There are those who enjoy refinishing furniture. They revel in removing layers of multicolored history. Some hues subtle and sophisticated while others so trendy that the era is unmistakably identifiable. I am not one of those DIYers. However, my long to-do list to get ready for our upcoming move includes refinishing two nightstands and a chest of drawers.
In 1946, after returning to Wisconsin from wartime Washington, D.C., my parents purchased a dark walnut bedroom set which included a double bed, a five-drawer chest, and a vanity. When the practice of bedroom vanities fell out of popularity, my carpenter father dismantled the unit and created two matching nightstands. Thirty years later, the chest and one of the nightstands went with me to my first apartment, as well as the round vanity mirror.
I considered myself lucky to find an empty apartment in the small town of Brodhead (population 2,690) when I was hired as the school librarian. The apartment was so empty that while it had a stove there wasn’t a refrigerator. Momma and I worked non-stop for ten days to get ready for that post-graduation move.
We painted two wooden chairs dark blue that had originally been at Shirley McS.’s kitchen table. Momma sewed Delft Blue kitchen curtains and a matching tablecloth using remnants from Mary Jane K.’s drapery store. A plywood shipping box that Dad built to move their household items from D.C. (which still had my grandparent’s address on the top) was transformed into an avocado green coffee table with brass corner protectors and handles. We let the newly purchased yellow, lime green, and white plaid J.C. Penny drapes set the color palette in the bedroom. A brown iron twin bed frame that had been in the upstairs bedroom of my grandparents’ house, my parents’ 1940s five-drawer chest, and one of the nightstands were all painted a cheery yellow and these transformed the drab, empty bedroom.
With 46 days until closing on the Solstice Place house, this refurbishing project lacks that first move frenzy. However, with each layer of yellow paint that dissolves using the citrus stripper, Momma and I reminisce during my daily progress updates about all of our hard work 50 years ago.
Knit+ Librarian 