1940s Bedroom Refinishing Project

Low Dresser After

Low Dresser Before

This was one of several pieces of a 1940s vintage bedroom set which Jim recently refinished. It had seen some wear because it had been used for a few generations and needed some revitalizing and love. 

We were excited to take on this project which had two dressers as seen in this post. This bedroom set also had a mirror, bed with headboard and footboard and side rails (not pictured). It’s difficult to get photos of the items when they are delivered in sections. This furniture was in pretty good condition, had great bones, but the exterior had seen some wear and scratching, not uncommon for a vintage bedroom set. Luckily there was no structural or water damage which can be harder to rectify. 

Jim had blended two different stains to obtain a unique color that best suited the furniture. It turned out to be a perfect color for the dressers, resulting in a rich tone which best shows the woodgrain which was hidden prior to the refinishing. That’s one of the many perks of working with stains; custom blending which results in a unique color. It’s quite noticeable in the tall dresser (below) what a variation in color can be in the “before” photo. When furniture is made in a factory, the staining process is quite different from refinishing by hand. They use a spray stain that has a different look, more opaque so the woodgrain is not as visible as it is once it is stripped and refinished. One of the benefits of the hand stripping/refinishing process is that it exposes the natural beauty of the wood.

The scratches on the tops of the dressers were superficial, so they were easily sanded down once the dressers were stripped. Dressers require a great deal of work because each drawer is an individual section that requires removal of hardware and is treated one at a time while stripping, sanding and staining before finishing with polyurethane to protect the finishes. The low dresser (as seen in photos above) had six drawers with general depths. These older dresser have much more space than their newer counterparts and are made very well, so they are usually worth refinishing. It truly is an investment worth doing to preserve a piece of your family’s history.

Tall Dresser After

Tall Dresser Before

The taller dresser (shown left) had four large drawers and two smaller ones at the top. The oval hardware was original in the Federal style. Some customers prefer the original hardware and others like to give their furniture an updated look and replace it, but either way, refinishing a bedroom set is always worth doing because you already have made the investment in the furniture, so why not keep it for generations to come? It’s a wonderful way to honor your family’s history. 

Bedroom Set Gets Updated with Paint

High Boy Dresser
After Paint

High Boy Dresser
Before Paint

This was a well-made high boy dresser which was about fifty years old. It was one of three pieces of furniture in this bedroom set (four if you include the mirror, which is not pictured). This was the high boy, there was also a low dresser and a nightstand. 

My customer had wanted an updated look, so I recommended painting as opposed to refinishing it with stain. After showing her several paint samples, she did her own research and found a lovely neutral creamy beige color, which complemented the design of the furniture, bringing out the details.

Both dressers had plenty of drawers, which each had to be painted individually, thus removed from the dressers so they can be masked off and primed, then ultimately painted. We use a high quality paint that holds up well to daily usage. It’s on the costly side, but is well worth it. Painting requires a lot of prep work, so it’s better to use high quality paint. 

Low Dresser After
Painting

Low Dresser Before
Painting

All in all there were fifteen drawers to mask off. The reason for this masking is so that the non-painted portions of the drawers remain unpainted. 

Our customer had the foresight to label each drawer so that they are easily reinstalled into their proper places in the dressers. You’d think that you could put drawers anywhere within the same dresser, but that’s not always the case. There are times when the drawers only fit in one spot, so marking them ahead of time is a great idea. Just one of those little trick you pick up along the way. A couple of the drawers had lost their bottom tracking, so Jim reinstalled them so they once again worked properly.

Nightstand After

Nightstand Before

Since my customer had opted to use the same hardware, we cleaned them up on the polishing wheel. Since they were made of brass, they polished up nicely and looked great with the newly painted furniture. Brass polishes up great, but if it’s brass plated, using the wheel exposes only the steel, not the brass.

The finished bedroom set looked terrific once it was painted. As refinishers, we love working with “real” wood, because it refinishes much better than some of the newer products which are made nowadays. The wood made a half a century ago was made really well and if preserved properly, will last another half century or more. Antique furniture is by its nature made to last as generations of these special pieces have survived many decades of everyday use with minimum wear. But when they require refinishing or updating, we make it lovely again.

Mid Century Modern Dressers

Tall Dresser After

Tall Dresser Before

Sometimes I have no words for the furniture that comes to us. This is one of those times. This was a Kroehler dresser set, a classic mid-century modern set that at its creation was probably very beautiful. Somewhere along the line the original hardware was lost (who knows) and replaced with completely different (not matching) hardware in a different finish. 

The original drawer pulls were the ones on the bottom two drawers, The center drawers had “scoopy” handles which were not at all correct for this period and the top large drawer had four knobs, also not matching. To say the least, this dresser had a bunch of mismatched pulls that simply didn’t work.

Long Dresser After

Long Dresser Before

Our customer wanted these dressers refinished and stained, however we realized that once we started stripping it wasn’t stained originally, but painted with a glaze treatment. Plus, there were broken veneered corners that wouldn’t have looked good if filled in and stained, so we suggested paint, which turned out to be the best option for these pieces. 

As much as we prefer exposing the beautiful wood hidden beneath layers of paint, sometimes it’s not possible because when we get painted pieces, it’s usually for a reason. But occasionally we get painted pieces that have gorgeous wood beneath and it takes on a completely different look once stripped and stained.

For these dressers, once the holes created by all the handles were filled in, sanded and smoothed out, painting covered them and they once again had a classic, clean line look common to the mid-century modern furniture people gravitate to. It had gotten an upgrade that worked great for these pieces. We also worked on two nightstands (not pictured) that were a part of this set but we didn’t get the “after” pictures of them. Then our customers decided to get a headboard painted to match the rest of the furniture so now they have a complete set that all matches. This one turned out great!

Waterfall Nightstand

Waterfall Nightstand Before

This adorable nightstand was the last piece of the waterfall collection of furniture which completed the bedroom set we refinished and restored. Unlike the art deco nightstand, this one was lightweight, with gorgeous woodgrain hiding beneath the watermarks and rings on the top and a few minor scratches on the sides. But it had great bones, so to do it justice, needed carefully detailed stripping. Because of the curved edge in the waterfall furniture style, refinishing is time consuming work, but well

Waterfall Nightstand After

worth it.

The grooves on the outer edges of this piece was where the old stain accumulated once stripper was applied so I used a wood carving tool and carefully scraped out all the extra gunk (that's what I call it!) This made it easier to sand and ultimately stain with the golden pecan stain I selected to match the other furniture in this set, which was a set of dressers a headboard and footboard.

This nightstand was my favorite piece because it was cute and tiny, thus easier to handle than the larger furniture items. I could pick it up and place it on my work table (saving my back in the process) so I could get a better look at the work that it required.

Dressers Painted Black

Dresser Before

Dresser After

I found this little treasure at an estate sale along with another dresser (at bottom, which also had a special design detail at the lower edge). I especially loved the top drawer, which was slightly longer than the other three and had a great curvy top, reminding me of an Art Deco style. The dresser was pine, and while the wood was in great shape and would have look good stained, I chose black paint instead.

I knew the two dressers would look great painted black, as long as I could find matching knobs. As always, a full stripping was necessary before priming and painting. I was fortunate to find online sixteen knobs that were light gray porcelain with a "crackled" look. This was the detail needed to link the two different style dressers together so that they made a matched set. It never ceases to amaze me how much paint changes the look and feel of a piece of furniture. In this case, choosing the right paint linked two totally separate pieces together as a matched set.

Dresser Before

Dresser After