Restoration

 I read a book about minimalism, and I've been on this dejunking kick.  If we're being honest, I'm always on a dejunking kick.  You know that.  My scattered brain can't handle clutter, or as some people would call it, regular stuff that people have.  Everyone is shocked when they discover the near-complete absence of toys here at our house.  It's nothing more than a handicap on my part that deprives my children of playthings.  I just can't manage the mess.  I don't like to put things away in bins that are just going to vomit them back out, and I don't like to sing the clean-up song with kids, unless we're sweeping art project leftovers into the trash.  Books, too, I give them away as soon as I read them, but we still seem to be completely overrun with books of every size, in every corner.  I can see 15 books right now, just lying around.  How does this happen?

So anyway, I sold a bunch of stuff for dirt cheap on KSL, but this cabinet, I couldn't get rid of.  It's not mine, for starters, and it's an antique that belonged to my grandparents, so I could never part with it.  It's been in my garage for several years, looking sad and hopeless.  Since it belongs to my Aunt Tricia, and she lives in Miami, I decided to give it a new life.  The rule is, things should add value, and this little cabinet had that potential.  It just needed to be rescued.

Since I have never refinished furniture before, I figured I could do the whole thing in two days, with the help of Tizzy and Tolly. I called my cousin Emily to get the low-down on refinishing, and went to work.  Miraculously, my timetable held!  The old varnish was very brittle and came off beautifully with coarse-grit sandpaper.  Even more miraculously, the new varnish went on gorgeously.  I mean, I did have a year of varnish instruction at violin making school, so I should be able to do a pretty awesome job of varnishing a cabinet, right?  Polyurethane, even with pigment in it, is much more forgiving than latex paint.  The beautiful cabinet came alive under the color.  It was a pleasure to varnish.  I really felt like I was giving the cabinet a new life, as if it were a living, breathing thing.  After all, it does have a long family history, this cabinet.  My grandmother used to store her famous mustard pickles in it.  It had a top hutch part, but none of us can remember where it is, or what happened to it.  I'm just thrilled that this little thing has been brought in out of the cold to add value to our home with its charm.

Araceli took one look at it and claimed it for her room.  She said it was exactly what she needed, and I think she was right.  Every time I walk by and notice it glowing its rich amber tones, I feel a bit restored myself.