If you don’t believe in second chances, listen to Ellen Wuagneux’s story. The artist and self-taught furniture refinisher is a walking example of renewed life. In her transition to becoming an empty nester, she channeled her creative drive into her furniture and decor business Vintage Key, now in its fourth year. 

At first, it was personal. “I had a home full of outdated but good-quality furniture, mainly golden oak from the ‘90s,” says Wuagneux, who proceeded to teach herself how to upcycle unfashionable furniture.

Now, in her Siesta Key garage studio, Wuagneux examines each vintage or antique piece of furniture with TLC before coming up with a plan to bring it back to life. Before she begins, she says, she asks each piece, “‘What’s your second story?’" 

"The answer always reveals itself,” she says. After she's sanded, repaired, and finished an item—often with an unexpected paint combination or pattern—the piece can be unrecognizable from where it began.

Working with her hands, with a sharp eye for detail, she’s moved by the skills of the craftspeople of long ago. “Old school furniture manufacturing is a lost art,” she says. “Hand-carved details, dovetail or mortise and tenon joints, gorgeous veneers, intricate solid brass hardware—I love it all.” Today, rehabbing undervalued furnishings to give them new life in a new home has become her mission.

Wuagneux vets each table, secretary or dresser before she starts working on it. "It's OK if it's in terrible shape, but it must have good bones," she says. Items typically fall into two categories: vintage pieces, which are 25 years and older, or antiques, which are more than 100 years old. Antiques often come with cracks or weakened joints, not to mention the effects of decades of exposure to Florida's humidity and temperature changes.

Next, she gives a piece a deep clean inside and out, always with the aim to keep its original hardware. A select few retain their original finishes but get a good polish or minor fixes. 

“To find an old piece that is well-made and still intact with its prized wood can change a room significantly,” says interior designer Kimberlee Paige Hanson of Interior Bliss Design, who's based in New York City and Venice. Antique and vintage have figured prominently in her design ethos for more than 20 years and her love of older pieces is simpatico with Wuagneux's. “For my clients, I love the idea of items with a rich history starting a new life in their space,” she says.

However, many of Wuagneux’s refurbished pieces stand out precisely because of the modern-day makeover she gives their classic silhouettes, using graphic wallpaper, stencils, and decoupage, among other tools. She also is not afraid of bold color, which she applies using natural, washable mineral paint. “I often combine a wood grain with painted elements after hand- and machine-sanding,” Wuagneux says, “and then seal it so it remains durable for a long time.”

She’s also steadfast in her desire to keep furniture out of the landfills. To curate the inventory in her workshop, she seeks out treasures in consignment shops, estate sales, or the private homes of the older generation. “Hands down, these are my favorite pieces to work on,” Wuagneux says. “It’s an honor to take a well-loved heirloom from someone’s home and give it a new story to tell.” In fact, she and the donating owners often become friends. “It means so much to them to see a part of their past shine once again,” she says.

One of Wuagneux’s favorite projects was an old rusted metal cabinet found in a friend’s mom’s storage unit in Bradenton. The story goes that it was once a medicine cabinet in a local doctor’s office in the 1950s and when the doctor retired, the cabinet wound up on a local woman’s porch being used as storage for herbal remedies. The woman's neighbors would pop by her porch to pick up their "prescriptions," leaving money in one drawer and taking their herbal medicine from another. Now fully restored, it lives with a Longboat Key family and holds art supplies.

Hanson fittingly refers to Wuagneux’s furniture as “re-loved,” and painted pieces with an aged patina figure prominently in her design ethos. “Each vintage piece of furniture is a jewel with endless possibilities,” says Hanson, who is often looking for vintage statement pieces for her projects. “Its neutral finish can be reworked to a client’s specific color palette and interior style—from coastal and modern farmhouse to balancing a minimalist home with a touch of texture.”

Wuagneux says that young families are one segment of the population in Sarasota who love hearing the history of an old piece. Some are moving away from buying pieces that are mass manufactured in favor of older items with more allure. Incorporating one or two into a your space does the trick, creating a wow factor. “They don’t want every piece in their home to come from a catalog,” Wuagneux explains.

It's not easy work, Wuagneux says, "but these gems are so special, they're worth it." 

A Simple Tip for Cleaning Metal

Courtesy of Ellen Wuagneux

This tip could change your life. Remove tarnish from brass, copper and other metals using ketchup. (Tomato paste or tomato sauce work, too.) Let the acid in the tomatoes do the work!  Simply apply a layer of ketchup and let your piece sit for an hour. Rinse with warm water and dish soap. Good as new!

Find Ellen Wuagneux's work at the Venice Mercato in Venice, Scavengers Marketplace in Sarasota, and Left Coast Sol in Bradenton. Find out more at vintagekeyfl.com or @vintagekey_fl on Instagram.