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.

Table Re-painted in Beautiful Black

Table Before

We mostly prefer stripping furniture to reveal the beautiful wood beneath and then stain it as it would have been done naturally, but it doesn’t always work out that way and there’s a good reason why the furniture was painted instead of being stained. This antique folding table was a prime example of why painting is better than stain as it would not accept stain. The reason was that it was made up of different types of wood and most of the paint had penetrated the wood’s surface, therefore making it not stain-worthy. Luckily our customer understood the situation and opted for paint instead.

Table After

We stripped this table as we do most other furniture items with stripper and plenty of elbow grease. Once the table was completely stripped, each area then gets carefully sanded to remove as much rough surface as possible. This prepares the piece for the next step, primer. Any time you have raw wood, primer is a must do as raw wood will soak up all the paint if it is not primed first. You can purchase paint with primer in it, but we prefer these processes to be kept separate because we find it gives us better results and a smoother finished surface. 

You generally don’t need polyurethane on a painted item unless it will be used outdoors, but then you would be better off using outdoor paint. Adding polyurethane or lacquer to a painted item will over time turn it yellow. Just a little piece of advice to keep in mind...

While we can paint furniture in any color the customer chooses, as this is a personal preference, but black seems to be the most popular colors because it is neutral and versatile and looks great when accompanied with brass accents such as this table’s feet. We always clean the hardware and additional accents such as brass feet on tables or hinges, because it finishes the piece nicely, giving it “bling,” as well as a fresher look. 

This table had two fold-out leaves, which doubled its size, making it a great table to use when you need more seating. Its compact size made it easy to store when not being used for a dining table and can instead be used as an accessory table. The classic black was a great choice and kept the original integrity of the table in addition to giving it a fresh, new appearance that will look great for decades.

Art Deco Dresser

Art Deco Dresser Before

Art Deco Dresser After

This lovely art deco dresser was one item of a complete bedroom set with other art deco items. This dresser is a classic example of timeless beauty with clean lines and elegant design. Made of lovely cherry, this dresser had a great, solid structure and plenty of use left, albeit a bit worn around the edges. It needed a good, solid comeback and had been crying for a total restoration. But no restoration is easy. This dresser required a lot of attention to details.

First we removed the hardware (which would later be cleaned and polished by hand) and the drawers, some of which had bottoms that weren't completely attached. A few nails in the exact center of the support board in the back of these drawers reinforced the bottoms, so they were once again strong enough for perfect functionality. Each drawer was then completely stripped, sanded and stained with cherry stain, then put aside while we did the same work on the body of the dresser. The stain brought out the beauty of the wood's grain, always my favorite part of any restoration.

Handles before and after

Measuring at 52" tall, this dresser offered plenty of storage with deep drawers and a solid body. The bottom decorative rail had been loose and fell off during the pick up drive, therefore it wasn't show in the "before" photo, but we glued and nailed it back after refinishing it as well. After applying two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane, this deco beauty was once again the star of the show. The handles had been polished and after they were reinstalled, added the "bling" which was the perfect touch in another great refinishing job.

Antique Vanity Makeover

Vanity Before

Vanity After

This vanity had been in my customer's  in-law's family for a few generations. Neglect and time took its toll on this lovely vanity as the scratched surface attested to. However, I assured my customer I would make it shine and indeed, I did. The first step was to remove the hardware then get it ready for sanding and stripping, which was immensely tedious because the sides have a fluted rounded edge which required a metal brush to remove all the previous finishes, all part of the stripping process. 

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.

Edwardian Kidney-Shaped Desk

Edwardian Desk and Chair Before

Edwardian Desk and Chair After

I came across this amazing Edwardian Kidney-shaped desk and matching chair at an estate sale and knew I had to have it. Luckily, all the drawer pulls were in tact, but the top left one was missing a screw. Easy enough to find a screw and put the pull back in. The chair was in great shape, but the fabric was quite worn and dirty. Not a problem, as I could easily replace the fabric.

Drawer Pull Before Polishing

Drawer Pull After Polishing

My first project was the chair. I found a perfect gold fabric that pulls out the painted gold "arrow" design on the chair. I removed the seat and touched up the minor scratches on the chair itself, then replaced the fabric. It turned out to be a great choice as it looked great! Next was the desk itself. I replaced the missing screw and used tung oil to polish the wood until it gleamed. (Unfortunately, I took the photo of the cleaned desk and spent hours removing the background, before I polished the handles, therefore I added the photos [above] of the drawers separately showing the newly polished handles.) 

Once I pushed the newly upholstered chair underneath the desk, I knew I had indeed made the grand finale, hence the name of my business. I loved this beautiful desk and chair and together, they make a great team. The desk and chair are currently available for $675.00. Please contact me at 586.873.1405 if you're interested in purchasing them.

Chair and Desk After

Desk After