Furniture Restoration

Repair and Polishing of a Victorian Bonheur du Jour

This particularly glitzy ladies writing desk dates from the second half of the nineteenth century. It is veneered in burr walnut and the banding around the drawers, the inner side of the legs and base of the desk is tulip wood. All the metal parts are gilded. This piece is a Victorian revival of a design which was conceived around a century earlier. Social letter writing was a very popular past time for wealthy ladies in the second half of the eighteenth century - the Bonheur du Jour gave them a place to write.

Structurally it was generally in good condition apart from the castors being loose in the carcass. The veneer and banding had not endured time so well- a lot of the banding and some of the veneer was missing. The polish and leather sciver were in need of reviving and one of the drawer handles was missing.

After working my way around the desk re-gluing loose veneer and replacing the missing veneer the desk needed to be completely polished and the veneer repairs colour matched. It was not possible to buy one of the little drawer handles – instead one of the original handles was copied by a specialist.

The Bonheur du Jour before Restoration

The Bonhuer du Jour fully repaired and polished

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