This project has been a lot of work, but completely worth it. It is a total pleasure to restore good quality parts and make them shine and be useful again!
The desk is made out of a gorgeous, rather thick wooden pine doved and tongued board that proudly shows its time patina underneath the stain and clear varnish coats. It has been polished to get a smooth, satin touch.
Underneath the working surface I have adapted a sliding vintage wooden drawer that belongued to one of those 'Castilian style' entrance cabinets that were so common in the Spanish 70s. The forged iron pull blends in very well with the sewing machine pedal frame and wheel of the base, and the arched carvings on its front match the shape of the table feet. The finish is the same as the wooden legs of the table.
And the main part of the desk is, of course, the walnut wooden foot of an antique sewing machine table, complete with the ornated cast iron pedal frame and wheel that used to make the machine function. It still spins when pressed, but otherwise it serves as a quite comfortable foot rest. The trademark letters have a faded gold finish, and the logo in the pedal is a cute gnome holding a hammer. Both add a lot of charm to the piece!
Measures: 87x 55cm, 76cm high.
The desk in full, from every angle:
And some close-ups of interesting details:
THE MAKING PROCESS, step by step:
The main parts, prior their restoration (I was still deciding on which drawer to adapt). And, as usual, it all starts with a good sanding
Treating the damaged wood, and wrapping it all up to cure
After a couple of days, filling the holes made by the wood worms, one by one. then, building the frame for the drawer (by this time I already had it, of course) -this is the back stopper board, that would also reinforce the base for the future surface
The drawer, fitted!. Painting the wooden parts of the base in a mix of cream and white enamel paint
Scraping the rust from the pedal frame: quite a tedious task, but it payed off -the gold coat on the letters and logo brim showed up!
More dust: carefully distressing the painted surfaces... then it came the varnishing of the iron frame, pedal and wheel
It took a long time to do all the small crevices, but it surely looks so much better. Then I polished the rest, to get a smooth, satin finish.
Now the drawer: sanding, painting, varnishing (including the inside) and polishing as well
Finally, the last part: the gorgeous pinewood surface. The first step was to glue the board that had came off, then sand it all
Reinforcing the doved and tongued board with two slats underneath and staining that area.
I secured the surface to the base, then rounded the corners in an uneven, rustic way. Then I stained the top side, varnished and polished it to match the satin finish of the base. Done!
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