If you've been by the studio recently you may have seen these pieces on display in our front window. . . the only thing is, they didn't look like this:

The sideboard as displayed in our window, looked like this:

I honestly had a  great time working on these pieces. The customer who brought them in to be custom restyled was excitable and enthusiastic. We collaborated together to come up with this look and I think they turned out great! It was my customers idea to leave the top in the solid wood and to enhance it using our van Gogh beeswax in french caffeine . . . and I think she made an excellent choice! I love how the dark wax enriches the colour of the wood.  

Here's how we did it.

First we sanded down the sideboard top to expose the bare wood, which as you can see was quite a light colour to begin with. 

Next I got out my van Gogh French Caffeine Beeswax and my medium wax brush - which I never wash by the way (I just wrap it up in a small plastic bag so it's always ready to go).

This part gets a little scary. I started brushing the dark wax all across the top of the sideboard. 

Once I had covered the entire surface I took a clean lint free rag and began to wipe away the excess. Whenever I apply the dark wax I keep buffing and keep moving to a clean area of my rag until almost no wax transfers onto the rag at all . . . the results - beautiful!

Here's a closer look at the before and the after.

In addition to the beautiful top, this sideboard also had some really great details! After painting and lightly distressing overall I applied van Gogh's Natural beeswax overall. Then to really make the details stand out, I went back and applied the French Caffeine beeswax to all of the nooks and crannies. After buffing the entire thing the look was complete.

Here are some more of the details: 

Oops! Let's not forget, there was also a beautiful hutch restyled to match!

These pieces were both painted with van Gogh's 'Cashmere' overall and 'Morning Mist' on the drawer fronts and interior of the hutch cabinet.

The inlay inside the hutch was not removable without potentially damaging it so we left it in place in its original colour - I think the dark inlay actually ties together the dark top of the sideboard and all of the original hardware, don't you?

A few more details:

Thanks again for tuning in! If you have something you would like us to custom restyle, send us an e-mail with some pictures of your furniture to: [email protected].