We Who are Putting Mr. Clean to Shame

When Courtney and I decided to team up and start We Who Wander, I don't think we ever anticipated the amount of time we would be devoting our lives to....cleaning.  Don't get me wrong here.  Our goal is never to make an item look brand new.  One of the reasons we chose to do this is because we are pretty bonkers about old stuff.  The items we repurpose have fascinating histories, and their patinas help tell their stories.

For instance, the patina of these shutters tells a story of them being crapped on by an improbable number of pigeons for many years....such gravitas.

However, we are also committed to presenting our customers with a sanitary product (you're welcome) so the less desirable and more yucky aspects of the patina have just got to go.  As you can see from those poor shutters, a lot of the things we pick up have been sadly neglected over the years, and the first step to giving them a new life is subjecting them to a very, very thorough cleaning.

Take the shutters, for example.  I found 5 of these puppies languishing in the corner of the sort of frightening basement of a local antiques shop.  They were beautiful, a  steal money-wise, and just begging to be made into something cool and useful.  They were also a really heinous dingy green color and COVERED in dust and bird poop, which explains why they were hanging out with all the windows that were broken or adorned with unsightly 90s era stickers.  I dragged them out of there and, immune to the incredulous looks the shop owner gave me when I told her I wanted to buy them, put them in my car and set off for home.  After dry cleaning my coat (seriously, they were so dirty) and consulting with Courtney, we came up with a game plan.  We would sand them down and paint them a completely different color then convert them into organization/mail centers.  When we started to wash and sand them though, something magical happened.  Turns out that muddy green color was actually a gorgeous, vibrant green hiding under multiple coats of grime.

Oh my!  The green was so lovely we decided to just sand it lightly and have fantastic green organization centers.  It saved us a ton of time and paint and allowed us to offer a more authentic product.  A lot of elbow grease and a burlap mail pouch later and we were ready to post an item we were proud of!

Ta da! A good cleaning can totally transform an object.  It should be the first thing you do when trying to restore or repurpose a vintage items.  Not only does it make things look a heck of a lot better, it sometimes even adds sturdiness by rehydrating wood. The ideal cleaning product for an older piece will get things clean without stripping out the character, too.  For items made of wood, we love Murphy's Oil Soap, linseed or orange oils, and beeswax.

So if you find something awesome, don't be scared away by a little dirt!  Happy cleaning, everyone!

-Hannah