1940’s Waterfall Dresser Refinished

Waterfall Dresser After

Waterfall Dresser Before

This was a lovely waterfall dresser that had sustained some burn damage on the top right side. Other than that, it was in pretty decent condition. It also had a matching round mirror (not pictured) that we refinished, in addition to the dresser. I decided not to include it in comparison, since the "before" photo didn't include the mirror, as it was already detached. 

Jim was able to minimize the damage of the burn mark on the top with careful sanding. With veneer you can't sand too much or you will completely remove the veneer down to the bare wood. In furniture such as this, it's not an easy fix so better to keep the sanding to a minimum. Jim decided to paint the center curved section of the front top drawer and the backing since originally it had some kind of painted feature which had long since worn away. It looked better than leaving it stained with an uneven, unattractive color. It also matched the new hardware very well. The plastic back section of the original knobs were broken, so out customer had decided to replace them with new hardware. 

Our photo on the top left is the "before" version, which shows a bit of the top. Since our customer had to order the hardware and it took a few weeks to get it, we were unable to get an "after" photo of this dresser, so the one you see on the right was supplied by the customer. However, they posted the refinished dresser along with the mirror on our Facebook page, so here it is. It looks pretty good!

Dresser with Mirror

1932 Cedar Chest Refinished and Restored

Cedar Chest After

Cedar Chest Before

This is a vintage 1932 Lane cedar chest, with a walnut exterior. The top had been covered with material a foam because whoever had used it previously had done some real damage to the original top. Once Jim removed the foam top, what he saw was startling. 

The wood top had been completely unusable. It was covered with the glue that had been holding the foam in place and the fabric was attached with large tacks. Evidently whoever had done this wanted to cover the top and make it an effective seating area, which is not a bad way to go if you don't have the resources to refinish and restore the piece of furniture. After discussion the possibilities with the customers, they decided to replace the veneer with new veneer (good choice) and it looked great. Jim ordered a walnut veneer that had a self-stick feature which is a great way to go since you do not require adhesive to attach it.

Of course the entire cedar chest had to be stripped, sanded and refinished. Once that was done and the new veneer had been installed, he stained the entire cedar chest with English Chestnut stain (this year's most popular stain!) It turned out terrific. The new walnut veneer was the cherry on top of this hope chest which is once again a lovely, usable and beautifully finished piece of furniture. 

Old Cedar Chest Top (before new veneer) 

Dining Room Chairs Re-Upholstered

Chair After

 

Chair Before

This set of four dining room chairs had outdated fabric, though it was still in pretty decent condition. The chairs were made in 1996, so the fabric was original. Not bad for 28 years old. However, my customer had wanted to update the material and chose a cream color, which looked very nice with the oak wood. 

Luckily the wood needed only a little bit of cleaning and touch-up, but nothing else. It was in really great condition. When you take care of your furniture, it shows. It also shows if furniture has not been taken care, of or had been badly used or abused. Each piece tells its own story.

For these chairs I had to invest in a new, long-nose pneumatic stapler because the backrest area of the chairs' top and bottom areas were hard to reach with my regular stapler. The long nose stapler is something I had been wanting to purchase sooner or later because there have been times recently where having one would have been pretty handy. I also found out the the staples are a completely different type that I had been using. Once I got all the stapler/staples issues figured out, I could proceed with my project of working on these four chairs.

Upon first seeing these chairs, I was unaware how to remove the back as there were no visible screws, nails or other fasteners. Once I removed the seat, it was a matter of using a flat screwdriver and loosening the bottom and hammering it upward to "lift" the back right out and pull if away from the groove at the top that it was pushed into. Once the backrest was out, I had to remove all those staples. One aspect of furniture restoration and refinishing that is time-consuming and painful is removing the original staples. After a while my right shoulder gets pretty sore, so I try not to do them all at once.

Installing the new fabric was not too difficult as I wrapped it around the backrest and stapled the inside edge so that the staples couldn't been seen. The top and bottom were a bit trickier because of the way it had to be lifted up and into, then hammered back into its original groove at the top. It was essential to line it up perfectly and hammer it in without breaking or splitting the wood. I decided to work on one chair at a time, completing the backrest first and then the seats. Each seat received new foam because the old foam was very worn out and not supportive at all. I also topped off the seat with a bit of quilt batting.

Because of the pattern, I wanted to make sure it lined up at the back of the seat and the bottom of the backing so it looked like a continuous line of material. I accomplished this by putting the seat in position once the backrest was installed then actually installing a couple of screws from the seat's underside to make sure the seat would end up where it was supposed to. Once that was secured, I placed the fabric on the cushion and lined it up with the backrest. 

I tacked the sides so that the fabric would stay in the right position, then proceeded to attach the seat fabric. It worked beautifully. After the material was secured, I finalized attaching it to the seats and finished off the seats' underside with chambray, the black fabric used as a dust cover in most chairs. For these type of chairs it serves as a finished look. The new fabric is very nice and updated as well as durable. I recommended my customer use Scotchguard to protect it from potential stains and she agreed.