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Monday, May 21, 2012
Picked Up Some Dirty Dirty DIRTY (Mr. Mod. Likes It Dirty) Little Tables At The Belleville Flea Market Saturday. Let's See If They'll Clean Up Enough To "Take Home To Mother". Status: Did I Mention "Dirty"?
Ever "pass" on an item(s) at a flea market, thrift or antique mall thinking "if it's still there when..." only to find yourself either relieved or disappointed that it disappeared before you got back around to it? This happened a couple of times to me Saturday, but not with these filthy things.
I walked past a little vinyl upholstered danish style bench, an aluminum Christmas tree (pom pom
style) in a big cardboard box and a couple other interesting items thinking that I might check them
out more closely if they were still available when I passed them again upon making my way out.
Those were all gone (no real regrets) but these were at the far end of the flea market and so there
wasn't much time for someone else to recognize their inherent awesomeness before I passed
them again.
It would have been hard for anybody else to see their beauty, covered by so much dust and dirt
and the Teak dying of thirst. I didn't give anybody else that chance. I just went ahead and
snatched them up and hauled them the Long, Looonnnggggg way back to the car. For real, they
couldn't have been any further away from each other as I was parked as far away from the flea
market as I think you could get! It was a busy day at the flea.
At least the cleanup wasn't any big deal. These tables were easy to disassemble, clean, slather
and re-assemble. For how filthy they were, they are in surprisingly good condition. One of the
nice features is that the smoke colored glass "tops" can't fall out unless you disassemble the Teak
frames. I'm just making an educated guess about the wood. I'm no expert. The frames "feel"
like Teak. Anyway, the wood soaked up the Watco Danish Oil with aplomb! Oh, it was so
thirsty! You can really see the difference in the two pieces, one before and one after treatment.
But first I needed to give everything a bath. I had to douse everything with Pro Green Kleen
first just to remove the grunge and random filth. Afterward I sprayed the wood down with Murphy
Oil Soap to remove the last of any remaining detritus as well as any film the Pro Green Kleen might
have left behind. Once satisfied that the disassembled wooden bits were nice and clean I slathered
them down with the Watco Danish Oil. I let that soak in and "dry" for about 20 minutes and then
rubbed any remaining oiliness off with paper towels buffing the wood at the same time.
Turned out kinda nice, right? Not too shabby for a couple hours work on the pair. It got too late
to take a photo of both finished tables but I assure you, they both turned out very nice. Drop by
the Green Shag Market on June 2 to check them out for yourself at the Parking Lot Sale starting
at 9am! If they don't get snatched up at the sale I'll probably leave them as part of my IPO (Initial
Public Offering) at what will be the Mr. Modtomic Boutique (hmmmm...may have to work on that)
antique mall booth number 44 inside the Green Shag Market proper. So you may get another
chance to litter you joint with this amazing matched pair of newly rehabbed side or end tables.
Mr. Modtomique?
ReplyDeleteor Mr. Modtomattic?
DeleteHi Anony. "Modtomique" Now you got me thinking about poodles.
Delete"Modtomattic" Hmmm...maybe not for the booth but I like the sound of that...maybe I'll be using that somewhere!
How tall are the tables and how much??
ReplyDeleteHi Anony. They are 14 3/4" tall. Whatchya think they're worth?
DeleteThey cleaned up nicely
ReplyDeleteHi bopfish. Amazing but yes! The before pics really don't do the filthy filth justice.
DeleteThose look fantastic! I like the smokey tops.
ReplyDeleteHi Vintage Hunter. It think the sellers at the flea market might have a few regrets if they could see them now!
DeleteWhere do you buy Pro Green Kleen? I cant find it on amazon or soap.com
ReplyDeleteHi Keyse. I bought a (30 oz. I think) bottle from a door to door salesman about a year ago. It wasn't cheap by any means @ about $30 but I put just a small amount in the included spray bottle and fill the rest with water (about a 10 to 1 mix) making each mixed bottle about $3. I'm about half out so I'll be sending the company an e-mail soon to get a larger bottle (or two!) since I'm totally sold on the stuff. I clean all sorts of stuff with it. I even used it in my upholstery cleaner! I love it. It really cleans well and smells good too.
DeleteHere's the Pro Green Kleen website.
I think it's the Mr Mod-o-Mat: http://www.theautomat.com/
ReplyDeleteHi Kim. Modtom-O-Mat perhaps?
DeleteThat works!
Delete