Heywood-Wakefield Restoration

Yeah ok. I was warned. Newborndome is no joke. Midnight feedings… sleep deprivation… a bazillion dirty diapers. How have people been doing this for centuries?!? Jk. Baby H is totally worth the effort - even if I officially can’t have a cup of coffee in the morning without it going cold.

Caleb has been fabulously supportive. Even though he is back at work, he’s found ways to give me little breaks when he can like downtime to make a craigslist run or have a glass of wine on our deck.​ He even gave me a block of baby-free time to knock out a new piece:

A Heywood-Wakefield Airflow Dresser

I actually scored this dresser somewhere in my 3rd trimester (I think I might have played my last preggo card to convince Caleb to help me pick it up one morning before work) - ha!  It was obvious that the previous owner did not realize what a rare find they had considering they put it in their sticker-loving son’s room.  Just look at the damage to the signature H-W finish! 

The watermark on the back revealed that it’s a “wheat rub.” This means it was truly vintage and not a reproduction since newer H-W pieces sport their signature Amber finish.  This piece could date somewhere in the 1930’s-1950’s when Heywood-Wakefield art-deco-inspired mid-century modern style rose to popularity.  I debated long and hard about how I was going to tackle this project and eventually decided on:

A restoration

I was seriously on the fence about restoring vs transforming.  After consulting my brother-in-law the wine-cellar-building-carpenter-and-fellow-vintage-furniture-lover I realized it would be practically criminal to alter it with paint or new hardware.

First order of business to get it back to its former glory was to SAND THE HECK OUT IT.  Yeah that sticker residue had to go.

After the thorough sanding came a thorough waxing.

The wax gives it a buttery finish that’s much closer to that trademark Heywood-Wakefield buff.

This is actually not the first Heywood-Wakefield piece I’ve gotten on my hands on.  Some of you may remember this gimpy coffee table find from 2017 that I ended up keeping for myself.

Although a little patinaed, the coffee table had an original H-W “champagne finish” which, if you ask me, looks practically the same as the “wheat rub” on the Airflow dresser.  That could be due in part to the fact that all H-W pieces are made out of the same wood: northern yellow birch.

Sealing the Airflow dresser in a wax allowed the natural golden tones of the northern yellow birch to shine.

Besides the finish, another trademark feature of a H-W piece is the sculptural lines - like the unique curves in the drawer fronts and the architectural details in the handles.

I know Heywood-Wakefields can read a little too George Jetson to some so I wanted the styling to show how it can still have its moment in the modern day. The quirky lines of this vintage dresser play well with the mod lines of my velvet cantilever chair flip and cheeky llama prints.  

And I just had to pull out my face vase and add a touch or two of terracotta.

This newly restored bad boy is now available for sale if you’re in the market for a piece of American-made history!  Email me for purchasing or shipping options.

Heywood-Wakefield Airflow Dresser
Now Available for Sale
42ʺW × 20ʺD × 34ʺH
$795

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, email me at cate@stylemutthome.com

First Finds of the Year

Hi friends! Just popping by to share the fruit of a recent thrifting adventure I took with the kids near the end of their Christmas break! The best part was having the opportunity to get out and score some amazing pieces with my kids - we've been thrifting together for 5 years and I've missed doing this with them as they're all now in school! The low of the day was when a very kind old cashier at one thrift store pushed a box of styrofoam packing peanuts in front of my son, Mason, and told him they were edible and that he should eat one. He claimed that those packing peanuts were all he'd had for lunch that day and that they tasted exactly like popcorn. I don't know how old this box was but we're gracious people so we both took a teeny tiny bite, paid for our loot, found the twins and took an extra Airborne when we got home!

The same old man let each kid pick out a book to take home for free - well, 'free' after Mason and I took one for the team and partook of his styrofoam snack.

Let's move on to pretty pictures of less gross things! I decided to pull each piece in for some glamour 'before' shots. None of the pieces I found are in terrible shape and all the work needed is cosmetic. How about I share my plans for each one!

Petite Mid-Century Dresser

This cutie is on the small side at only 34" long and 32.25" high. The front drawers are marked up a bit so I would like to sand those down smooth and restain in a warm wood stain. I may paint his body white for a classic two tone finish that I think looks just smashing on mid-century pieces, and then sit the piece up on short tapered legs to add a few inches in height and get the body off the floor. However, I'm afraid that adding legs may look like he has 4 front legs, given that rounded detail on each side of the lower apron. Any thoughts on that?

Antique Wood and Wrought Iron Cabinet

This gem was a no-brainer when I saw it in the store despite the fact that I still have no complete plan for it! It's a sturdy piece with a hollow interior so it kind of just seemed like great blank slate. I'd like to disassemble the piece from the iron base, remove all the iron hardware and really clean up the wood. I'll sand the piece completely down and potentially leave the wood bare, (sealing it of course), with no stain, then reattach all the iron hardware and base. But that plan isn't set in stone...I may need to sleep on it a bit more.

Mid-Century Chair

Okay, don't laugh but sometime over the holidays I had a dream about a chair. Well, I don't know if the dream was actually about the chair, but there was a chair in my dream unlike anything I've ever seen and when I woke up I could still picture it so clearly! Since I'm not a skilled craftsman I know I have no business trying to build a chair from scratch, so I've been trying to find a chair in similar style to replicate my dream chair. This project will include recovering the seat in a deep blue chambray, (the easy part), and then removing the backrest and replacing it with tight vertical lengths of rope which will be padded half way up by 'tubes' of white or beige jersey fabric stuffed with batting and enclosed around each rope. Make sense? LOL! If only you knew how long it took me to compose that sentence - it's really hard to explain what I'm picturing! There's a very good chance this chair will look 10 times better now than after I try this idea, but it was a cheap find and mid-century or not...it was a cheap find. :) Bottom line, I have no emotional attachment to this chair I paid pocket change for so it's the perfect candidate to play around with.

Who am I kidding, I have a slight emotional attachment to this chair. Look at it! I may or may not be on the hunt for a different chair to try my idea on.

So that's what's in my garage right now and I'll be back to share each piece as it's finished! Thank you so much for stopping by today!

The Finishing Touches Pt. 2: Bedroom Reveal!

Today is the day. Today, I'm finally sharing my bedroom reveal (it's the second bedroom design I've had in a couple of months, but let's just pretend that's totally normal). 

Now, you may recall my post from a couple of weeks ago, here. I was this close to being done, but needed some inspiration to complete the space. Cue Furniture.com and their awesome local deals that I used to buy... drumroll please... 

...the most perfect brushed brass curtain rod from Crate & Barrel and those window panels from World Market. These two pieces have finally made everything feel complete. 

Here's the rest of the new space - remember, it's a small, basement rental in the Shaw neighborhood of DC, but I did what I could! 

I completely changed my bedding after getting rid of some dark gray hand-me-downs from my mom in an effort to brighten up the space. The cactus photo above the bed, which I took on a trip to Palm Springs, and the mirrors are new. I already had the gold-framed cow print (which someday will live in an office I do not yet have, if I get my way), the black table lamps, and the side tables - so those had to stay. 

I also already owned this amazing antique phone table and the stainless steel bedframe from my childhood home. 

I am so pleased with how this space turned out - and I hope you all enjoyed coming along for the ride! 

And now, my wallet and I rest.