Antique Oak China Cabinet

China Cabinet Before

China Cabinet After

We acquired this gorgeous oak China cabinet and immediately saw its potential. It was in almost perfect condition, with three mirrors, two glass shelves and two wood shelves. It had the original hardware and needed just a little work to expose its original glory.

Of course, as with all projects, I get "before" photos before beginning any project. Luckily, this large cabinet had wheels, which made it much easier to maneuver.

Other than minor scratches, the cabinet needed little other than touch-up and a good cleaning. I carefully removed the shelves, then unscrewed the angled shelving brackets, each made of brass, as well as the original brass handle and put them aside to be polished. The bowed glass door's molding had a few missing nails, so I used my pin nailer to reinforce the tiny 1/4" molding, holding the glass firmly in place. (I love my small nailer!) This process can be a bit dicy, because the molding holds the glass in place, therefore you don't have a lot of space in which to shoot nails, as the last thing you want to do it break that glass! Once that was done, I cleaned the interior glass first, then the exterior, which showed a lot of dust and smudges, likely from being stored.

Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Set

Table Before Refinishing

Table After Refinishing

Lots of photos for this job! A lovely woman from Madison Heights had acquired this mid-century modern dining table and chairs at a church rummage sale. She didn't want to tackle the refinish and re-upholstery job herself, so she called me. After she brought the set over, I was excited to get to work.

This was indeed a unique table and after a few hours of sanding, it proved to be quite the challenge. I decided to research it because I'd never seen anything quite like it. Lo and behold, it was a stranded bamboo table top!

Captain Chair Before

Captain Chair After

Out of curiosity, I researched the hardness of wood. As most people know, oak is among one of the hardest of woods, but on a scale of 0-5, oak ranks only 3.4 on the hardness scale, whereas bamboo ranks an astounding 4.7! "Ah," I thought, that's why it took so long to strip and sand this incredible surface. Four days later and it was finally ready to be refinished. I used a "natural" stain and three coats of polyurethane.

She didn't want the chairs refinished, only cleaned, so I used a cleaner specifically for wood and hand-polished each chair. The cushions were another story. The original cushions were, well, ugly. The fabric was typical of a 1950's decor, scratchy and quite uncomfortable. That could be because there was simply nothing left of the once-soft foam rubber bits. They had completely disintegrated into a substance resembling yellow-green dust. I'm so glad I removed them outside!

Seat Cushion After

Seat Cushion Before

After the fabric was removed, I peeled away the former "cushioned" seats with a large putty knife to separate them from the wood base, then scraped the powdery substance into the trash. The very worst seat crumbled so bad, it was all powder! One of the seat bottoms had to be replaced with new plywood because it was cracked and anyone other than a five-year-old would have eventually landed on the floor.

Chair Before

Chair After

Once all that was accomplished, I completed took apart the old seat cushions and used them as templates for the new seats. (I'm glad I did as seats tend to be slightly varied in size.) It was a long, tedious task to be sure, but well worth it as the new seats fit perfectly. I ended up surprising the customer by adding a corded edge, original to the first seat cushion. This not only made the edge look better, it gave the seats a defined, linear finish and wasn't too difficult to incorporate into the fabric layout.

My customer was very satisfied with the dining set and I must say, it looks terrific in her kitchen (see photo below.) I hope she enjoys this unique dining room set for many years to come.

Table and Chairs at Customer's Home

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!

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.

Solid Cedar Chest

Cedar Chest Before

Cedar Chest After

A good friend had contacted me about refinishing an antique cedar chest that had belonged to his wife's grandmother. Up for the challenge, I took on the job with anxious enthusiasm. When he'd brought it over, it had one broken leg, the lower left front had been knocked off. Luckily, someone had kept that original leg, therefore it was easily fixable. I talked him into keeping the wheels, which added character and made the petite chest easy to relocate once it was refinished. After the repairs were made, it was ready to refinish.

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.

Mosaic Table

Table Before No Top

Table After Mosiac

This table belonged to a friend who had passed away. It came to
me without a top. I liked the corner detail, which was hidden. My idea was to turn this little neglected gem into a work of art and as I looked at it, an idea came to mind.

First I assessed it. There wasn't much wood surface showing, so why not paint? I chose to paint it totally black. Next it needed a new top. The curved edges lent themselves to a different style. Something else other than wood would set this table off. Then it came to me. Mosaic. It was perfect! I knew I wanted it to have a bit of "bling," so I used mirror with a cobalt blue border.

Table Before

Table Before

When I got into the center area, I knew I wanted a design, and thanks to
my granddaughter, I came up with a peace sign. She was my inspiration for the peace sign because she loves them. Reminiscent of the 1960's, I thought it was also the perfect solution to my design. But that was not enough. It needed more, so I decided to paint the curved designs in the corners to bring out the flowers and make them match the colors of the glass mosaic I chose. The table was finally how I had envisioned it to be. The table had taken on a whole new look...from neglected and broken to a work of art.

Antique Table

Table Before

Table After

This antique table belonged to a cousin's husband who obtained it
from his grandmother. He estimated it was about 100 years old. It showed its age as it was in rough shape, but with a little sanding and love, the table would be good as new. The table was made of walnut and once sanded, the wood underneath the rough finish came through. It was indeed a beautiful piece!

The legs took time because of their shape and detail, so I spent a great deal of time working on them, making sure I had removed all the old finish so that it could accept the new stain easily. This table required careful sanding because of the fluted legs, a great deal of detail. After it was sanded and stripped, I chose a walnut stain with two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane finish. Once it was done, it looked as it had 100 years ago, better than new. Needless to say, our cousin was thrilled with the table and planned on using it for years to come.

Drop-Leaf Table

Drop Leaf Table After

Drop Leaf Table Before

I acquired this very old drop leaf table at a yard sale and when I asked the owner how much she wanted for it, I could hardly believe my luck! I was able to buy this table for only $2.00! I saw its potential and knew I could not only make it usable again, but could make it look better than new. I quickly paid her and loaded it into the back of my van before the woman changed her mind.

As you can see in the "before" photo, one of the ends was lower than the rest of the table, making it unstable and wobbly. That didn't bother me because I knew it was fixable. My husband, on the other hand, just

Queen Anne Table

Queen Anne Table Before

Queen Anne Table After

I came across this scratched Queen Anne style coffee table and knew it would be a great table once I refinished it. The original finished was a sandy, lighter stain, so I decided to go much darker, giving it a richer appearance. This table was made of pine and wasn't an antique, but it had good bones and needed some TLC and time. After I completed removed the old finish, I gave it a good sanding with a 220 grit before applying red mahogany stain. I was correct in choose the darker stain. The table took on a whole new personality, as the photos speak for themselves.

School Desk Revival

Oak School Desk Before

While in Lexington, we came across this old oak school desk at an antique store. We got a great deal on it so we brought it home along with an antique China cabinet. This desk could have belonged to a teacher, as it was reminiscent of my early school experiences. It was in great condition, but definitely in need of refinishing. It was made of solid oak with only two drawers that at one time had dividers, long gone.

Oak School Desk After

It needed a great deal of sanding and stripping and proved to be quite a chore, but it was gorgeous when I completed the restoration. I chose a walnut finish and also to keep the wooden drawer pulls, as they kept the originality of the piece. The top had not been original to the desk, (although it looked like someone had replaced it quite some time ago), therefore it took the stain differently than the rest of the desk. Eventually we sold it to a family who lived only a block away from us. Since they had no way to get the desk home, so we gladly delivered it. They said they'd been looking for a desk such as this for their son's computer. It was a win/win situation!

Cute Corner Table

Corner Table Before

Corner Table After

I got lucky when I found this adorable corner table while visiting an antique store in Birch Run, while staying there for a night earlier this year in February. We love checking out local antique stores and estate sales while traveling. You just never know when you're going to find that "special" item you've been searching for. This was the case with this little gem of a corner table, which was exactly the right size.

The top shelve, edging and drawer is cherry and the other two shelves are pine, not uncommon for an old piece such as this. I decided to remove the edging, making it easier to remove the old finish, therefore sanding each piece and making repairs on one broken one, gluing together, then clamping it so it stayed secure. The table has a name and what could be a serial number on the bottom of the drawer; Butler, Style #517 - 1105. I researched it, but couldn't find anything other than there is a furniture company by the name of Butler.

Corner Table Top After

Corner Table Top Before

A little refinishing was all it needed, so I got busy sanding and stripping the entire table, paying special attention to the ridged detail in the front of each shelf. I used many sheets of folded sandpaper and sanding blocks which work great for the minuscule ribbing on the front of the shelves. If I wouldn't have removed all the finish, the new stain wouldn't have been absorbed, thus that area would have looked odd. It paid off, because the cherry stain I used looked great.

I finished off the piece with two coats of polyurethane and chose an antique porcelain knob to replace the almost invisible knob that had previously occupied the drawer's front. I was quite satisfied with the results, as this little table now graces the landing leading to the upper level of our house.

Corner Table on Landing