The craziest beautiful antiques I have brought home yet

Something happened when I found this set of 16 antique treasures. I started getting a vision for a photo. Inspiration for a gathering. The first pieces for the barn at my event and wedding venue (that I haven’t found yet).  Or I could also say, I might have gone a little crazy because these are the craziest antiques I have brought home. Welllllll So far at that time. (I actually might have just topped this a few days ago. I will share more soon. )

Sure, I saw the not so pretty that they looked like in the listing. But I also saw the potential and how beautiful they could be. But what I didn’t think about was the practical aspects of where they would land until I have that barn and venue. They were not antiques that would fit in a usual size storage unit. Hence, that warehouse storage studio space we rented recently is a perfect fit.

The Beginning

My oh so wise daughter noticed that when I get a little stressed or sad or have a lot of anxiety- I start browsing marketplace. If I am honest, I browse marketplace daily in the hunt for those elusive treasures that rarely turn up at the thrifts. But browsing and buying are two different things. Last year, when I had a bit of an anxiety producing time when my dad was having a big surgery – I bought 16 antique 10’ long church pews. Seratonin loading I suppose.

I instantly imagined alllll the weddings. Gatherings. Photo shoots. Books signings and events in the garden and so much more. With rows of 8 pews on each side of a lovely grassy walkway. Or inside a barn under a big dazzling chandelier. Or by the lake with a lovely little tree arch at the end. I could go on. But I also saw the carvings and the leg details and had a feeling they were pretty amazing underneath the not so amazing blue fabric. 

There were a couple of issues- like that blue fabric and the Smurf blue paint. Most were in pretty rough condition. And we didn’t know what we would find under the fabric. More blue? Another color? Damage? 

History

They were removed from a central California church and are nearly 200 years old. We have found square nails and hand cut details, not two are exactly alike but they all have lots of old patina from the years. And in an even crazier twist, I bought them before even seeing them in person. They were 4.5 hours away from me and the guy offered to deliver them. So after we tried to decide how we would pick them up if we were buying them, was an amazing offer. That turned into a whole other thing because, do you have any idea how much space you need in a truck to safely load 16 ten foot long antique church pews? They had to bring 2 delivery trucks. Oh boy. When they got here, my husband and I and his 2 drivers unloaded them along with 2 podiums that matched.

And I think THAT was when I realized just how big 16 pews were. Even though these are actually on the daintier side for pews. Because once they arrived and covered almost this entire section of our front lawn, the reality of there being 16 10’ long pews… with allllll.that.work started to sink in. And since that project was sitting on the lawn and just staring at me, I jumped in and started working away at ripping off the fabric and padding, pulling out tacks and nails. The first one took a couple of hours. I thought, this won’t be too bad. But they were not all easy, a lot of old nails that were stuck. Some had the old yellow padding glued to the pew. And a variety of other issues we ran into. 

But my daughter and husband and I had a couple of pew deconstruction parties and together, we managed to get that all done fairly quickly. We moved them all to the concrete patio area and worked on them and WHAT A MESS that made. It was a great workout for the arms though. Jars of nails and tacks and piles of old padding and fabric later, we had lovely 2 tone painted pews just waiting to be pretty again.

There were old cracks, holes and a whole lot of old nail holes and dings under the fabric and not any blue paint to match. We actually found 3 more layers of paint under the blue and a beautiful blush that would have been insanely fabulous if it was all that color.

Unfortunately, the citristrip was not touching taking off the top bright blue even. So after repairs and removing all the stuff, the next issue was just that. That paint was not budging. I consulted a local antique refinishing expert and he said no thanks on the job haha, but if he was going to do it, sandblasting was going to be the easiest. His recommendation was to just paint over them. We decided that though I envisioned an enormously beautiful bleached raw wood on the pews, a lovely shade of white would be just as beautiful and easier to accomplish.

Each pew took several hours to prime and then paint. And then paint again. And again. And then it happened. The layers of creamy white on them were absolutely lovely and in the evening light, the slight blush undertone comes through. And the magic started happening.

Pretty Painted Pews 

We kept the all the patina, the carved names from naughty kids, the knotholes, the dings and weathered and well worn wood. We thought about filling everything in and sanding smooth but part of the beauty of 200 year old pieces is all the patina and life lived they bring with them. So they are not perfect, but they are perfectly imperfect and honor those parts of the history of these pews and how many years they have seen. 

We set up a few of them in the yard for a mock wedding for a couple of website photos- and they were absolutely incredible with flowers and their curvy backs and legs. 

When I look at them, I do think I was a little crazy when I found them and saw the potential. But, I have always been a bit crazy, it is me. I am okay with it. 

The wild hair that encouraged me on this purchase is hopefully me being crazy in a good way. 

Available for Rent for your event

Side note, the pews inspired a side business of vintage rentals. All those amazing vintage treasures I find for photography jobs and props are being curated and offered for various parties, weddings, photo shoots, etc. And these beautiful antique pews are also offered for rent for events in Northern California and have delivery from Lake Tahoe to the Wine Country. If you would like to chat about renting them, please message me with your dates, location and how many you would like to rent. (there is a minimum amount because, 2 trucks and 2 folks to move them haha) You can see more about these and other vintage rentals on our work in progress website below:

Wren and Reverie

What do you think of how these pews turned out? And if you think I am crazy, that is okay too.

Happy Tuesday friends.