Isn’t she beautiful? Berkey and Gay buffet, Ca. 1900.
by DKP
This one piece has nearly given me ulcers worrying about the move. It weighs as much as an elephant, and while the backsplash comes off, it is still HUGE, bulky, and unwieldy.
The men who moved her are our moving guys; Adam is a great mover, and he brought his best second, Chris. Together I knew that she would be in conscientious hands with Portland’s Best.
We took her huge bulk down our freight elevator, then loaded her into the truck home. Once there, the part that scared me starts: she had to be carried up a steep driveway, and two stories of stairs outside her home. Carried. Up. Many. Stairs.
The men held the backsplash while Mitchell attached it to her body. When they were done I took a few photos; we will take formal photos later.
Before, her top was splitting, and her finish was quite damaged from years of use.
We repaired the structure of the top from underneath, and cleaned and repaired the original finish on the top. Above, one of the chairs we conserved sits next to it.
Before, the finish had large white spots, rings, even a few burns. We were able to remove all but a hint of the former stains. Some of the work was deep cleaning and waxing with our own slurry of waxes. Below, a few before and after images.
I finally was able to breathe a sigh of relief. We delivered her back into her home, where she spent all the years of her life since her birth.
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