Elegant Cedar Chest Revival

Cedar Chest Before

This was a classic antique cedar chest, similar to the others we've done, but the first one with a combination lock on the front. It was in the family of my customer for many years, so she wanted it refinished to maintain of her family's treasures. It had seen better days, for sure, but that didn't deter us from making it better than new.

First, like most project we do, total stripping and sanding was in order. This revealed the beautiful linear design of this remarkable cedar chest. It was in great shape already, so a little refinishing made a huge difference. We were so glad the veneer was in tact, as many older chests lose their original veneer over the years, because they get used and see a lot of wear.

Cedar Chest After

After stripping and sanding, we applied a light stain which brought out the true beauty of the cedar. We added the proper hardware to the interior, which had an incorrect hinge set on the back and nothing holding it up safely. The front combination lock needed to be polished. It looked fabulous!

Once everything else was accomplished, a good interior cleaning and the chest was complete. My customer was speechless over the results. This chest was truly a unique piece of furniture which deserved all the TLC we could give it. Check out the other cedar chests we've worked on at these links: http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-waterfall-cedar-chest.html
http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2014/10/solid-cedar-chest.html
http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2013/12/1945-lane-waterfall-cedar-chest.html

Thonet Chairs Back to Original

Thonet Chairs Before

Thonet Chairs After

A customer had acquired two Thonet chairs at a resale shop, however, someone had painted these expensive designer chairs with black spray paint and never bothered to mask off the vinyl seats or back, so the black paint left a shadowed over-spray. She preferred to keep the chairs original, thus it was necessary to remove the paint and clean up the vinyl, and strip the paint from the wood part of the chairs.

Old Painted Oak Dresser Makeover

Dresser Before Stripping

Dresser After Stripping

Every once in a while we come across a stunning piece of furniture in a corner of a basement at an estate sale, hiding its beauty to the world underneath a thick layer of dust and in this case, paint. Likely this dresser was painted well over fifty years ago and hadn't been touched since. We spotted it and being it was the last day of the estate sale, bought it for an astonishing price of $7.50. We were thrilled as we could see the great "bones" of this elegant beauty buried somewhere beneath all that paint, which surely was charming at the time, but had long lost its appeal.