A free outdated, tv cabinet on Marketplace turned out to be a stained, hacked, article board mess! Those doors though -WOW! Original possom paintings on genuine vintage leadlight glass!
A bt of research showed the glass to be from a series called 'Gumnut Valley'. There wasn't much to find but apparently they were part of a series of Victorian (the state not the era) made furniture. The wooden surrounds of the glass was solid wood unlike the rest of the piece that quickly fell apart 🙁
I fel in love with the doors and was determined to upcycle them!
I started with a good cleaning, removing years of cat hair, dust and carpet fluff. A wash down with Sugarsoap followed by a fresh water wipe down.
Next I removed the hardware, hinges and latches (for use on another project). I filled the holes with my handy 3 in 1 filler and gave the piece a sand with my Ozito Random sander. I normally use a 20 grit but this piece was older and I wanted to be gentle with the glass.
I used painters tape around the glass and on where the lead touched the wood. I painted to coats of British paints interior sanding lightly between coats. I tried a paint roller and small artist brush this project as I didn't want to be scraping paint from the beautiful glass. I don't think I needed to be as gentle as I was because this thing had survived decades and was still kicking!
I carefully sealed the pieces with Polyurethane and added temporary furniture pads to the bottom of the pieces so the didn't scratch or were chipped when stood upright on a hard surface.
In the end they went to a lovely couple who travelled 2 hours to collect and will be used as feature windows in there home renovations.
*sigh* I miss them already!
