1930s Duncan Phyfe Style Dining Set

We just purchased this great 1930s solid wood Duncan Phyfe style dining room set for $275. The antique sideboard has a beautiful serpentine veneer and antique brass pulls. We intend to restore this set to a beautiful cherry finish, and mend and reupholster the chairs, saving a lot of money, while gaining a lovely dining room.











It is now 2011 and over the course of many decades, pieces of Cleveland history and American history have been lost for many reasons. The biggest reason is part of American culture: the desire to buy "new" and throw the "old" away.

Restoring beauty to our once, neglected, and abused 1920s colonial, in a hard-hit first-time home buyer community in the rust belt city, is the ultimate recycling project, but our efforts won't stop there. A wonderful way to help give back to the community is to purchase local used furniture when possible. Craigslist, local antique stores, consignment shops, thrift outlets, and the Freecycle are excellent ways of finding beautiful, affordable pieces that need your rescue. Many times these great finds will ultimately wind up in a landfill.

If you are interested in purchasing an old piece of furniture and you are not sure how to go about restoring it. Please e-mail me: sola.live@gmail.com and I would be glad to give you some tips.

Dining Room Restoration Complete!

The long awaited photos of the completed work and the before images. The project began in the beginning of June 2010. The plaster walls were in rough shape as pictured and all of the woodwork was slopped with mismatched white paint.

Early, June over the course of three days, the walls were skim coated for a professionally smooth new finish. The back entry casement was stripped because it had layers of paint over top of painter's tape. Then, the old deco wallpaper was removed from the interior of the built-ins. The paint was stripped from the built-ins and windows. Everything was carefully sanded, stained, and restored. The walls were then treated with high build primer. The ceiling cracks were repaired with fiberglass tape and and plaster which was sanded smooth. Finally, the popcorn soffit was repaired, and re-textured with a swirl technique for an updated look.

The beautiful leaded glass doors were salvaged from Attenson's on Coventry and expertly installed by our carpenter, Barry Hoffman at Hoffman Construction He did a wonderful job custom fitting the doors, and retrofitting new antique style hardware.

The walls are painted Wild Honey, and the trim Powdered Snow by Behr.

The custom looking art deco chandelier was an eBay purchase featuring opal art glass, solid brass coated in antique silver finish, with antique copper wire detail. retailed for $569 by Forecast Lighting