Antique Eastlake Dresser Makeover

Dresser After

Dresser Before

This is a great example of a perfect "before" and "after" photo of an old, beat up dresser that had seen better days and lots of wear. It is an Eastlake style dresser made of solid oak. The top was pretty much destroyed and needed replacement. There's only so much you can do with refinishing and restoration. Sometimes a total replacement is required, such as in the top. 

Jim made a brand new top using sassafras wood, which has a similar wood grain as oak, which matched perfectly with this dresser. He opted to paint it using chalk paint and treated with wax, which protects the finish and makes it easy to clean. He chose a lovely brushed brass for the drawer pulls which looks stunning with the new color.

This dresser has four large drawers and two smaller ones at the top. Each drawer bottom has been replaced since many were either missing or not operative any longer. The drawers were constructed with dovetail joints, so it was made well as new, but as the years pass by, it got its fair share of use and likely, neglect over time. What you see in the "before" photo it the way it looked when we got it home. The "after" photo is what it looked like once it was complete. 

This dresser is also for sale, asking $375.00. It is solid wood and will make a nice addition to your bedroom.

Classic Dresser Upgrade

Dresser After Painting
with new top

Dresser Before Painting
and worn out top

Jim rescued this cute little dresser from the depths of someone's garage to make it pretty again. It was the perfect flip dresser that has three spacious drawers and dovetail joints. This is a desirable feature in dressers.

This dresser had a durable structure, except for the top, which was in rough shape, so Jim made a brand new top and stained it with English Chestnut stain, which complements the blue chalk paint.

The new hexagon shaped drawer pulls are nickel, which work well with the blue color.

This dresser is for sale, asking $375.00. The measurements are 40" wide x 18-1/4" deep x 33-1/2" tall. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing this dresser.

Antique Dresser Freshly Painted "In The Navy" Blue - for Sale!

Dresser After Painting
FOR SALE!

Dresser Before

What you see here is an original antique oak dresser that has been completely modernized with paint, but retaining its original look by reusing the hardware. The frills on the door fronts were removed for a streamlined, clean look. 

First it was stripped, sanded and then painted in a lovely dark shade called "In The Navy." Jim chose to paint this dresser with chalk paint, which requires a finishing treatment of waxing upon completion of painting. The was protects the paint and makes it strong and durable and easy to take care of as it provides a hard finish to the paint, protecting the wood. We've used wax paint on several projects and they always look terrific.

The original hardware was brass, so he cleaned and polished it, making it pop on the newly painted color. The interior drawers were stained and the bottom compartments behind the doors was painted in a light color. Although its primary function was a dresser, this lovely renovated piece of furniture can also be used as a buffet since it has plenty of storage for silverware and plates below and behind the doors. If you wanted a coffee bar, it could be used for that as well. And of course, its original use as a dresser will still suffice. 

This piece is currently for sale. Asking price is $425.00, so please get it touch with us if you are interested!

Tavern Chairs' Revival

Chair After

Chair Before

A set of four chairs that very much looked like they'd be at home in a 19th Century English Tavern, had been neglected for a long time and needed life breathed back into them. This photo shows the worst of the four, since it looked like it had been left out in the weather. It was in pretty rough shape. 

The original seat and back were black vinyl, with upholstery tacks surrounding the seat area and sides of the top. The seats were torn and the foam was destroyed. Time to renew.

There was a lovely medallion carving in the center of the back, which was almost invisible prior to refinishing. Made of solid (and I mean SOLID) oak, these chairs must have weighed 40 lbs. each. This made the refinishing and reupholstery project tough, because of how many times needed to move the chairs to complete the work.

To save time, Jim removed the black vinyl and got to work. He opted to take them apart so he could access the areas that needed to be re-glued and repaired and that's the best and proper way to do it. Apart, he sanded the pieces down to bare wood then stained them with English Chestnut stain.  Once the new stain was applied, the chairs were put together and "brought back to life." The final step was sprayed the polyurethane, and wow! The chairs were beautiful and that beautiful flower medallion just popped! 

Once he was done working his magic, it was time for me to work mine. The chairs needed new fabric. My customer and I agreed gray would be a nice color. The old padding was not usable, so each chair got new foam and batting on the seats. As I stated before, these chairs were HEAVY! Since adding material requires a lot of moving the chair around, it was necessary to lift them up to put on my work table then down again on the floor for stapling and then up on the table again to continue other parts. You get the picture. 

The curved back portion of the chair was trickier than it first looked, because each chair needed a template which I had to create from the chair's measurements instead of using the old material, since it was so distorted and badly damaged it was unusable. Upholstery has many challenges, one being sometimes you simply do not know what is involved until you get into it. Such was the case with the backs. Once I figured out that part, measuring the material properly was crucial, because if the measurement was incorrect, it wouldn't fit. 

I created templates out of card stock, which gave me the precise size of each fabric section. I had to line up the top edges of the curved portion of the top prior to stitching, so that once it was pulled into position, it would fit snugly to the bottom edge before I could attach the underside with staples. This required a lot of lifting, turning, more lifting, more turning, etc. Good body mechanics is essential when doing this heavy lifting.

The last step in the process was adding the double welt cord around the seat to finish it off with a polished, professional look. I used hot glue on the double welt cord, as it is the most effective way to attach welt cord, but I also like to reinforce welt cord with tiny nails to make sure it doesn't move over time. Needless to say I was extremely happy to finish these heavy, but lovely, tavern chairs.

Oak Dining Table Makeover

Dining Table After

Dining Table Before

A classic oak dining table never goes out of style. One of the more popular tables we refinish are like this very one. Due to time and use, this table had seen some wear for many years and needed a lot of TLC. Basically in great condition, this solid oak table needed to be stabilized prior to refinishing. Some of the original wood components of the table were missing or broken, so Jim reconstructed them to stabilize the table. 

At some point wheels had been added, but they were metal and rusting, so Jim replaced them with new rubber wheels. Traditionally, wheels aren't recommended for dining tables, but sometimes they are useful when the person plans on moving the table's location.

The color had been faded, showing its wear. Our customer chose a lovely stain color, English Chestnut, which worked quite well for the table as well as the chairs it came with.  He used satin polyurethane to give the surface a durable finish and it looked great once it was done.

The chairs and table were not an original set, but once they were finished, the wood actually matched very well. The chairs will appear in a separate blog post titled, "Tavern Chairs' Revival."