Unique transformations: Woman finds joy in restoring used, rundown furniture

Debbie Birk, the self-styled "Junkin' Gal," has always been a crafter, always been interested in taking raw materials to a new form and function.

For the last several years, she's been punching up furniture finds.

Birk said she's drawn to pieces with character, that she can take down to bare wood and build back up.

"I find them on the side of the road, I find them at estate sales, flea markets," she said, laughing. "Garage sales, Facebook pages like Sell it Semo and those sites, too." Birk said she and her cousin, who lives in St. Louis, often take Sundays and go to estate sales, when everything is priced 50 percent off.

"People who know what I do will sometimes bring me things," she said, "give them to me before they go on the burn pile. Those are the most fun for me. Sometimes they require the most work but are also the most challenging, and that's what I like. I like a challenge."

"If you don't like it, get the paint back out and repaint it, it's just paint." Debbie Birk said about redesigning furniture. No-Fuss Paint cans are seen that Debbie gets from The Designer in You paint product line.Andrew J. Whitaker

Birk isn't formally trained in furniture repair or restoration, she said, but she is self-taught, and she does have a support network of people willing to advise her if she needs help.

Still, Birk said, she likes to work with pieces that have good bones.

"I like to find them in decent shape," she said, and prefers to work with dressers and chairs, though she'll work with any piece she thinks is interesting and worth bringing back.

"I really just look for something that's kind of unique," she said.

"I like to find an ugly duckling out of the bunch and transform it. That's fun for me."

Debbie Birk applies French gilding wax to a mirror she is redesigning, the wax gives a metallic look when used. Birk said she finds furniture and other items everywhere from yardsales, on Sell It Semo or just ion the side of the road.Andrew J. Whitaker

Not only does Birk restore and refresh furniture, she also retails Designer in You (DIY) Paint and Decorative Products Line.

"The line is made by a lady in Georgia who develops the formula for her paints, creates all of her colors, tons of them," Birk said.

She's been using the paint line since the end of March, and is still trying to get through using all of the colors.

"But she's creating more as I go, and I'm having a very hard time keeping up!" Birk said, adding, "It's so much fun to use all these colors."

Birk said the line includes more than paint colors. Glazes, waxes, different texture agents, crackle glazes -- "I'm just having a blast using the products, creating different finishes," Birk said. "I don't want my stuff to be cookie cutter."

That's a little bit of a hard balance to walk, Birk

admits, wanting each piece to have unique charm, but also wanting to appeal to as many people as she can.

"I might paint a bench purple, but I don't want to paint something that won't go in someone's house," she said.

One way she achieves that is with glazes.

She's applied them using different methods, like paint brushes, rollers, even large-pore sea sponges.

If she uses three different colors of glaze applied with the sea sponge, Birk said, she can get kind of a marbled look, like the older Samsonite suitcases.

"There's also a richness, a layered effect, with this technique," Birk said. "I can put on lots and lots of layers, and because it's a glaze, there's so much on there, but you can still see the color underneath. It's mostly transparent, but I put it on thick," she said.

"I like to add things like that," she added.

Birk said she also likes using stencils to add some interest to a piece.

"When you add a dark glaze to a white piece, it gives it that old look," Birk said.

She does some distressing of items, or roughing up the edges to give a more antique look, Birk said, but not usually heavy distressing. "I go light to make it look like it's been sitting in someone's house for a long time," she said.

Birk said she doesn't typically strip paint or finish off of a piece.

"If I'm going to paint it, I still sand it down to bare wood, but if it's already painted, all I do is clean it with denatured alcohol and water," she said, then let it dry and paint it.

"That took off a thousand steps," Birk said. "If a piece has been sitting awhile, it may take more cleaning."

"When I start painting, I have my vision and I get it probably 75 percent done, and I can't stand it, I have to keep going," Birk said, laughing. "I love the transformation, having it come to life. That's the fun thing out of it. I like to see the before, and the after. Look at that, what is it now? That's my fun thing. I love doing it."

Birk said while she used to sell her pieces on the flea-market circuit, she's settled mainly on one retail outlet now -- Judith's Antiques at 109 N. Main St. in downtown Cape Girardeau.

"Judith is amazing," Birk said.

"I'm glad I found my niche that I really love doing," Birk said. "I'd just as soon be painting than just about any other thing."

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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