinish later, we can. I think we won't have to!
The 'recipe' calls for 3 parts oil and 1 part vinegar. Any kind. I had some on hand, so I just used vegetable oil and apple cider vinegar. Best smelling furniture cleaner ever!
Here is what I learned. Only make one batch at a time (3/4 c oil to 1/4 cup vinegar) I had a lot of wood, so made double the first time. Not a good idea because as my rag got dirty, so did the mixture. A little goes a very long way. I went through 1/2 of the double batch and a single batch. I needed a little more, so I made another single batch just to get through. I knew I could use it to touch up if we needed it as we were putting the pieces together. I went through 4 cleaning rags. They were filthy! Just dip in and rub over the wood. If you make sure you get into the scratches and dents, it has a really nice depth to it.
Another thing - keep the dogs away for a bit. Mine were fascinated by the smell. We caught both of them sniffing it and trying to lick it. After it was dry, they lost the fascination. Dean kept mumbling we were going to have bugs. I read several more articles online during a break, and this seems to be tried and true method. I think if it was going to attract bugs, someone would have mentioned that.
I am not complaining about Dean! I love the fact that he is jumping right in and helping me on all these projects. I do get frustrated that my way is never the right way. If it is really important to me, I stand my ground - like black for the buffet. We really have had fun doing the projects.
Here is what the wood looked like before:
The wood was very thirsty. It soaked it up. I had figured I would need to wipe it on and then rub it off. Nope. Wipe it on, and it drinks it right in. I covered everything twice to make sure. There was minimal excess.
After I had all the pieces cleaned and refreshed. we got the fun job of putting them back together. This was a challenge. It took us a little bit of muscle, but we finally got all the pieces put back together.
We ran out of time on putting pew #2 together. We needed showers before the ball game. I don't know how hot it got today, but it was a real scorcher. Showers were necessary. Tomorrow, we will put pew #2 together and find a place to put it. We did them both the same length, so if we move where we can have them together, they will match.
The pew finished! Doesn't the wood look great? This is the one where there is a name carved - they tried but it is not very deep, so it is hard to read. I didn't see it all in the dry wood. It showed up after I added the oil. You can see where legs rubbed against the seat where it is raised slightly. The arm rests are worn more. Lots of hands rested there.
And my foyer finished!
Thinking I need a rug there. Maybe move the the green pot? I have a few more hymnals I need to stack on the pew. I think it is very welcoming. I like looking at the different pieces in there and thinking about the memories and friends and family they bring to mind.
I like foyers, welcoming foyers, that it is. This house doesn't have one. It has an area at the front door, but no real separation. A few weeks ago, Dean hung up the crosses and the Greenwood church memorabilia. Dean grew up in the Greenwood church. Before Joy Anna was born, he had the honor of designing their new (at the time) building. We have a painting of the original building, a print we bought in Baton Rouge of the new building and a couple of commemorative plates. There are a few other things that are special to us in there, too. There is my prayer square from the Nicaragua mission trip, a Jesus Loves Me print a friend made me when Joy Anna was a baby and a scripture plate one of my Sunday School girls made me several years ago. The crosses in there all have meaning, too. Not just the obvious one - mission trips and gifts from special friends. When he was hanging them, he left room for a church pew under the crosses on one wall. Because it had sat so long, I didn't really have a lot of hope to have it completed.
This morning, he suggested we work on the pews! Woohoo! I was so excited. We pulled all the pieces out, and I took a few 'before' pics.
So, have I mentioned I am married to a perfectionist? This pic below shows him figuring out how to get the exact measurements while figuring out the best places in the wood to get those exact measurements.
Now, don't get me wrong, I know the measurements needed to be exact to make it fit right. So, finally he got all the pieces cut exactly like they needed to be.
Remember last week we had to buy a new sander for the buffet? He really likes that thing. He decided he would sand all the pieces and then we would stain them. This is where the perfectionism comes in. He likes old things, but he would rather them look a lot newer. I, on the other hand, was looking forward to seeing them with wonderful patina. I wanted to see the scratches and bruises. There is even a name carved in one of them! I can just imagine all the people sitting there, singing hymns, listening to the preacher, praying. Mamas and Daddies making those wiggling youngsters sit still. Yeah, patina seemed like a good thing to me.
I saw a link on Pinterest for making wood look great without refinishing. I was all for that. The link is: http://missmustardseed.com/2010/06/oil-vinegar-not-just-for-salads/ I thought this might be the perfect thing.
He wasn't crazy about the idea. He very grudgingly said to go ahead and if we need to refinish later, we can. I think we won't have to!
Here is what I learned. Only make one batch at a time (3/4 c oil to 1/4 cup vinegar) I had a lot of wood, so made double the first time. Not a good idea because as my rag got dirty, so did the mixture. A little goes a very long way. I went through 1/2 of the double batch and a single batch. I needed a little more, so I made another single batch just to get through. I knew I could use it to touch up if we needed it as we were putting the pieces together. I went through 4 cleaning rags. They were filthy! Just dip in and rub over the wood. If you make sure you get into the scratches and dents, it has a really nice depth to it.
Another thing - keep the dogs away for a bit. Mine were fascinated by the smell. We caught both of them sniffing it and trying to lick it. After it was dry, they lost the fascination. Dean kept mumbling we were going to have bugs. I read several more articles online during a break, and this seems to be tried and true method. I think if it was going to attract bugs, someone would have mentioned that.
I am not complaining about Dean! I love the fact that he is jumping right in and helping me on all these projects. I do get frustrated that my way is never the right way. If it is really important to me, I stand my ground - like black for the buffet. We really have had fun doing the projects.
Here is what the wood looked like before:
The wood was very thirsty. It soaked it up. I had figured I would need to wipe it on and then rub it off. Nope. Wipe it on, and it drinks it right in. I covered everything twice to make sure. There was minimal excess.
After I had all the pieces cleaned and refreshed. we got the fun job of putting them back together. This was a challenge. It took us a little bit of muscle, but we finally got all the pieces put back together.
We ran out of time on putting pew #2 together. We needed showers before the ball game. I don't know how hot it got today, but it was a real scorcher. Showers were necessary. Tomorrow, we will put pew #2 together and find a place to put it. We did them both the same length, so if we move where we can have them together, they will match.
The pew finished! Doesn't the wood look great? This is the one where there is a name carved - they tried but it is not very deep, so it is hard to read. I didn't see it all in the dry wood. It showed up after I added the oil. You can see where legs rubbed against the seat where it is raised slightly. The arm rests are worn more. Lots of hands rested there.
And my foyer finished!
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