Dad's Old Desk Fixed and Cleaned Up

Desk After

Desk Before

My customer's father had owned this desk many years ago and during cleaning out his mother's home after she had passed away. He had wanted this desk restored in memory of his father and keep the desk in the family. The desk had a broken lower drawer, which Jim repaired, otherwise the desk was in pretty good condition. 

Jim removed the hardware then proceeded to strip, sand and re-stain the desk using walnut stain. He applied three coats of satin polyurethane which finished the surface nicely. The handles got a great polish and the desk was once again beautiful. A perfect size desk for anyone's use.

Antique China Cabinet Refinished

China Cabinet Before

China Cabinet After

Grandmother's antique China cabinet needed an overhaul. While in pretty decent condition (we’ve seen much worse!) Made of mahogany, this cabinet had plenty of space with shelving on the top and doors and drawers on the bottom. 

The middle top had a decorative piece of wood that had broken and become disconnected, so Jim glued it back together and put it back on top where it belonged.

In the process of restoring this cabinet, it was necessary to remove the decorative wood that covered the upper door to properly stain that area. The glass was removed to preserve and protect it during the restoration process. Each step is carefully taken to get the best results.

Our customer had wanted to replace the original wooden knobs with new ones and she chose black knobs, which looked great with the refinished cabinet. Jim used a red mahogany stain with satin polyurethane which was the perfect finish for this piece. Upon completion, this old cabinet certainly looked much better than when we got it.

Ladies Antique Chair Reupholstered

Antique Chair After

Antique Chair Before

I believe this chair dated back to the late 1800’s. It had a broken arm and lower right side unattached, this chair had seen better days. The fabric, though old, was reupholstered since the chair’s construction, however it was done a long time ago. My guess it was done sometime in the 1940’s, judging by the needlepoint style material they had used. 

This chair had likely been made with seat springs, but during the 1940’s upholstered was replaced with thin plastic webbing on the bottom of the chair. It also had a couple hundred tacks surrounding the bottom seat as well as the arms and back rest. My customer had planned on doing the work herself, so she had already removed the needlepoint fabric from the backrest of the chair, but soon realized it was quite a bit of work.

Removing the material was time consuming and tedious. First I had to remove hundreds of staples. These staples were not your average staple, but extra thick copper staples that were quite difficult to remove. Removing that many staples gives your upper body a workout (translation: you will be sore the next day!) Then I had to remove all those tacks, which were rusted and stuck to the fabric in most of the areas. Using tack removal tools as well as a vice grip helps the process along. 

Once all the staples and tacks were removed, I could remove the old fabric. The chair had a broken right arm, which was obvious, but after I removed the material, I discovered it also had come apart at the lower right leg/seat area as well as a portion of the front of the framework. Jim made the necessary repairs then I could start the process of adding the new fabric.

The chair had a very old, very brittle cushion which was shaped to fit the chair but was no longer usable as it had the texture of a loaf of dry bread. As I was removing the staples the foam was leaking a yellow powder which resembled a cake mix. No way would I reused this foam. Instead I created a new foam seat base after I built the foundation with webbing. 

I used 2” foam cut to size which covered the underside webbing, then I added criss-cross webbing on top of the foam, front to back and left to right, for a more stable seat. Next I added a thick layer of raw cotton, which comes on a roll and can be torn apart, easily filling the seat area. This cotton is very soft and wonderful to use on a chair’s seat. On the raw cotton I added a fitted cut size of 1” foam followed by a second layer of raw cotton. Finally I topped it off with a double layer of polyester batting to hold everything together with a good top base. I always use the “sit on it” test before adding the fabric, which means I sit on the chair and if it feels good to me, it’s ready for material. 

The customer provided two identical fabric panels, each with a single large flower which she had wanted centered in the seat and back portions of the chair. She also brought purple velour for the small section of the arms and the open back facing fabric (not seen in photos). The purple color choice was perfect as it pulled the color from purple flowers. I added gimp trim along the bottom edge, arms and top front to cover the staples and add a touch of elegance to the chair. It was once again a beauty that will last another hundred years. 

Peg Leg Knitting Table Refinished and Repaired

Knitting Table Before

An antique knitting table such as this was useful for storing knitting needles and yard as well as other essentials a knitter would use in her arsenal of creative tools. Somewhere along the line the front left leg broke, thus had a “peg leg” appearance and didn’t stand up on it’s own. Luckily, we were able to repair the broken leg by drilling a hole on the top portion and the broken part of the leg, then glue them back together with a dowel. This is the correct and most durable way to repair a leg such as this one, which isn’t very large to start with.

Knitting Table After

The rest of the cabinet needed some touch up, a knob replacement on the bottom drawer and a completed refinished top that was stripped, sanded, stained and protected with two coats of polyurethane. The entire bottom of the sides was missing, so we replaced that with matching plywood cut to size. It simply won’t do to have your knitting needles fall out and end up on the floor. 

This was the second knitting cabinet we’ve done, but this one was a bit lighter wood than the first one which you can see by clicking on this link: http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/search?q=knitting+cabinet

It’s nice to have a few projects that we can compare to other projects we’ve done that are similar. These knitting cabinets were commonly used at the turn of the century and have been preserved throughout the years as they can are versatile and can be used as a display cabinet in a hallway or a great storage spot which doesn’t take up a lot of space.

Old Hutch, New Paint and Repairs Needed, Badly!

Hutch Before

Cabinet After

An old hutch is not an uncommon item of furniture in many
households. These classic, traditional and much-used cabinets have been around for many years, serving as many uses through generations of families.

This old hutch was originally painted white, but as you can see in the “before” photo to the left, that fresh white paint had long since dulled to a dirty gray with various smudges and markings of orange, green and purple paint, likely left by little fingers. Needless to say, it needed a lot of love, starting with being completely taken apart, section by section since it was literally falling apart.

The doors didn’t have glass, but plexiglass that was barely held in place by the broken door pieces that were coming apart at the top. This alone made the cabinet difficult to transport from the customer’s home to ours. And as you can imagine it wasn’t light, so it had to be handled with care and carried carefully down the steps while watching those flimsy doors.

Once we got it into the workspace, Jim began the tedious process of removing the hardware, cabinets, plexiglass and doors. The sides were also falling off, so he took those off in addition to the doors and carefully marked each section for proper re-assembly. Each piece was then stripped, repaired, shored up and sanded prior to painting. The customer had wanted it to match her recently painted kitchen. Luckily, she still had some paint left over from the kitchen project and gave us the 1/3 gallon of pale gray paint which we used on the interior as well as the exterior of the hutch. The plexiglass was removed and replaced with actual glass. The drawer tracks were all but broken and needed to be rebuilt. The back of the hutch was mostly intact, but needed the horizontal wood slats replaced.

Our customer had asked for the shelves to moved up so she could store her coffee pots and other kitchen appliances, so Jim made each shelf adjustable, which required drilling holes on each side and adding metal pegs on which the shelves would rest. He also added to each shelf a 1-1/4” edge, which added strength as well as aesthetics. The glass door latching device was non-existent, so Jim added durable magnets at the top to keep the glass doors closed. New hinges and new knobs were added and the old hutch looked fantastic. It was not only much prettier, it was stronger and more functional than it had been in a long time.

Antique Dresser with Mirror

Antique Dresser Before

Antique Dresser After New Stain

Throughout the years we have done a good variety of dressers, each one different, with its own personality. Some of the dressers were tall, others were long and low with plenty of drawers. 

This antique dresser had three spacious drawers and a great looking mirror, with wood that was in excellent condition featuring a unique scroll design. The mirror itself had some age marks, but I always feel that this element adds to the character of the piece. 

The top of the dresser had

Tiny Rocking Chair

Rocking Chair Before

Chairs are the most commonly restored and refinished items that we receive. Chairs come in many styles, sizes, shapes and are made of too many types of wood to list, but they have one thing in common; they are not easy to refinish due to the many surfaces they tend to have. This tiny rocking chair once belonged to a little girl who has since grown up and wanted to preserve the many memories she likely had while enjoying the time she spent in this rocking chair.

Rocking Chair After

She may have sat by a window and enjoyed a Nancy Drew mystery novel as she rocked in time to the suspenseful mystery unfolding before her. Perhaps she stacked her stuffed animals on this chair to "keep it company" while she was at school. No matter how she used this little gem, likely she enjoyed it as a child and now as an adult, would like to see her own children make their own memories. This was a generational rocking chair meant to be passed down. As it where, the rocking chair had a couple of broken spindles in the center of the back. In fact, the entire chair came apart upon closer inspection, so repairing and gluing the broken spindles in place was the first thing that had to be done.

Mid Century End Table and Nightstands

Mid-Century Modern End Table Before

The desire for restoring mid-century modern furniture is quickly

Mid-Century Modern End Table After

on the rise with for people who enjoy quality furniture with the craftsmanship style popular 1940's and 1950's. This table had great form, was very sturdy and well structured,

Antique Buffet Pretty Once More

Buffet Before Refinish

Buffet After Refinish

A friend of the family had this lovely red oak buffet in her family for generations and spent the summer sanding it down to bare wood, but when it got down to the nitty gritty, she threw up her hands and asked me if I would finish it for her by stripping the details around the medallion and all the tiny areas she was unable to reach with her sander. I told her I'd be happy to do this and once she delivered it, I got right to it. After doing the detailing in the fluted sides and inner corner edges, I gave it a final sanding and used golden pecan stain for the finish with two coats of polyurethane to protect the wood. I decided to add a third coat of polyurethane on the top only, since that gets the most amount of use. 

Once the staining was complete, I tackled the brass pulls, ten of them. I spent approximately seven hours polishing them until the looked like new. When possible, I like to use original hardware as it fits the period of the furniture item. These were indeed gorgeous and looked like the day they were made when I was done with them. I've done buffets similar to this one, but the character of every piece is unique and it always surprises me when I stand back and look at the "before" and "after" photos and think, "I did that!" It's truly rewarding in a way that only someone who loves old furniture can appreciate.

Pulls and Hinges Before Polishing

Pulls and Hinges After Polishing

Watertown Slide Table Era 1889-1910

Cherry Table Before

Cherry Table After

In this business you never quite know what type of project you will recieve. This was one of those projects which came with a few surprises. What you see in the left photo is a table with a hidden agenda, it extends to about ten feet and can accommodate between 3-4 leaves which makes it a huge table! Unfortunately, my customers had purchased this table without any leaves and decided to use it as is. The slide mechanism was made by the Watertown Slide Company located in Watertown, Wisconsin. Judging by the style and materials used in the table, I estimate it to be made between 1889-1910, but likely is was made in the early 1900's. (This company only made the slide mechanism for the leaves of the table, not the table itself.)

1906 Victrola Makeover

Victrola Cabinet Before

A customer had contacted me about refinishing an old Victrola Gramophone cabinet to be used as a bathroom vanity for her remodeled basement bathroom. The cabinet had the music apparatus removed, but still had the split top and a hole on the side where the crank had once been. The cherry was quite beautiful, but in its condition, it was difficult to envision just how nice it truly was.

Victrola Cabinet After

Stripping the cabinet was first on the list of things to do. After all the previous old stain had been painstakingly removed, it was then sanded and re-stained with cherry stain. In order to prepare the top for the bowl-style vessel sink, it was necessary to fill in the space between the two sides with wood filler then stain over it. Since the top had a left and a right side which the customer had wanted to keep, this was the most feasible solution and it looked pretty good.

My customer had discussed replacing the hardware, but I assured her she'd have plenty of time to choose that once the cabinet had been refinished. I'm sure she'll have fun searching for the perfect hardware because there's so much to choose from. This was definitely a unique refinishing item but as always, very rewarding because this old gem has many years of use left it in as it makes its debut as the most beautiful vanity. What a great way to use an old piece of furniture...

Old Victrola in Customer's Basement Complete

Side Table

Side Table Before

Side Table After

I saw this little table at a resale shop for $6.86. I had been looking for a table such as this to keep my quilting supplies organized because it has a bottom shelf, so when I stumbled upon it, I bought it. The table was originally used with a built-in lamp, which I removed as I hadn't planned on using it that way. The lamp was ugly and in the way.

Never underestimate a smaller project! Just because this table was small, didn't mean it wasn't difficult to refinish. The spindles, I knew, would make it difficult because the area between them was hard to get to, so I ended up removing them and sanding that entire strip, much easier. The spindles were also spinning around, since they had not been secured to the table. That was my first priority, to make sure they stayed put, so after I had spent many days and hours stripping, sanding and refinishing the table, I used my pin nailer to secure the spindles so they no longer rotated. The hole left from where the lamp base once was secured had to be filled in, so I ended up cutting a small piece of wood to best match the opening, then glued it in place.

Ugh, this was a tedious, frustrating job, as most of them for myself turn out to be, but nevertheless, I'm happily using the table to keep my quilting supplies neatly tucked away underneath, on the shelf instead of dangling all over my floor!

Vintage Dresser Makeover

Dresser Before

Dresser After

I stumbled upon this treasure at an estate sale, hidden in the corner of an attic closet at the top of the stairs. Buried under old games and clothes, this dresser wasn't exactly shouting, "Here I am!" Nonetheless, I spied it and after removing the contents from the top, I knew I had to have it as I saw it as a challenge.

As a child, I remembered decals such as these which I used liberally on my own furniture, much to my mother's dismay. Once they were on, they were on for life, since the adhesive on the back was pretty sticky. I wasn't discouraged since I knew a bit of sanding and stripping would have this little gem in great shape, better than its previous condition.

The right edge of the bottom drawer was missing, so Jim spliced another section into it and then used his router to round the edge, matching it to the original drawers. The dresser was flimsy, so we "beefed" it up and strengthened the sides and bottom, then began the tedious process of stripping and sanding. Once bare, it was ready for primer and ultimately a clean, bright white coat of paint. I replaced the old drawer pulls with stylish knobs that I'd reclaimed from a previous project and painted them pale blue. Viola! The once-old, 1959's era dresser has a new look and a new life.

Check out this dresser: http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2015/04/old-painted-dresser-revival.html