This amazing duomo is just down the street from our AirBNB! We just stumbled into this impressive Chiesa, after grabbing some award winning pizza (more on that another day.) Italy has these (nearly) thousand year old buildings all over, and then you step inside and and your jaw hits the floor. The one is from 1200's.
It happens to be the final resting place of Naple’s patron saint- San Gennaro (or Saint Januarius in the USA). The said is from the SAME town as my Great Grandfather- Benevento- which was rad! 💀 ⛪ We will be headed to Benevento in two weeks.
The ceiling is in a style we have seen in several similar time period churches. With gold frames and several works of art depicting with the Saint interned or the story of Christ.
San Gennaro's crypt is found below the chapel and is more highly decorated than the church above. He was a relatively young saint who was martyred proselytizing and for hiding Christians during a period of intense persecution before 3000AD. The floors are all made of marble inlay and the ceiling is highly decorated.
We've noticed the art has increased in beauty as we've moved up from Southern Italy.
For this week's project, we're back to my roots! Which means we're creating knock off Restoration Hardware colors today! This project is easy peasy, just apply to wood and watch the magic happen! You're going to love this tutorial to easily achieve the Reclaimed Gray Oak look.
Materials
- Table- species doesn't matter
- Garbage Bag
- Citristrip
- Mineral Spirits
- Scraper
- Palm Sander, Sand Paper
- Gloves
- Rags
- Weatherwood Stain's Light Oaking - Discount at bottom!
- Weatherwood Varnish, Dead Flat
Directions
Here's the "before" of this typical, out dated oak table. There's a million of these babies floating around from the 80's and 90's. It shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on one, and at a good price.
If you're using a brand new, or raw wood table, please skip down to step #5. Thanks!
1.] STRIP
First you'll want to apply a thick layer of Citristrip to the table. Citristrip has a tendency to dry out before it can eat away at all the layers of stain and lacquer. So covering the wet stripper with a garbage bag helps keep the moisture in while it works.
2.] SCRAPE
When the stripper turns white, it's ready to be scraper off. Remove the bags and scrape as much of the mixture off, as you can. You'll want to try and get down ti the raw wood if you can. But being careful not to scrape or damage the wood itself.
3.] CLEAN
You will want to wipe the table down with mineral spirits and a rag to remove any existing residue. This should remove any sticky residue from the tabletop.
4.] SAND
Here's the labor portion. You want to use a palm sander and 80 grit sandpaper to make sure the wood is completely down to raw. You can see in this video what I mean.
5.] STAIN
Weatherwood released a new stain that can turn oak into a beautiful driftwood gray, called Light Oaking. This product can work on any wood, so it's less complicated than some of their other products. It's quickly and easily layered for darker shades. This is two coats, for a darker gray.
6.] PROTECT
Apply 2-3 coats of Weatherwood Varnish to protect.
Apply 2-3 coats of Weatherwood Varnish to protect.
For additional project looking to achieve the Restoration Hardware look, you can search our archives or check out this post below!
Isn't she pretty! Perfetly rustic, but oh-so-simple! And don't forget, all blog readers can save 10% on Weatherwood products with discount code: WELCOME10! xo
