Chronicle of The Pigeon Blood Chest … part one
Antique Empire Chest
I have mentioned my latest favorite antique store The Trolley House Emporium here before, but I never blogged about how we first met. My Husband and I went to Crate and Barrel with the sole intention to buy furniture for our study and living room; however, we both fell hard for the Basque dining room table and chairs and decided against doing the dining room last. Due to the massive farmhouse size of the table it required a lot of measuring and the rearrangement of my entire layout. So with the Basque in and the antique buffet now out we needed to find another storage item for the dining room that would be narrow enough to fit in a little 54″ wide recessed nook. Honestly, I didn’t think that I was going to be able to find something so absolutely perfect so quickly. I had thought of balancing the provincial rustic of the table with a Chippendale styled highboy, but yet again my Upper East Side taste clashed with my Bushwick budget {which at this point is inching ever nearer to East New York} I stumbled across a piece in Quakertown on eBay and it seemed too good to be true. The width and depth and height were perfect, the item was in fantastic condition and though the price was a far cry from the $3 we paid for the antique buffet it was replacing I wouldn’t consider the chest to be too expensive. The seller, Sam, had listed it as Buy-it-now for $495 or best offer on eBay … what, when did eBay start doing best offer?! So I submitted what I thought was a fair price of $365 and he accepted my offer!!! The Hubby and I went out that weekend to pick up our new addition. Though I wasn’t able to meet my man Sam, I met his Wife and daughter who were super friendly, in fact everyone is eerily super friendly in Quakertown. Then again only a New Yorker would consider friendly eerie, right!? I was super impressed, to say they had a little of everything is an understatement … they have something for everyone regardless of your style or budget. I felt like I was at the dollar store … “I’ll take this and that and that and oh how much is this? yeah I’ll take it too.” All books were 50% off and mirrors were half off too, before I knew it our pile had grown on the counter to include a 19th century ironstone covered tureen, 1950s El Greco book of prints, Arts & Crafts/Craftsman brass candelabra, etc. No need to haggle, they instantly knocked a couple dollars off everything … always a major bonus. The daughter helped my Husband load the empire chest into our Jeep Grand Cherokee {second best only to the Land Rover} and we were off on our way … only to venture back two weeks later for more!
So that is how we found our Pigeon Blood Empire Chest. Now here is what we know about it or at least what we have been told about it, right or wrong we are far from Antiques Roadshow experts. The piece is considered an early Empire High Chest which was hand crafted somewhere between 1840 and 1860; however, we have been told that it could be slightly older and that it is larger then normal. {Who knows maybe, like us, they had a lot to store} The finish is a jelly stain and is a deep, rich pigeon blood color … no idea why anyone would use the term “pigeon blood” to describe a color, but to each their own. My Husband called his Aunt Peggi who is a novice, turned avid furniture restorer to see what she knew about jelly stains and how to properly care for the chest. She suggested that we buy and apply Howard Restor-A-Finish then treat with Howard Feed-n-Wax. So far we have only managed to accomplish step one, though our local Home Depot and Lowes did not carry Howard we stopped at an Ace Hardware store on the North Fork and bought what we needed. Once I have some time to apply the Howard products and my favorite Daddy Van’s Furniture Polish I will photograph the chest and post photos for everyone. Today I will finish emptying the antique buffet and decide what will eventually go into the chest. Our kitties love the empire chest almost as much as we do … it is high enough that they can lay under it and empty enough so they can lay on top it. {For now} I am going to go through all of the fabric that I have purchased on clearance over the years from Joann’s to see if I have anything appropriate for covering the drawer bottoms … hopefully I do because spending more money isn’t a priority right now. This redecoration is starting to turn into our wedding, where all of the little minutia is destroying our budget!!! My Husband and I also have decided what we will do for over the chest. We had considered a mirror, as to reflect some of the light coming in our Southern exposure windows in the kitchen, but there is a mirror in the antique fireplace mantle which is directly across from the chest and there will be a Victorian mirror above the sofa which will be on the same wall as the fireplace, so to avoid the carnival house-of-mirrors look I think we shouldn’t add another here. For our first anniversary my Husband surprised me with a first edition series of the Stones of Venice books {I am an architecture History dork} and I purchased a giclee print of a 16th century map of Venice, both of which were incredibly romantic since we were married at Chiesa del Redentore in Venice, Italy and poignant since they are made of paper which is the traditional 1st anniversary gift. {I also received the a fore mentioned fluffy side kick as an anniversary gift who we named Augustus Paper, who knew his namesake would be his favorite treat?!} So we finally brought the giclee print to be framed and with a 50% discount we are now $400 poorer, but we will have a perfectly matted and framed piece to hang over our pigeon blood empire chest. I guess that spot is appropriate … of course a map of a city known for pigeons would be at home above a pigeon blood chest!!!
Venezia, Italia
Still to decide is whether or not to hang the framed map solo over the chest or to add additional pieces. We have a pair of petite oval wood framed mirrors which may also work well together in that space. Once everything is finished and settled I will photograph everything and blog the part two! Please leave comments if you have any ideas or suggestions.
