Quandaries -the buffet- update

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I dredged up the photo above-left-, which is the only photo I had of the QB (Quandary Buffet) taken when we bought it. Surrounded by stuff. Next time we saw it was delivered and shoved under something in the cave.Now I study the old photo I can see the lifted veneer on those top doors. HA! serves me right for not going over it at time of purchase in my usual forensic style.

So, it needs a new marble top to replace the cheap and nasty temporary top it came to us with. Trev says that to make it stable and to take it back to something approaching it’s original construction we need quite a bit of the same or very similar wood (fruitwood, unidentifiable, probably impossible) and the amount of work to get it right is both colossal and uneconomical for what we could sell it on for.

The base/footing is in a terrible state & is going to the dump anyway

As it’s already been semi-wrecked by another, my conscience is clear. I am now looking at how we can best upcycle this piece . Trev says “Are you sure that you are happy for me to take this apart and use bits elsewhere? Are you going to fret about dismantling and repurposing an antique? Are you going to regret this? What about the inherent integrity of this piece”

Well, he’s got me sussed alright. And the answer is 1) yes 2) no 3) no 4) some other git trashed it..so?!

I got the tape measure out. It’s obviously meant to be. We have a few more things we need to source to finish the house and this buffet could furnish four of those needs, with  a little tweaking.

We need a closed door storage cupboard in the kitchen- of the four base cupboards, the two end ones mirror each other and can be fitted together with a sympathetic new/old top. I just happen to have an Art Nouveau washstand top in the workshop that fits.

We need cupboard doors for under the sink where Trevor must build something to inset the new ceramic sink top. The centre two door lower cupboard with carved panel above fits the gap perfectly, and these two doors appear to be solid , rather than veneer, so suitable for this area with the right treatment. Any spare pieces can be utilised for the wall cupboard around the boiler. So I get my solid wood kitchen with very little additional expense.

I want a cabinet on legs with doors under my Chinese washbasin in shower room. I measure the two curved side cupboards on gorgeous legs currently forming the top part of the buffet and these, plus one of the carved panels alongside, fill the existing space up there perfectly.I’ll work out what to do about the damaged veneer later.

I wanted Trev to make a small, mirror backed, glass fronted corner cabinet from old wood for some special family pieces. Oooh, look what we will have left………….