The shutter rebuilding was finally underway, which was the last piece of the exterior's puzzle. Amazingly enough one of the original shutters was kept in the basement and gave the previous owner a pattern for replicating new ones. Since the exterior restoration was nearing completion and with the kitchen and master bath being finished, I turned my eye to the woodwork. Faux marbleizing and wood grain covered the wainscot, baseboard, casings (both window and doors), mantles and six-panel doors throughout the Federal addition. Years of dirt and grim plus layers of wax covered the once vibrant palette.
The photo above is from the second floor front bedroom, which I now use as my Halifax drafting studio. You can barely make out the design in the middle ground of the panel. The overall finish has a milky film that really protected the color throughout the years. Nothing but a combination of wax and dirt plus oils from human hands lie between me and what the original finish was. Once at the beginning of the project, I hired a paint conservator from Raleigh, NC to come in and give me his opinion of the remaining paint finishes. He said this of the first floor dining room mantle which has a sunburst carving gracing the center and each leg along with reeding under the mantle shelf: "an array of colors are still present, but faded. It must have been dazzling when it was newly finished." Newly finished would have been in the early 1800s. That left me both excited, curious and fearful of may or may not be under the layers of grim. In comes our friends from Charlotte, NC; who were visiting us one weekend. Larry and Carol Emerick specialize in 18th and 19th century painted southern furniture and have a shop in the Norwood area that is filled with visual delights. They have been a God send on several occasions and this was one of them. Larry was just as curious as I was to see what lie under the ghostly finish in the first floor parlor, especially after hearing what the conservator had to say. He decided to experiment with fine steel wool and a cleaning concoction that he has used before. I will not divulge the "concoction" because it started removing some of the paint during the cleaning and I want to protect the innocent originality of paint everywhere. We did happen upon another product which will be revealed later. What was discovered under the layers was the breath taking colors that used to grace all the woodwork. Greens, reds, mahogany, salmon colored marbleizing, banded inlay using paint to mimic yew wood, the list went on and on.
First floor parlor, originally the general dining room, rich mahogany grains and marbleized baseboards.
This one weekend excursion for our friends turned into a years long quest to uncover all the painted surfaces that we could. So what may you ask was the "magic elixir" that removed the grim, but left the finish??? Howard's Restor A Finish!!!! We used very fine steel wool, one of Howard's wood cleaning solutions to remove the dirt; a cotton rag and Restor A Finish to revive the color; and then paste wax to protect the surface. It was that simple! Well maybe not that simple. We had to use allot of elbow grease to remove all the dirt to reveal all the painted surfaces. I would place a caveat on this by saying, these products worked for us, but may not work on all painted surfaces. Consult an expert first before trying.
Front bedroom (now studio) in process. You can now see the faux mahogany finish revealing itself.
Heart pine boards under the main stair in the first floor foyer. Another in process photo showing the rich tobacco color showing through.
There were some areas that could not be restored. Our faux artist Alice Primm blended the old and new seamlessly and will be part of the next blog post as we journey toward the next "Big One"! I will leave you with a couple more shots of the finished product after our discovery.
First floor foyer showing the richly grained faux mahogany door and wainscot accented with a deep green casing and chair rail.
Detail shot showing the faux marbleized baseboard, grained wainscot and salmon colored door casing.
Second floor gentleman's dining room has mahogany grained wainscot with ebony inlay, salmon colored marbleized baseboard, reeded chair rail still has traces of the red wash that was applied.
