The "washed in the blood of the Lamb" pew...

The first project I am sharing with everyone is the 2nd Ponce de Leon Baptist pew I had to pleasure of updating.  You can read a little history on this church here...but in a nutshell this pew is around 100 years old and in GREAT condition I may add. 

The pew came to me looking like this....

 

The plan with the owner was she wanted it refinished (which means sanded and stained).  After talking at our consult I convinced her to do a paint/stain mix.  This is always my favorite as it gives the piece so much more dimension and fills the space.  By the end of the consult she basically told me to go for it - which is where I feel like I do my best work - I've never liked restrictions :)

First step was to sand the spaces where I was going to stain.  I decided to sand the seat and the seat back.  Let me tell you - this took me ALL DAY!  Literally.  To my surprise the seat of this pew seemed to be "washed in the blood of the lamb."  No, but really.  Blood red stain was what I found under 2 layers of paint (one being white and one being gold).  I use a 60 grit sand paper to get the paint off then go back with a 120 grit to give it a smooth finish.  You can see the layers in the picture below.

 

So, I finally get it sanded - and let me tell you I was NASTY!  I am typically not this yellow....

 

So, once sanded it was time to stain.  This is where the biggest issue came about.  I decided to stain the seat and seat back Special Walnut by Minwax.  But, because the seat was originally red - the red stain kept sneaking back up through the new stain.  The seat and the seat back were two different colors; as you see in the picture below.  I stood there and just stared at it for a bit...wondering what am I going to do.  

I was also semi frustrated I spent the whole day sanding the seat down for this to happen.  So, I thought and thought and came up with a game plan.  I have no other choice than to paint the seat the same color as I picked for the base of the pew.  I still wasn't totally sold though.  I thought it would look so random to just have the seat back stained.  So, noticing the sides of the pew were pretty open I decided to hit up the local craft store (Hobby Lobby) and find a nice wooden plate and  medallion that I could stain to match the seat back so it would all flow better. 

With the new plan in place I continued with the piece.  I painted the base with Annie Sloan's CoCo chalk paint.  Once the base was painted with two coats of the chalk paint it was time to place the wooden plate and medallion.  I knew I wanted to dark wax the piece and since the medallion was being painted in CoCo I went ahead and dark waxed the medallion to match.  Then, I stained the wooden plate in Special Walnut and used my new air compressor nail gun to attach the side pieces to the pew.  

Once the side pieces were on - I had the task of dark waxing the entire piece.  What a difference dark wax makes!  It requires some elbow grease - but totally worth it!!  The dark wax gets in to the grooves of the piece and gives it that added sense of antiquing and depth.  I then clear waxed the stained seat back and finally it was complete!

The crisis was over - and the pew turned out awesome.  Can't wait for delivery of this piece to my client.  I will post pictures of the pew placed in the clients home soon!  

The completed piece:

Any questions?  Let me know!  

-Julie