Ye Olde Brass Bed

Here's a few before pictures of the lovely early 1900's bed I picked up on Ebay last month. So far I've gotten the footboard top rail and sides cleaned up, although I will have to go over the details with a Q-tip and some brass cleaner to get all the gunk out. There are some gouges and dents, surpisingly less than I expected given it's age. R is eager to try his drill with a brass polishing attachment, though I am somewhat reluctant to let him use anything high-powered on this old beauty. All I've been using to clean it so far are an old penny, a pair of disposable gloves, some ratty undershirts and a can of Brasso. Seems to be working wonderfully at taking off all those layers of metallic paint and tarnish. It is a little time-intensive, but I don't mind in the least. Stuff like this just gets me warmed up to do all that wood stripping I'm dreaming of for our new/old house. I've already started accumulating old textiles again in preparation, including this lovely green chenille bedspread which works perfectly in my son's very spring green room. BTW, in case anyone else loves this color as much as we do, it's Calyx by Behr (Home Depot), and I think they only have it in their computer colorbase now, not on paint chips. I will be sad to see it go, but now is a good time to upgrade to a more big-boy version of it.

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