As 2024 closed I was processing the many events of the year, not least our recent trip to the subantarctic. That trip was always a stretch for me, I wanted to do it, but knew it would require fitness I wasn’t sure I had or the discipline I needed to get it. Isn’t that the trouble with worthwhile things? We have to dig down, and sometimes up into our brains especially, to move ourselves forward.

Earlier last year as we strategised our upcoming downsize (a mouthful!), we had a couple of discussions about how we might manage work spaces for each of us in a smaller space. Our plan is to take none of our current furniture as it is all too big for an apartment. But due to his wet macular degeneration Don’s eyesight requires him to have a larger computer screen, a large lap top at least, to continue the work he enjoys. And the books. He needs a small office space, about the size of a corner of a room. And just quietly, I have no idea where I will do art work, but it’s also under discussion–one issue at a time!

During the Pandemic Don used a small antique desk we have had for 27 years or so and he liked it. But the style and colour of it didn’t match or blend in with our plans for the new furniture we had been considering. And then the Universe intervened…as it often does, if only we pay attention to the messages. A feed came across my Instagram app that showed a young woman refinishing old/antique furniture with a more modern interpretation. You can probably fill in the rest of the conversations we had with me suggesting I might consider keeping the desk if we could paint it and give it a more modern look…and he would help me.

Begin the learning…I never knew he had a small thought locked away that if he had a hobby one day it might be fun to learn woodworking. And he hadn’t realised I had some experience with refinishing furniture many years ago.

Over subsequent weeks and months of travel and health appointments and further discussions we decided on a plan to paint the desk to modernise it and make it ‘downsize worthy’ over the Christmas/New Year break. More videos to watch and conversations and finally, trips to the hardware store.

Best laid plans…

Our real estate agent called by to let us know he would be away until late January and to see if we needed anything. Nice young man about our daughter’s age. As he was leaving he commented on the desk and we said we were about to paint it. He gave us a side-eye look and said “My Mum had an antique that she painted and she wishes she hadn’t. Don’t paint it” It was enough to cause us to rethink the plan. The desk is–or at least part of it–antique. But it had been stained and re-stained and repaired numerous times in its life. The changes spoke of an era in the early 1900’s when that is what people did with their furniture. It also reflected the more recent changes made when someone wants to upsell something. I always knew it wasn’t a high quality antique but it fitted into the rustic nature of our rammed earth house and the little desk was exceedingly practical and of a size easy to accommodate.

I watched more videos and we talked more…. Another visit to the hardware store… Disassembly…sanding by hand in summer heat…

The loan from a friend of his orbital sander…now we were cooking…er sanding. And we were having the MOST interesting exchange of ideas as the project progressed. I was helping Don when his eyes just weren’t quite able to see details, he was helping me with strength related tasks and doing most of the hard sanding while I was chasing up other details and doing the final fine sanding. We both contributed ideas in the process as we ‘felt’ what the piece needed. We decided to leave most of it showing the raw timber…the history of the piece. There are at least three different types of wood, several different stain levels, some of which we could strip and sand away and some which we had to leave as a statement of the evolution of the life of the desk. Once the prep was done and we had to decide on a finish for the timber I watched more videos. It seemed like a clear spray acrylic in a satin finish might be good. We purchased a can and I sampled it on the backs of the doors. The smell was unbearable.

Back to research…Bees wax seemed the most user friendly and ecological alternative to give the satin finish and not smell of petrol-chemicals. But there was a trade-off. The wax would darken the timber again. And all beeswax for finishing furniture is not made equally, of course. Some contained turpentine and other nasties, negating its use for our purposes. But for three times the price we could buy three times as much as we needed and it only used citrus terpene which smelled lovely–like lemon and beeswax combined.

But wait…there’s more…

The beeswax darkened the timbers much more than we expected. Though it was a milky white liquid the wood sucked it in and darkened. It’s not the transition I had envisioned but isn’t that also the way of life? Things seldom turn out exactly as we dreamed. Is the finish perfect? Hell no. Did we make mistakes? Hell yes. I didn’t get my more updated, modern look. The refinished desk looked very much like the old one on the outside, but inside it did look much better. The thing I appreciate the most is that all the transitions and repairs over the 80 or more years of the piece are now on display for all to see. And who knows what effect the light and surroundings of the new apartment will create?

Doing a new thing in the spirit of generosity and openness can be a wonderful thing, even if the thing itself doesn’t quite end up as you planned.

I realised in the best moments of 41 years of marriage, this is how we have operated. I’ve felt this but for some reason this project brought it into sharper focus many times over. It was one of the best things we’ve ever done, besides seeing Penguins.