A buffet is a piece of furniture that is usually found in kitchens or dining rooms. It blows from comfort, exactly that which is felt in the grandmother’s house, and not in a modern apartment, stuffed with the achievements of furniture production and kitchen appliances.
Buffet - what is it?
The buffet stores everyday and festive dishes, appliances, wineglasses and wine glasses, tablecloths and napkins. Most often it consists of 2 parts - a lower cabinet and a superstructure in the form of a cabinet with deaf or glass doors. The upper part can stand on a countertop or mounted on racks. Some models have drawers and shelves for alcohol.
The word buffet is old, comes from the French buffet, meaning "table". It appeared in Russia in the middle of the 18th century, when the Russian aristocracy rebuilt its usual life in a European way. At the same time, other previously unfamiliar pieces of furniture and words appeared - whatnot, bookcase, dressing table. The buffet began to enjoy popularity and did not concede its position until the 60s of the 20th century, when, following new trends in the design of apartments, bulky furniture began to be disposed of in favor of new lightweight “boxes” of chipboard. And the area of apartments of that time was usually not allowed to give half of the kitchen under this cabinet for storing kitchen utensils.
Currently, the fashion for this piece of furniture is back. Old buffets are made new, but especially interesting in spirit.
Interior styles in which the buffet will be appropriate
For several years, the fashion for home decoration in the styles of Provence, country and colonial has not receded. It is in them, for example, that an old buffet for the kitchen will look very authentic. However, for each of them you need to choose the appropriate option.
For example, for a colonial style, this piece of furniture is made of natural wood, varnished, with a clearly visible structure of dark-colored wood. For the country style, the same applies, but the tree can be used in different species, including light color. Provence is a pastel colored part of the decor with a pattern, decoupage, artificially
aged furniture.For each of these styles, you can create an exclusive piece of furniture by giving an antique sideboard for restoration.
Changing the buffet in the hands of a professional
There are many workshops specializing in the restoration of antique and antique furniture. Therefore, most often the easiest option would be to give your buffet to them. It’s enough for the masters to talk about their expectations of the result and you can be sure that it will not disappoint. Specialists have special abilities and skills when working with antique furniture, they have all the necessary tools and materials for such work. All this gives confidence that the old buffet will not be spoiled. Natural wood furniture is expensive, it is better to entrust its alteration to professionals. In that case, if the antique buffet for the kitchen is also rare, it is simply necessary.
But with all the advantages of furniture restoration in the workshop, there is one big minus - the price of this service is quite high. Not everyone wants or can afford it. In this case, there is the option of restoring the old sideboard on your own.
Do-it-yourself buffet restoration
As we have already found out, the cost of restoration in a workshop is usually quite high. If there is no way to allocate a budget for this or the buffet itself is cheaper than the services for its restoration, you can turn on your imagination and recall school labor lessons.
First you need to decide in which style we want to get an updated antique buffet and evaluate its condition. The list of necessary tools and materials will depend on this.
If the buffet is made of natural wood and is well preserved, you can remove the varnish using a grinding machine or sandpaper. The surface must be brought to a smooth state using skins of different grain sizes. After that, the buffet can be covered with stain to change the color or apply acrylic varnish in several layers. The result is a buffet in a country or colonial style.
Another way to self-renovate a buffet
If you are a fan of Provence or vintage, you should use a different technique. Since the furniture used in these interiors is usually light pastel colors, you need to stock up with paint, brushes, rollers and other necessary tools, based on the chosen technique. You can decorate the finished buffet with a pattern or decoupage. For this, stencils or napkins for decoupage should be purchased in advance. Another option is a freshly painted but artificially aged buffet using the craquelure technique. It also looks great. The technology of work is approximately the same as in the first case: first, old paint or varnish is removed, the surface is ground, and then coated with paint and varnish. If there is a desire to apply a pattern, then this must be done before the buffet is coated with varnish.
There are many ways to restore antique furniture, you can choose according to your taste, skill and wallet.
Where can I get a rework buffet?
Happy are those lovers of antique furniture who inherited it. Others can get a rare item only by purchasing it. An old buffet, the price of which starts at 15,000 rubles, can be affordable for many fans, you just need to set a goal and look.