Wheat or Champagne, Which
Heywood Wakefield finish do I need?
Many pieces of Heywood
Wakefield furniture will be stamped with the color.
Look under tables, chairs,
on back panels, etc for a stamped color.
Sometimes only one piece will be
stamped, so be sure to check them all.
If this fails to produce the color, you
will need to match it up to samples.
There are many versions of the two finishes.
Below you will find what I feel
to be the most popular versions of Heywood
Wakefield Wheat and Champagne. By that, I mean these samples are indicative of the
colors I see come through
our shop more than any other versions.
You may find your
Champagne piece is more pink than these samples,
or your Wheat more orange. The
fact is, many of the original colors don't
match one another. Heywood's finishes
were known to differ throughout the
years. Another factor is the aging process
of the lacquer that was used in
the 40's and 50's. The early lacquers
turned yellow/orange with age. This is
not so noticeable on a darker finish, but
has a great effect on lighter finishes
such as wheat or champagne.
For various reasons, many pieces have aged
differently. I have seen many Wheat
pieces I thought were Champagne, and
visa versa. When we developed our
stains, we chose to recreate the most common color that we feel is most often
found.
Below are examples of
the most common original Champagne and Wheat finishes
Original Champagne
Original Wheat
Original Champagne
Original Wheat
