Year: 2018

Desiree has a beautiful table from Europe that has belonged in her family for several generations. She asked me to stain & varnish it.

It was not the best time of year to start this project. The stain took awhile to dry in the cold weather (my workshop is only heated while I’m there). First I sanded off the old stain and varnish, then put on two coats of Ebony. After a few days I started with the polyurethane, coat by coat. I had a bit of trouble with the folding leaf, since I had to re-finish both sides, with polyurethane drips etc. So I ended up doing four coats on the top to cover up. But it turned out really nice in the end!

I hadn’t done crown moulding before, but I worked out a deal with a company (that had some partially done) that I would “learn” on their upstairs office and then charge them for their downstairs office. I knew it would be difficult; that’s why I have always refused in the past, but it was a good chance to learn. Below are photos of my first three corners.

my first inside corner; the right piece was existing and I added the left (mitre)

My second inside corner, but my first coped (not mitred)

my first outside corner…tricky!

After I had tried a few corners in one room, I tackled the downstairs office, a small rectangle. The first 2 corners were fine but the last 2 were terrible and needed extra caulking. The next day I got a few pointers from another guy and figured out what I was missing. I completed a larger rectangle (16 feet by 13 feet) and it turned out quite well. But it was still time consuming!

Anyway, if you need some done, call me and I’ll give it my best effort! I just won’t be fast, so I’ll offer a discounted rate.