Telephone Bench

My sweet friend Jean has a phone bench from her childhood home she wanted me to refinish.  She wanted it lighter, but to still be able to see remnants of the original piece.  So, we chose to use Old White and dry brush it on.  Here is the after:  I would rather put the "before" first and then the "after", but facebook always shows the first picture as the thumbnail, so I do it backwards...

 And here's the before:

I used clear wax and then went back with dark wax and highlighted the spots that were worn on the original piece:

I think Jean was pleased the seat back was still so worn looking, just like it was originally.  Even though it's been made new, the bench has a sense of history!

 I added a few pops of grey and red just to give it some contrast: