What do you do with a salvaged furniture pediment? Hang it on the wall and call it art.
At least that’s what I did with mine.
The pediment’s past
My pediment was originally attached to a vintage secretary desk that I gave a makeover to earlier this summer.
I felt like the pediment made the secretary look formal and fussy, which wasn’t the look I was going for with the makeover, so I whacked it off.
At that time, I didn’t intend to keep the pediment. I tossed it onto the concrete slab behind our house so we could burn it the next time we started a fire in our firepit.
But the day after I tossed it out, it rained. Then it rained again the next day. And it kept raining, on and off, for a week.
When I next walked past the discarded pediment, the veneer had started chipping off, and I was intrigued by the wood peeking out from underneath.
Removing the veneer
I wondered how hard it would be to remove the rest of the veneer, so I grabbed a putty knife to find out.
Happily, I discovered that most of the veneer peeled away easily. And the more I saw of the wood underneath, the more I liked it.
As I worked, the salvaged furniture pediment started to remind me of a reproduction of an old store sign that I remembered seeing on the Ballard Designs website.
That gave me the idea to turn my pediment into wall decor, too.
Unfortunately the wood on my pediment had split after sitting in the rain for so long , and the top left side broke off completely while I was working on it.
By this point, I was on a mission, though, and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like a break in the wood stop me from removing the veneer and restoring the pediment.
Loosening the glue under the veneer
To deal with the stubborn spots where the veneer didn’t want to come off, I soaked a couple of rags in hot water and laid them over the wood.
I let the water soak into the veneer for 15 minutes or so. Then I removed the rags and started scraping again.
The water loosened up the glue and made it possible to wedge my knife under the veneer and pry it up. I had to re-wet the rags and repeat the process a couple times, but eventually I was able to get all of the veneer off.
The trim pieces did not have veneer on them, so I just had to sand those to remove the walnut stain to make them match the rest of the pediment. Fortunately the wood was really soft and easy to sand.
Honestly, I think it took me less than 10 minutes to sand the entire piece.
Repairing and restoring the wood
Once I was done sanding, I got my husband to re-attach the two sections that had separated, as carpentry repair is not among my skill set.
The repair job (pictured below) isn’t perfect. You can still see where the crack was. But it doesn’t bother me. It just gives the piece a little character.
To finish off the pediment, I wiped it down with hemp oil to add some moisture to the dry wood.
I left the hemp oil sit and soak in for about 15 minutes. Then I wiped off the excess.
The salvaged furniture pediment today
The last thing I did was a pound a sawtooth hanger into the back of my salvaged furniture pediment so I could hang it on a wall.
What do you think? It was worth saving, right? Any other ideas for what I could have done with it? Let me know in the comments below!
— Lisa
I love it! I may have stained it with a black stain and then painted a white chalk paint over that and distress it. Or I might stain it walnut and paint black over top then distress and then add some gold leaf to the trim pieces. There are so many ways you could recreate it. I have a few of those in my stash and plan on redoing them soon when I start putting up my wall decor.
I thought about painting it (because I paint pretty much everything these days), but I liked how rustic it looked in its raw wood form. And after going to all the trouble to remove the veneer, I thought I should at least live with it as is for a while before breaking out my paintbrush.
I might have added a shelf at the bottom edge to display smalls, but I love the simplicity of the architectural salvage on the wall! Great job! Now I’m on the lookout for something similar for MY home! Thanks for the inspiration!
I’m all about recycling/repurposing things that might otherwise end up in the landfill so the fact that you ended up rescuing the pediment makes me happy. Like you, I paint everything but I love that you kept the wood natural on this. What wonderful wall decor this pediment made and now it has a great story! The secretary makeover is so pretty too.
You have a uniquely modern approach to antiques and vintage finds! I’d love for you to share over at our Creative Crafts Linky Party https://creativelybeth.com/creative-crafts-linky-party-1-join-in-the-fun/
Have a great week!
Creatively, Beth
Thanks, Beth! I just shared the post on your site. 🙂
I like it exactly the way you did it. This Christmas hang a wreath from a ribbon on it. Let it hang a little in front of the window frame .
I love that idea! In fact, I think I’m going to try to find a fall wreath to hang on it now. I love both the pediment and the window, but that grouping felt a little stark to me. Adding a wreath with a ribbon trailing down off of it would definitely soften the look.
This is so cute! Thank you for participating in our linky party!
Thank you so much for sharing! Your project is absolutely darling!
What a great addition to our linky party! We are so happy to have you!
I love using old salvaged pieces and repurposing them as wall art. I would have never thought to take that piece off and use it separately but wow what at transformation! Thank you for joining us over at Farmhouse Friday link party. Please join in again and link up. 🙂