Table Before and After: Channeling my inner Josephine

I remember turning the pages of Empire in the Splendor and seeing the swan teacup that Empress Josephine used at Malmaison. I’ve never been much of a bird person, but you couldn’t deny its elegance. The style is known as Directoire. This was the style shepherded into fashion by the Empress during her time with Napoleon. Swans were a particular favorite of hers. She even had black swans imported from France to swim in the lake of Malmaison.

Malmaison was the house that she bought when Napoleon headed off to Egypt. He saw the house with her, pronounced it a wreck and said absolutely not. As soon as he was safely out of the country, she purchased it. She had a vision.

Empress Josephine’s tableware circa 1810, as seen in Empire Splendor: French Taste in the Age of Napoleon

My estate sale find. Perfect size + drawer = sold! I snapped it up for $50.

So I felt I was channeling her in more ways than just a love for swans when I bought this table at an estate warehouse sale. I had a vision that it didn’t need to spend its life with that orange shade of stain.

Practically, I was drawn to this table’s size and the fact that it had a drawer. So many modern tables don’t. But drawers are so handy and this one was perfectly sized for a TV remote. (The label underneath revealed that it was made in Italy.) So for $50, it was mine.

I was definitely tested by this table. It may have been small, but the finish was applied so thick that I can’t tell you how much I wished that I had so kind of professional stripping set-up. I think I went at this with stripper and wire scrubbers more than half a dozen times. I lost count of how many times I put on my gloves and set to work on those birds. Stripping is messy and not fun, and if you know of a better way, I’m all ears.

(And honestly, now that I’m looking at the photos, the whole thing probably could have used a couple more passes with the stripper, but I just wanted it done.)

Once the horror of stripping was over, I simply applied some household bleach — just a couple times and then waxed the entire table.