Mahogany Buffet Refinished

Buffet Before

Buffet After

One of my personal favorite refinishing woods is mahogany. Being a darker wood with a natural reddish tone, when refinished the woodgrain is more apparent, making it look fabulous. When furniture comes out of a manufacturing plant, much of it hides the natural grain of the wood. Unlike refinishing, furniture right from the factory woodgrain isn’t as prominent as it is upon stripping.

This buffet was a good, sturdy piece that had seen some wear, but overall was in great shape. There were minor scratches on the top, a few on the front legs and sides, but nothing that stripping and sanding can’t remove. Surface scratches are almost always removed when sanding, however, if the scratch is a gouge, sanding can only do so much. Especially with veneer furniture. If you sand too deeply, you will remove the veneer and go too far into the wood beneath (big problem!) That’s why we love working with antiques; the wood, even if it has veneer, is thicker and much more durable, thus better to work with on the refinishing end. 

That being said, the finishing product looks fabulous. Once it was stained and protected with satin polyurethane, Jim polished the original hardware, a Federal Style, and once again the piece looked like new (if not better!) I love the way hardware makes a piece truly stand out. Over time the brass will oxidize, faded and dull. But polished, it shines and adds beauty and freshness to any piece of furniture.

The beauty of working with a piece such as this mahogany buffet is that you have so many color choices with stain. Our customer chose “Carrington,” by Varithane. It’s a rich, warm color with no overly red tones. Mahogany can accept most stains, but seldom can you go a lot lighter with it because the wood is naturally reddish and darker, like walnut. A good tip to keep in mind when choosing stain is the wood itself. 

Darker woods usually cannot go much lighter than their natural color, but lighter wood, such as maple, birch or pine can accept both light and dark colors of stain. An example is if you were to put the same color stain on five different types of wood, each one would look different. Some wood has more grain than other wood, such as oak compared to birch. There are also different types of the same wood; tiger oak, tiger maple, birds eye maple, and so many more. The choices are endless as are the stain colors, so it’s not difficult to narrow down which stain is the right one for you.

Luckily we have plenty of experience in choosing the right stain for your project (unless you are 100% sure what you want). But no matter, the finished furniture item will always be the one you love the most.

Family Heirloom Buffet Restoration

Buffet Before

Buffet After

This lovely old buffet was handed down to a man who wanted to preserve its history and keep its place in the family. It had been crying out to be refinished, as it had seen a lot of use over the years, showing wear. The top was splotchy, scratched and had remnants of water stains. The sides had water stains as well. The entire piece needed some major TLC and detailing, so we got straight to work.

Each restoration project has similarities but differences too. This one needed to be taken apart first; remove the cabinet doors, take off the hinges, remove the handles and sand all the pieces individually then tackle the body. The top back piece was not in place and had to be reconnected to the buffet. The sides were the only part of this piece that had veneer, which had split on the bottom. Once everything had been stripped and sanded, each piece got stained.

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

Furniture Goes to the Navy!

China Cabinet Before

China Cabinet After

I'm always up to a challenge, and this job was no different. I received a
call from a client who had an antique China cabinet and matching buffet she wanted painted a dark navy blue. When I arrived at her house, she showed me the two pieces, which were lovely, but worn out and tired looking. A new coat of paint was just what the doctor ordered!

She told me she wanted a very dark, almost black navy, so I gave her the Sherwin-Williams color palette so she could choose the color. She selected #6244, Naval. It was the deepest navy blue they offered. I told her I agreed it was the right color. She preferred a "high gloss" finish, which I also thought would be a perfect choice that would complement the original brass hardware.

The process was a long, tedious one which involved a lot of preparation. We removed all the hardware, which would have to be polished. All drawers had to be removed since they'd be painted separately. There was a broken center bottom molding on the buffet, which had to be repaired and reinstalled. Other than minor repairs, the furniture was in great shape.



Buffet Before

Buffer After

The next step was sanding all the surfaces smooth. Jim took care of this while I painstakingly removed the molding, glass and filigree wood inside of the China cabinet's doors. The glass was held in place with 1/4" trim molding and attached with 5/8" nails. Luckily there weren't a lot of nails, but the ones I removed were difficult, as I didn't want to damage the molding. I carefully slid a thin metal putty knife between the interior of the door and the molding and gently pried the molding forward, revealing each nail. When I was certain I could grab the nail, I used my vice grips and tugged, until all nails were out, then carefully peeled the molding away from the edge. This took over an hour for just two doors. After I had removed the molding, I then marked each edge so that reassembly would be easy. (When working on this type of job, it's important to think ahead!)

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