Furniture restoration is a tradition in our family. My Grandfather was a talented woodworker, building and restoring beautiful furniture pieces. I watched him and my Uncle take many of these projects on. My first attempt at a furniture makeover didn’t happen until I was in my early 30s.
It was 2011 and I had enough of looking at my Grandparent’s mid-century Bassett buffet with all it’s damage. It was missing a few hardware pieces and had surface wear from years of use and water exposure. I figured I had nothing to lose and got started without thinking about it any longer.
This is the only before photo I have of the buffet. It was taken after my great grandparent’s passed and before it came to my house. The photo is really blurry, but you can see the mid-century style of the buffet and the original hardware-
The damage is hard to see in this photo above, but it was definitely there.
I sanded it as best as I could and gave it a new color using Minwax Polyshades in Bombay Mahogany. It was dark. And it got darker, as I applied four coats of the stain. If you’re not familiar with the PolyShades line, it’s stain and polyurethane in one. The surface seemed to get stronger with each coat, which was good!
I purchased all new hardware for it and proudly displayed it in our dining room and shared it on Facebook. Minwax even shared it on their Facebook page! This was 2011 so a semi-blurry photo on a camera phone was perfectly acceptable, then.
It was cool to have my Grandparent’s buffet with a refreshed surface and updated hardware. As the years have gone by and I’ve restored many other vintage pieces, I have a few regrets about this one.
It’s not all negative, so I’d like to share the pros and cons with you. Then you can decide how you’d like to take on a furniture restoration- especially, if this is a project you haven’t taken on before.
The Pros-
-This was my first restoration and because there was so much damage, there wasn’t much to lose! I was nervous about taking it on but this buffet was the reason I overcame that fear. My advice to anyone taking on a restoration for the first time, is to use a piece that is damaged and can only get better with a little (or a lot) of TLC.
-I learned how to work with stain and polyurethane. I understood the importance of sanding in between coats and how to apply it for a beautiful and protective finish.
-The damage was gone! The sanding stripped the old finish and gave me a fresh surface to work with. The surface looked nice and uniform and it looked nice in the dining room with our dark wood table and chairs.
The Cons-
-I removed all the old mid-century hardware, including the beautiful gold diamonds that were nailed into the top flat panels! (OMG!) Looking back, I realize this was a mistake. I actually threw them out! If I could do it over, I would have kept the diamonds and either searched for the replacement knobs and pulls, or found some with a mid-century style to keep with the look of that period.
-I probably wouldn’t have stained it a new color, but just applied a clear finish over the original wood surface or lightly stained it. I have come to appreciate the original look intended for these old pieces and I feel I stained it too dark. You can’t see the wood grain as well, now.
-I would have taken the time to research this piece and learn more about it’s value in keeping it close to original. I wouldn’t have been so hasty. I’ve learned it’s best to take the time to do that so you don’t take the value away from certain furniture pieces.
I am not a wood purist by any means! This is not to deter you from painting furniture or making a piece modern if that’s what you want to do. It’s yours and you have to live with it and be happy about it.
My hope is to share the lessons I’ve learned from my first restoration and hope that these positives and negatives will help you decide how you want to proceed with your furniture project!
I would advise you do some research, first! Find out what you have and search the look during that period and see if you want to keep with that look. Maybe you have a real treasure and don’t want to lose value in your piece, like I did.
I hope to find pulls and knobs that give it a more classic look. I have been on the hunt the last few months and I even found some different hardware pieces that my Grandfather had in his workshop! Some of them are pretty old and I feel what I have might fit the original look of the buffet.
Hopefully, I’ll update this with a classic look, some day!