Let loose the ceruse(ing)!!!

Ok, first of all, what the heck is 'cerusing' or cerused' and how do those terms relate to furniture? Let's skim through some language history at warp speed.

The Merriam-Webster definition:
Ceruse: white lead (Pb) as pigment

The Free Dictionary online definition:
tr.v. ce·rused, ce·rus·ing, ce·rus·es

To treat (wood or a wooden object) with a white pigment to accentuate the grain.

Another source notes that this furniture finish is called "liming" and that the "limed oak" is a term known in Britain.

What YOU need to know is that cerusing is freaking awesome, and I hope it helps people find new life for solid oak furniture that might otherwise seem too dark or even 'orangey' for modern tastes.

This is the first example I saw in the blogosphere that got me thinking about this technique, thank you Little Green Notebook for your design inspiration and useful tutorial!

Isn't this awesome?

More applause to the blogger at Addicted 2 Decorating, her dining table makeover and tutorial was really helpful.  It makes me want to try cerusing a large surface just to show off more of the amazing grain.

I read more about cerusing, but had nothing to ceruse, until that happy day came when I found an oak table that i knew immediately would make a good test subject.  

The start of it all

With my now acquired wisdom I would say it is easier to dye pieces of furniture before they are assembled, but that's a small point.

Raw material, saved from the trash

I stripped the old finish off the oak table, ot at least I thought I did. Surface prep doesn't lie, and it revealed some less than perfect areas when it came time to use the aniline dye.  These areas stayed lighter, or brown. Hopefully this adds to the handmade charm of a first try.

Table being stripped of original finish

Time to add the dye!

Table after two coats of dye

The top surface took the dye well, but keeping the dye-liquid on the sides and legs was more challenging, a gel might have worked better.  There was a bit of rotating the piece onto the side, waiting to dry, repeat repeat repeat.

After at least two rounds of dye I decided it was time to move forward towards the shellac application, then liming and finishing.  You have to rub the liming wax (aka lime paste) all over the piece, and at this time the grain is ' open' so it accepts the wax.

After applying the lime paste I used very fine steel wool to wipe away the excess. Below you can see the top is about halfway done being rubbed with the steel wool.

Obviously this is the most exciting step! So many unknowns the first time! Did your dye color choice work? Does it look weird with the lime paste in the wood grain? Did you *$&# up anywhere else and not notice it until now?  All true thoughts.

After the lime paste removal was complete, the final step was to use furniture wax (yes, another wax, but different) to seal the table.

Here is a close-up of the lower shelf. I think that section turned out particularly nice, with bold, even, color and crisp grain contrast. Swoon.

For me this was a multi-evening project, but each step was manageable time-wise. It probably took about a week of fiddling because of the dry time between rounds of dyeing.  Speaking of dyeing wood, it is different than staining, something I learned while researching this technique. Staining wood will supposedly obscure the grain to some degree, but dyeing the wood only adds pigment to the wood fiber and thus won't 'fill in' the grain at all.  The result is a vivid grain pattern that gets highlighted by the lime paste.

So there you have it, a completely unique piece that perfectly compliments the height of my sofa arm.  The materials cost was around $40, and most of that was the aniline dye powder which could be used for many more projects.

Happy freestyling, see the potential for transformation in anything.

Storage wars? Meh, a skirmish at most

It was decided that my storage needed to be prettified, thus baskets were located, baskets were acquired, baskets were stacked in a corner....

There are five of these baskets, but before filling them with stuff it was decided that the baskets would benefit from a liner. 

Luckily mother o' freestyle is in town and was willing to apply her spatial rotation skills to the construction of such liners.  My contribution was the fabric that was stripped off of couch cushions some time ago.  Never let go of fake beige suede!

Little ties on the corners help hold up the edges....

...but can be tucked inside the edges to stay out of sight.

Now for the grand reorganization of odds and ends!

Happy freestyling.