Refinishing An Antique Humidor

This is a very exciting post for me. Today, I am sharing a really special project I just completed for a client: refinishing an antique humidor. This piece is at least 100 years old and a family heirloom. It belonged to my client’s grandmother, so this holds some sentimental value. Considering this piece’s age, it is in fantastic shape with very few dings or scratches on it. It has been a very well-cared for piece through the generations.

Now, some of you may be asking… what is a humidor? Well, a humidor is essentially a humidity controlled metal box that is used for storing cigars. This one happens to be in the form of a cabinet. The first ever created was believed to have been by an Irish furniture maker in the late 1800s. Pretty neat, huh? The funny thing is, my client couldn’t say why her grandmother would have owned one since they did not smoke cigars. My client uses it for a little lamp table and wanted to take this masculine looking family antique and make it a brighter, more feminine piece. I think we accomplished that. Here is a look at it before refinishing. (It has removable attachments for magazine racks which I show in the “before” photograph. I didn’t use them in the “after” photos but they were painted to match the rest of the piece).

After fixing a few tiny spots on this that needed tending to, I gave this piece a very good cleaning. TSP or Krud Kutter are great cleaners to use. After cleaning, I gave several coats of shellac. When dealing with old, dark wood furniture, I like to apply a coat or two of Zinsser shellac because it does an excellent job of blocking that dreaded bleed through that is so common when using white paint.

To paint this piece, I used Annie Sloan chalk paint in the color original. It’s her warmest white and has a creamy undertone. It is by far my favorite shade of white in her paint line. If you are in the metro-Detroit area and are looking for an Annie Sloan stockist, I highly recommend Nada & Co. in Berkley. She is such a fantastic stockist/shop owner and has helped me with answers to some of my painting questions and dilemmas (like how I was using the wrong cleaner for the longest time and making extra work for myself haha…).

After a couple of coats of chalk paint, I gave it a good waxing to seal it and then sprayed the knob in a brass tone to give it some new life. It just made this piece go from a heavier feel to a that brighter, lighter feel that she wanted. All while staying true to the original architecture of the design.

For styling purposes, I used more “moody” tones to contrast the brightness of the paint job. I think this really goes to show how versatile this piece really is. It will look great paired with a variety of design aesthetics. Versatile pieces are always my favorite because I can change the feel of them simply by styling and they still feel exciting and beautiful.

I hope that you have enjoyed checking out this lovely antique project from my client. She was so excited to have this shared here on the blog, and I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a glimpse of it!