Past Werks

These are all pieces that I restored before staring the blog.  It will take a while for me to get pics of all the pieces I've done posted up, so keep checking back for things I've added.  None of these pieces are available for purchase.

Technogeral Rosewood desk

Broyhill Saga Sideboard - This one did not have its original pulls, so I made some leather pulls that fit the style more than what was on it when I got it.

Walnut mid century bedroom set, manufacturer unknown.

Colossal 7' American of Martinsville dresser and matching nightstands.  This is one of my favorites that I've done.  The design has been attributed to George Nelson, although not confirmed.  It is a very popular line though.  This particular dresser had some amazingly figured walnut inlays, almost like walnut burl.  I haven't seen this on any other piece from this line before.  It was really hidden behind the factory finish but I was able to bring it out.

Original Selig Z-Chair by Poul Jensen.  This is one of the classic mid mod chair designs.  It is popular enough that a number of manufacturers are making variations of it today.  This is a teak version.  It had incorrectly sized non-original cushions on it when I acquired it.  I had new cushions made with a Maharam wool fabric designed by Paul Smith.

United Furniture 9 Drawer Walnut dresser

Walnut highboy with Rosewood accents from "Very Best Mfg" furniture.  Very similar to the Kent Coffey "Perspecta" line.

This is definitely another one of my favorites.  Kofod Larsen Rosewood Bedroom set for Fredericia furniture.  Rosewood is my favorite wood to work on, the variation and deep coloring is always amazing.  This set typifies fine Danish furniture making with solid Rosewood pulls and legs.  I felt lucky to be able to find and restore these.

Very cool office style credenza with chrome pedestal legs.  Not sure of the designer but it is very similar to designs by Milo Baughman or Roger Sprunger.  This one was heavy!  One of the coolest features is the parquetry veneer lay-up on the top.

Here is another fine, Rosewood Scandinavian piece.  This is one of the few pieces I've ever acquired that was in such good condition I didn't completely strip and refinish.  I used a restoration process that cleans up the finish and nourishes the veneers.

Walnut "Cubist" style dresser by Canadian company Young Mfg.  Very similar to the coveted cubist/brutalist lines by Lane.  This one is a little more subtle and linear but no less cool.

Many modernist enthusiasts will recognize the name Saarinen.  These dressers were designed by the, perhaps lesser known, but no less important Eliel Saarinen for Rway.  Eliel Saarinen not only taught his son Eero but while teaching at the Cranbrook institute taught the likes of Ray and Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia and Florence Knoll.  I generally do not do a lot of staining in my restorations, I really like to enhance the natural beauty of the materials.  However, these pieces really needed special treatment.  To show off the beautiful birdseye maple inlays I stained the surrounding mahogany with a dark stain.  The grain of the mahogany still shows through nicely but the contrast brings the design together.  I also did these in a high gloss to fit their more "deco" style.  The final picture is of the original finish. 

 Broyhill Emphasis Walnut Bedroom set.

This set is not exactly mod.  Some friends were looking for a new bedroom set but mod and brown didn't really tie into their decor.  I found this set and picked it up.  The originial finish was a light pecan which looked very dated.  I wanted to try a cerused finish on these, something I hadn't done.  I mixed up a charcoal colored dye and sealed the pieces after the dye was applied.  I then went over it with a white colored wax.  The wax stays in the grain, highlighting the pattern.  The result is almost like a "negative" print of the wood grain.  Unfortunately my color temp was off for the photos but they turned out cool and worked well in their house.

This piece was the bottom of what I believe was a German Rosewood China cabinet.  The person I acquired it from had been stationed in Germany, purchased it and brought it back.  It originally had a very heavy high gloss finish on it that wasn't repairable.  It was so difficult to strip off I was convinced it was a plastic laminate of some sort.  It took a number of months before I figured out it could be stripped and another few days to actually get the finish off.  Because there was originally a top piece to it, the top of this part had 2 different veneer species on it.  The whole top was in bad shape anyway so I ordered a custom Santos Rosewood veneer sheet and reveneered the top.  It matched perfectly and you wouldn't know otherwise that it isn't original.  This piece is really long, over 7' and low.  Perfect for one of today's big flat screen tvs in a mid mod house.

Lane Furniture made some of my favorite mid century furniture.  The designs were a little funkier and edgier than other manufacturers and they used some nice materials.  This set is walnut with oak pulls and case edges and burled elm inlays in the pulls.  I left the oak its natural color to emphasize the material variation.

Haywood Wakefield "Scultura" highboy in natural birch finish.

Small Walnut American of Martinsville chest.  Originally I thought the veneer on the drawer fronts was something other than walnut.  The grain is so straight.  But, I believe they may have used rift cut walnut veneer instead of flat sawn.  The pulls are solid walnut.

Mod Lane kidney bean oak and walnut coffee table and matching end table.  On these I did end up staining the oak to match the walnut.  The shape of the legs says "80s" too much to me and oak would have really emphasised that.  The walnut color looks more mid century.

Pecan and Walnut side table by John Van Koert for Drexel.

Very sculptural pecan and walnut 2-tiered side table by John Van Koert for Drexel.  I left the pecan natural to emphasize the cool legs.

Basset Walnut and pecan side table.

Awesome mod Lane 5 drawer highboy in walnut.

Walnut and maple credenza by Blowing Rock Furniture

When I got this Stanley credenza the guy I bought it from was surprised I even wanted it.  A lot of the finish was gone on the top.  The rosewood inlays had faded to the point they looked almost the same as the walnut and it had the usual yellowed, muddy brown mid century finish.  He'd probably be surprised how it looks now.

This was one of the more sad acquisitions I've made.  The guy I got it from inherited it from his uncle.  He and his girlfriend decided they should refinish it.  They sanded it and stained it cherry.  The stain was heavy enough that I did not see that they had sanded a good portion of the walnut veneer right off the top of one of the nightstands and had gone through in a couple other spots.  It was also missing a couple of the cool flip out rosewood pulls.  But, being a rare, Glenn of California by Richard Thompson it needed to be revived.  I was able to get the cherry color out with multiple chemical strippings and I re-veneered the top of the nightstand.  From a block of closely matched Honduran Rosewood I was able to make a couple of new pulls.  This set has solid walnut stretchers and legs that continue up the sides and around the tops and beautifully matched veneers across the front.

Danish styled, American made walnut bedroom set.

Kent Coffey "Tableau" Walnut 9 drawer dresser

Skovby #65 Credenza in Rosewood by Rosengren Hansen

Because I mostly only restore pieces I like, there is always a dilemma when the piece is finished.  Do we keep it and replace something else we have or sell it?  I was torn over many of these pieces and had a hard time selling them.  This one I have not.  It is 7' of beautiful Brazilian Rosewood and fine Danish furniture making.  This has so many of the little details that set apart really fine furniture from production pieces.  Solid Rosewood legs that are sculpted, not turned.  Solid rosewood on the front and side edges so it can be shaped and so a veneer edge isn't seen.  Sculpted inlaid rosewood pulls.  It is a beautiful piece and it hasn't left our house.

Kent Coffey "Predicta" 6 drawer dresser.  When I started working on this piece I noticed the wood veneer of the face of the cabinet, behind the drawers (dark areas see in photo) seemed a bit different.  As I started sanding those spots I noticed a very sweet, almost cherry like, rosy smell.  Anyone that has worked with it knows this is a dead giveaway for Brazilian Rosewood.  It wasn't something I was expecting to find there as its kinda hidden but after the refinish it showed up much better.  The pics aren't great so its tough to see.

The Broyhill Brasilia line is one of the more easily recognized and popular mid century furniture lines.  It was inspired by some of the notable architectural designs of Oscar Niemeyer in the capital city of Brazil, Brasilia.  The sculpted, swooping arches are a theme carried throughout the line from the brass drawer pulls to the sculpted walnut appliques which also function as drawer and door handles.
I acquired this set from my friend Midcentury Mike, who is a local vintage furniture trader and collector of the Brasilia furniture.  This set was in pretty bad shape.  After working these over I invited Mike to take a look at what they had become.  He liked the modwerks version enough that these end up back in his collection. 

Drexel Precedent by Ed Wormley.  Wormley used silver elm veneers and hardwoods in the Precedent line, not very common.  These were nicely made pieces with a solid piece of elm along the perimeter of the top.  The elm ends up with a color very similar to white oak but without the pronounced grain and some subtle streaks.  For the final stage of finish on this piece I went over the piece with a gray stain.  Since it already had a finish on it the stain didn't really soak in.  Some of the stain remained in the grain pores giving it a subtle "graywashed" look.  The brass plated zinc pulls were very warn so they were polished down to their raw zinc.  Zinc has a slight blue hue which helped pull out the graywash effect.

Cherry highboy of unknown manufacturer.  The nicely sculpted legs have a very "atomic" look to them.  The lower 3 drawers all have solid cherry pulls and the top drawer has contrasting vertically oriented grain.

Cherry 9 drawer dresser by Harmony House and matching mirror (nightstand not pictured).  Harmony House was a Sears furniture brand but likely manufactured by Dixie, Bassett or one of the other manufacturers of the time.
I had acquired this dresser and the dresser above within a few days of each other for the same room in our house.  Both had "Walnut finish" on them, which meant a dark brown toner that mostly hid the wood.  Imagine my surprise when I stripped them to find they were cherry!  Its hard to imagine someone choosing to cover up the beautiful color of the wood but I guess dark brown was all the rage.  These are the only cherry pieces I've come across since.

5 drawer highboy and 6 drawer dresser in walnut by Johnson Carper.