Thursday 16 May 2019

Faking It

Strike me off the register of antique aficionados. I have just created a composite fake i.e. putting together two unrelated pieces to form a third that deceives the purchaser! During some recent home-making at the castle, I discovered that my £10 Victorian bookcase and my £20 Georgian bureau were the same width. I got Gregor to screw the two together. So while Gregor committed the act, it was my incitement that was decidedly criminal. :-) Gregor had previously fixed up the drawers of the bureau, as they had already fallen apart when the item was for sale.
I created a thing!
My part was to stain and polish the bureau and bookcase to get them to match as much as possible. You can still see a colour difference, but at least the bureau has been brought back to life in terms of tone: previously it had an almost bleached yellow appearance.

 The moral of the story is that you can furnish a castle on a budget. You can buy lovely oak bureau/bookcase combinations from around the 1920's very inexpensively, but these have a somewhat domestic look and lack the muscularity of the 19th Century pieces that Balintore seems to need. The muscularity in this instance is only on the surface; the components are rather rickety! :-)

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8 comments:

  1. Ross18 May 2019 at 19:02

    1) You are forgiven! It looks great!

    2) WHAT room is this?

    3) Is that a jib door to the left???????

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    Replies
    1. David20 May 2019 at 07:35

      Thanks for the fakery approval. This is the master bedroom. All the ensuite WC's at the castle had jib doors!

      Delete
  2. Unknown23 May 2019 at 02:13

    Hi David, are any visitors allowed on the site? Would love to take few pictures when passing by this weekend. Thank you. Vik

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    Replies
    1. David19 June 2019 at 05:27

      Hi Vik, sorry I missed your message in May. It is fine to come and look at the castle (freedom to roam and all that) but the drive is privately owned so please leave your car at the bottom and walk up.

      Delete
  3. Unknown18 June 2019 at 16:46

    This is beautiful. It's absolutely fine to marry two old pieces of usable wood together. If it's not is mint condition in the first place no one should care. You really did a great job of it. Love it. Also, thanks for restoring the castle. I appreciate your dedication, and hard work to keeping history with us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mrs M16 September 2019 at 08:24

    I love that sentence ' You can furnish a Castle on a budget'! so funny, it reminds me of the writing of Beverly Nichols ! If you haven't read his work it's wonderful, he wrote dozens of books, many about his house and garden. The cobbled antique looks 'right' as if it was always so.

    ReplyDelete
  5. David16 September 2019 at 09:53

    I know of Beverly Nichols, but have not read a scrap of his work. This must now assuredly change. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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