Pathway Antiques is relocating!

It is hard to believe that I am contemplating this at an age when most people of my vintage are retiring, but a new adventure beckons and this “older person”, for one, is not just going to sit around in his comfortable cardigan waiting for his body to wear out! It is time to step out of my comfort zone and embrace change.

Now, I’m not off to the South Pole on dog sled, or to university to get my doctorate in psychology, but for me – having lived all but four of my sixty-five years Vancouver – moving my business and home to Kelowna seems to be a relative leap of faith.

I am fortunate in that I truly love what I do – building custom furniture and restoring much-loved heirlooms. I derive great pleasure in taking pieces that have been in families for generations and making them come to life again for future generations to cherish. To see the look on my clients’ faces when their past is restored is a wonderful affirmation for what I do and I am grateful for that.

While I haven’t pulled up roots yet, the process has begun physically and psychologically. It will be a couple of months yet but I am filled with both anticipation and trepidation. I will post more when it happens, and hopefully not as a guide to what not to do. Wish me good fortune!

One fortunate soul

I have been blessed by fortune. I enjoy my work, restoring antique furniture, and am delighted when I can bring my client’s loved ones back from the ‘dead’, or in their particular case from the scrap heap. Pieces that would succumb to time and be lost, pieces that often were part of their childhood, can be made solid and durable again and be a source of pride. And I get to be part of that process.

At present I am restoring a house full of furniture for a couple who are rebuilding their home. The woman was from a very large Shaughnessy family and their home was filled with beautiful furniture. They had inherited a number of pieces and the couple were aware of the delight of being surrounded by some history so had purchased beautiful antiques themselves. One of the pieces was a Victorian Honduras Mahogany dining table. This I restored and refinished for them.

I was quite surprised when they asked if I could add another leaf to the table because the previous week I had been given a piece of Honduras Mahogany by a friend. He said that he had been given the board years ago and had never found a use for it. I went over to the board with my tape measure to see if fortune was actually smiling or just smirking at my hubris and found it to be a half inch longer than needed. By the time I had squared the ends and fitted the new leaf all the was left over was sawdust. This relatively rare wood had been around for over a decade with no purpose. I got to be the instrument to give it a function.

White ring marks on furniture

White ring marks on furniture (tables and sideboard tops) are caused by moisture entering the surface of the finish and making it opaque or appear white. The severity of the problem is contingent on the tenacity of the finish. Wax finishes can usually be left and the moisture will dissipate over a day or so. At the other end of the finish spectrum is a modern lacquer finish. While this is a hard and durable finish, it is not impervious to steam penetration – who left the pizza box on top of the table? - and it is more difficult, but not impossible, to repair.

The easiest way to eliminate white ring marks is to rub them with the grain, using a 0000 fine steel wool. Rub the surface with light strokes until you feel confident enough to apply some pressure and can see the results of your “dusting” with the steel wool. It is very important to use a fine steel wool because you will have to match the sheen as on the rest of the top of whatever you are working on. This can be done by rubbing with a coarse cloth or a good quality furniture wax. For a more matte finish you might use a 000 grade steel wool using the same “dusting stroke”. Always start gently and exercise patience so that you don’t have to repair your repair job, but always perform with confidence.

Custom Jewellery Cabinet in Figured Maple

This Christmas I was commissioned to make a wall-hung jewellery cabinet for a client as a present for his wife. He came up with the idea because she had, as he put it, ”four or five jewellery boxes all over the place”. It was a delight to help in such a heartfelt project and I got to use of my favourite wood, our own BC figured maple. I had special bits left over from previous projects. They were small but too beautiful to discard, so the commission was a perfect fit between my client’s needs and my resources, and I didn’t waste (something my mother told me was a sin). He was absolutely delighted with the outcome, and I hope so too was his beloved.

Restoring a Walnut Desk

The end result!

Turning a King into a Queen…

It’s not what you think! A couple of weeks ago I had the great honour and satisfaction of converting a king-size headboard and footboard into a queen-size bed. My client moved to a new home and no longer had room for her much-loved king-size bed. Not wanting to part with it, she contacted me to see if I could help.

I’m always up for a challenge, and I accepted this one enthusiastically. I admit to the slightest bit of trepidation as I made the first cut, but after that I was in my element. It was a beautiful bed, and also had sentimental value, and I was happy to be able to transform it into a smaller version of its former self to be enjoyed for years to come.

I was delighted with the end result (and I’m pleased to report that my client was too) – particularly the fact that you can’t see where the pieces were joined back together. Just another project that confirms for me I’m in the right business.

A new web site at last!

One of the occupational hazards that comes with restoring antiques for a living is a tendency to ignore technology – at least that is sometimes true in my case. Pathway Antiques did have a web site once. It was when we had the store on East 1st Street in North Vancouver. Then for months after the store closed, the web site remained, proclaiming to all the world that the store still existed. Finally caving to the pressure from one more technologically inclined than I, eventually I took the web site down.

Peace reigned once again, but it was short-lived. That voice of technology began wondering out loud how anyone could run a business in 2009 and not have a web site. When the voice offered assistance, I jumped! And you’re looking at the result.

Special thanks to Martin, Amy and Anoush at SmarttNet for their design and tehnological assistance. They are an amazing team, and they offer an amazing service at a great price. I’m happy to recommend them to anyone looking for website design and more.