Antique Jewelry Box

Jewelry Box Before

Jewelry Box After

This mahogany jewelry box had been in this man's family for many years as it had belonged to his grandfather. It had seen some use and it looked like someone tried to repair it, but wasn't very successful. With masking tape on top, this lovely old piece crying out to be refinished.

This wasn't my typical refinishing job, but I'm always up to a challenge, so I gave it my best attention. I actually enjoyed this "table top" restoration, which was a refreshingly small job compared to some of the monster jobs I've done in the past years. The years had taken their toll on this box as it had darkened with oxidation and wear.

Eastlake Dresser Makeover

1900's Eastlake Dresser

This lovely Eastlake mahogany dresser dates back to the early 1900's. While it's nearly impossible to trace its origins, it's not too hard to figure out that this piece is made of high quality mahogany with beautiful raised panels of rosewood which complements the reddish tone of the mahogany. (Unfortunately, I can't find the "before" photo for this dresser, or I would have put it in this blog post. )

We purchased this dresser at Materials Unlimited, in Ypsilanti. It was down in the basement in the farthest corner, behind some tall old boards. We almost overlooked it with all the clutter in front of it.

It was a miracle that this dresser hadn't fallen completely apart, considering the extent of damage it had withstood over a century. I can assure you, it didn't look like this when Jim pulled it away from the basement wall. It had broken sides, drawers and a cracked back. It required a lot of restructuring and elbow grease before it could be refinished, but it was well worth it.

It is easy for a trained eye to spot quality furniture, but with these five easy guidelines, anyone can do it. Here a few pointers to look for when deciding whether or not to have an item of furniture restored and reasons why restoration is a good choice.

1. How are the bones? A good "bone" structure with minor damage is worth refinishing. If the piece is damaged to the point where there is more replacement wood than original wood, while still usable, it may not as valuable. Check for major cracks or deep scratches on the larger sections of a piece of furniture, as these may affect the amount of work required to bring it back to life.

Dining Room Table

Duncan Phyfe Dining Table

A large dining room table is one of the most challenging of all furniture restoration jobs, due to the sheer size of the project. Tables are large, heavy and difficult to transport, not to mention all that surface takes a while to strip, sand and refinish. That's why tables are amongst the highest price items when it comes to refinishing cost, but personally, I still prefer a large table to a set of chairs with spindles! Don't get me started on spindles. They're lovely, indeed, but they require a LOT of patience and time.

This lovely mahogany dining room table was quite large to begin with, plus it had two 12" leaves that also needed refinishing. This table had a few surface scratches, luckily they weren't too deep so I was able to sand them away, leaving the table's surface as good as new and ready to accept the stain, for which I chose mahogany, to match the wood. Once restored to its former beauty, this table took its place in the dining room, ready to serve up many family meals for years to come.

Antique Vanity and Mirror Makeover

Vanity Before

Vanity After

We picked up this vanity at a yard sale in Algonac on one of our numerous camping trips there this summer. It had all the original pieces and hardware. All it needed was some good old-fashioned hard work. Total refinishing. Lots of labor and love. That's truly the only way to give an old beauty such as this another chance at life. My personal pet peeve is restoring spindle legs. They require a LOT of work and time in addition to detailing. This one had four spindle legs in front and four square legs in the back. Needless to say, I spent a great deal of time on the legs. The center drawer had a lovely scroll design, which was likely carved by hand sometime in the 1940s. (It also has a gorgeous mirror, which I'll add to this post one we complete it.) The legs had metal wheels, which proved to be wonderful as I was working on it.

Dining Room Makeover

Chair Before

Chair After

This antique dining set belonged my customer's grandmother. She had many fond memories of family dinners, sitting at the table for all those wonderful holiday meals. Unfortunately, after her grandmother's passing, the set wasn't used and the years passing had taken their toll. She wanted the set refinished, so we had our work cut out for us.

Their were six chairs and a table with two extensions. The chairs were lovely, lots of detail in the carved fruit back and shapely legs. The set was also mahogany. These chairs had been quite banged up and required a great deal of TLC and many hours of stripping and sanding before the stain could be applied, but afterward the set had not only been restored, it was even better than new!

Table Before

Dining Set After

My customer had ordered upholstery fabric and had the chairs re-upholstered elsewhere. I love the beautiful robin's egg blue fabric with its bumble bee design. It matched her carpet and decor perfectly. I can't image a better choice for fabric. Once delivered, I was able to capture a photo of the entire set in its original setting, showing off the beauty of the furniture and all the many hours of work that went into it.

Dining Set in Customer's Home

Table With A Twist

Table After

Table Before

My friend, Frances, had asked me to refinish this unique table which
belonged to her husband. I had never seen one quite like it. What made this table so different was that the entire top swiveled. Perhaps it had been used as a television table many years ago. In any event, what she saw was an ugly table was merely a nice table with an ugly, worn finish. It just needed a little love.

First things first, I removed the pivoting top to reveal a large metal swivel mechanism which needed some persuasion, therefore, I greased the bearings and cleaned the metal, making the mechanism much easier to rotate. It was mounted to a rather thin, broken piece of masonite, which I replaced with a piece of 1/4" plywood. Much better.

Charming Antique Desk

Desk Before

Desk After

This antique mahogany desk was an amazing yard sale find. Although the top left edge molding was broken, the bones were good, more importantly, the handles were all intact, a huge plus! I also knew it was a big refinishing job since I wasn't sure how to replace that top rail.

My first goal was to remove all the hardware before stripping the entire desk. I put all the pieces in a closed container so I don't misplace them. (This is the preferred method to which I keep track of small items.) This desk was unique, since all four sides needed stripping, as the backside can face the room if chosen. Normally the back of furniture remains unfinished, since most are placed against a wall. Because the back had been allowed to be seen required additional stripping and sanding.

The edge molding needed a great deal of detail sanding with an orange stick, all done by hand. The lower left edge molding was missing, so that too would need to be addressed. I ended up scrapping the top molding because it would be impossible to replace it and have it look the same, but not all was lost as I was able to salvage it and create the missing molding on the center drawer edge as well as the missing molding on the lower left inside of the desk. That was I was guaranteed to match the red mahogany stain, while maintaining the integrity of the piece.

After I removed all the brass hardware, I started the intense stripping process. It was quite time-consuming, between camping trips and other projects. I would spend evenings sitting on my desk polishing the various components of the hardware. Each drawer had seven (7) individual pieces; the handle, two coin-shaped brass rings, two screws and two nuts, which were round, making them a bit challenging to remove. This is one of the features of a very old piece of furniture; the hardware is usually not exact and quite different from modern hardware, down the the nuts (no pun intended.) I used copper cream, which works beautifully to remove tarnish from brass, then an actual brass polish to really give it a shine.

Taking the extra time to clean the hardware to its original condition makes any furniture piece look 100% better! The clean hardware is the "bling" to the furniture's new finish and well worth it.

Yard Sale End Table Revival

End Table Before

End Table After

I got lucky with this little table. I needed an end table for the living room and couldn't seem to find one that worked in size. The previous one dollar garage sale Ikea table wasn't tall enough, so when I got this table at a yard sale, I knew I had finally found the right one. I'm glad I didn't pay much for it because it turned out to be quite difficult to strip. For whatever reason, there seemed to be endless amounts of lacquer on this table, requiring a LOT of coats of liquid stripper and more labor than I thought possible for such a small item! Wow! My arms were killing me after I had completed the top only and I still had the legs to do. Geez.

Tiny Antique Chair

Antique Chair Before

Antique Chair After

A nice woman had contacted about a small chair she had wanted refinished. The chair had been caned at one time, but had since been reupholstered, a seat had replaced the caning. The replaced seat cushion had been done a very long time ago. She said the chair was very old, but didn't know how old. I told her I guessed it was from the 19th Century because of its structure and the way it was put together.

She simply wanted the seat cushion fabric replaced and the wood refreshed. I removed the old seat and replaced the fabric with a lovely paisley tapestry fabric I had left over from a previous job. It was the perfect color and texture for this chair. I completely sanded and stripped the wood and made minor repairs to the bottom rails (they were a bit wobbly) and then stained the chair with red mahogany. Once complete, this little chair became a real beauty.

My customer was thrilled! She also purchased another chair from me and I supplied her with additional fabric so that the two chairs, while different in design, had the same seat so they could be used as a pair. This was a fun project as I'm always pleased to make my customers smile.


Antique Chair Seat Before

Antique Chair Seat After

Stripping Tips

Partially stripped spindle

Stripping furniture presents many unique challenges. It can be very simple, or it can be very difficult, but it's always rewarding to see the final product. It doesn't have to be a daunting task since there are techniques you can use to make it easier, so I've written this article to share with you the tricks of the trade that I've found work best for me, with excellent results. I hope this helps you overcome your fear of refinishing because it's worth it!

When stripping, it's important to protect your skin, since a good quality stripper not only removes the paint or stain from furniture, it can irritate your skin and burn when it makes contact. I recommend you use gloves especially crafted for working with chemicals. If you use the thinner, flexible Nitrile gloves commonly used for painting or staining, the stripper will disolve the rubber and expose your hand to the harsh chemical, causing it to burn. (If it doesn't burn your skin, it's not strong enough to remove the old finish!) To avoid this, use good quality gloves, and if you accidentally get stripping solution on your skin, wash and rinse it immediately! 

If you plan on stripping a large, flat surface, have plenty of stripper on hand, because you're going to need it. I prefer to pour the stripper into a smaller container, then apply it with an inexpensive paint brush. Follow the manufacturer's instructions on how long to leave the stripper on. Depending on how many layers you're removing, it could be from 15 to 30 minutes. The more layers you have to remove, the longer it takes and the more times you'll have to apply new stripper. In warm or hot weather, the chemical dries very fast, so don't try to cover an entire table. Choose a 12" x 12" section and finish that before moving on. Use the correct stripper for your project, since they are not created equally. Buy the best one you can afford, as this will save you time and give you better results. There are strippers specifically created for paint or stain, or both. I prefer the one that does it all. 

Once you have applied the stripper, you will see the paint or varnish bubble and crinkle on the surface. Take a putty knife and gently remove the stripper, going in one direction. You can use a plastic putty knife if you use a good quality stripper. A metal putty knife works well too, but be careful not to scratch the surface as you remove the old finishes. The layers of paint or stain will roll back away from the furniture as you swipe the putty knife across the surface, so you'll also have to use something to wipe the excess stripper/paint onto. I prefer a stiff piece of cardboard, or a thin piece of wood. Scrap off the debris, then swipe it into an empty coffee can. (You cannot reuse this, so dispose of it properly when your project is complete).

After you've removed as much paint/varnish as possible with the stripper, you can then use steel wool, #0, on flat surfaces, or a brass wire brush on curved surfaces, (sold at most home centers or hardware stores) to scrape off the residue left behind. Once you're satisfied that the residue is removed, you're ready to sand. The photo (above left) shows the arm of the chair after the old stain and varnish were removed and the spindle with the original finish. The old finish was so dark, you couldn't see any wood grain. Once the old finish was removed, the wood's natural beauty was revealed.

While working on this chair I also used paint thinner to "loosen" up and moisten the wood prior to applying the stripper, thus I discovered a solution to a dilemma that I'd been having since I first began furniture restoration; easily removing old finish from spindles! By applying the thinner shortly after applying the stripper, these two strong chemicals worked as a team to break through years and years of finish. As you can see in the photo below, together, they "melted" the old varnish right off the chair's leg so that it could easily be wiped away with a rag. Once this task was accomplished, I gently used the brass brush and steel wool to remove the old residue.
Then it was ready to sand and stain. I chose a red mahogany stain and semi-gloss polyurethane, and reupholstered the seat cushion with a traditional floral print. The hard work paid off since the chair is great!

Removing old finish

Finished Chair

Buffet Painted Black

Buffet Before Painting

A customer on Craig's List contacted me about painting a

buffet. She was undecided on the color, so I suggested she go mat black. It turned out to be a great choice. You simply can't go wrong with black paint. It's a versatile classic that matches any decor. What a great piece of furniture!

This piece was solid mahogany and needed lots of TLC, sanding and patience, but the results speak for themselves. The customer decided to keep the original handles which take on an entirely different personality with the elegant black paint. After a lot of sanding and clean-up, this buffet is better than new!

Buffet After Painting

Display Cabinet

Display Cabinet

This display cabinet is my very first restoration project. I bought it at an estate sale nearby. While it's not an antique, it's a great reproduction and I particularly liked its cabriole legs and clean lines. It had a broken door, but otherwise, it was in great shape. I repaired the broken door (at the pivot point) and added a mirror to the interior back of the cabinet. Then I refinished the exterior with red mahogany stain and gave it two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane.

I ended up selling to a woman who had just moved into a house and needed a little cabinet or table for her living room. She was so happy to have found the perfect little cabinet and especially loved the mirror in the back! I also painted the tarnished gold knobs to a shiny silver, which I felt tied in nicely with the mirror. It also added a little "bling," giving this display cabinet a touch of elegance, while maintaining its functionality. Is it any wonder I get excited when I find these great little pieces of furniture??

Antique Window Bench

Window Bench Before

We love to go to Petoskey every year. Last year we spent a week

Window Bench After

there and discovered a very cool resale shop called "Gold Mine." It was indeed a gold mine as I found this lovely antique window bench for only $5.00! It had a very ugly seat and had definitely seen better days, but something about this bench called out to me and I had to have it. I knew it would require a great deal of work, but I was anxious to strip it to expose the wood I knew was a gorgeous mahogany buried underneath years of oxidation and abuse. There was also white paint streaming down one side of a bench leg which I knew would come off with the stripper. The seat fabric was not only ugly, it was not even a centered design. I envisioned something much more suitable for this special chair and knew that I'd find it when the time came to put the seat

together, but first I had a lot of work to do.

Bottom of Window Bench

Original straw cushion

When we came home from our vacation, Jim and I were curious what our unique window seat consisted of. After tearing away the seat cover, we discovered that it had been filled with straw! That alone showed us how old it was. This bench could very well be over 100 years old. The bottom of the bench was held together with one broken board and another cushion that was falling down. It was indeed in deplorable condition. It was also wobbly, and some of the joints were quite loose, so we pulled the entire bench apart and marked the sides so we knew how to put it together again when the time came. I had begun the lengthy process of stripping, but other things took precedence, so I had to put my bench project on hold. Summer turned to fall, which turned to winter which turned into a brand new year, 2012, and I didn't work on the bench until a few weeks ago when I had caught up on my other projects. I picked up where I had left off last year and finished stripping the old stain and varnish off the sections whih we had taken apart, Jim helped me put the pieces together.

The bench was originally constructed only of nails and dowels, another sign of its age. Once together and securely glued in place, I applied mahogany stain, which brought out the wood's natural beauty. I then applied three consecutive coats of semi-gloss polyurethane to protect the wood and bring out the chair's luster. Once the body of the chair was complete, it was time to make a new seat. Jim cut a piece of plywood that measured 15 x 17 and I stained it to match the bench. I bought a 1" high density foam cushion and covered the plywood with it and a layer of quilt batting.

So, about a week ago, I finished the project I had started last summer. My window bench was finally complete after almost a year! The end result speaks for itself. It's absolutely gorgeous! My favorite bench got a good home. A nice man who lives in Rochester bought it and it is now proudly displayed by his front door.