This large Duncan Phyfe Buffet made by Malcolm Furniture Company was dropped off by a client that had some custom work completed recently. I will never forget this couple as the poor gentleman had a battle with his van door loading the completed furniture. His automatic van door was not cooperating with him and in a split second got his fingers caught in the crack of the door.
Not just caught but “locked in”… he was unable to free himself from the car. I don’t think I’ve moved so quickly from one side of the car to the other pressing all his car door buttons trying to free him… in a last ditch effort I flung myself over the back set (which is no easy feat for someone my size) and finally manually freeing him from the grips of his car!! I hope your fingers are ok John! Jeez, what an experience.
Anyhow, back to this large Duncan Phyfe Buffet. It is a very large (heavy) mahogany piece of furniture. It has a wonderful curved (bowed) front with edges tapering towards the front. Absolutely gorgeous!! I knew I could make magic with this piece.
I stripped, sanded and gel stained the top of the cabinet first. I prefer to do this first because I I use a chemical stripper, occasionally I get some on the rest of the piece and so I would rather not paint before I strip the top. The cabinet itself had seen better days. It had been a piece that was handed down, moved, renovations completed around it and had seen many kids in its day. So, I had to shellac the whole piece before I began to paint. I knew that the mahogany wood could bleed through the white I was planning on painting it. And just as I thought had much bleed through… so more shellac over the first coat of paint had to be applied. After that dried, I applied my second coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old White… much better but still a few spots so more shellac and one more coat of paint.
I wanted this piece to have some interest so I decided to give it a two-tone finish. The drawers and inside panel of the doors were painted in an ASCP soft custom gray colour. I then distressed and clear waxed the entire piece. I also wanted to give the large Duncan Phyfe buffet a more aged look so I also dark waxed the piece.
The measurements for this large Duncan Phyfe buffet are: 66″W x 21″D x 36″H.
Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this large Duncan Phyfe buffet or any other piece that we have completed. Send us a note to: studiopaint@yahoo.com.
Before and After: