Restore or Reuse

A couple of years ago, a friend had some old furniture he wanted to get of. So for $200 I got the lot. Most of it was going to be way too much work to restore but this piece looked worth the effort. It has taken me quite a long time because a previous owner painted it white (not my friend) and this timber just soaked the paint up. So after many hours with a stylus it was finally at a stage to put a finish on it. It is made of Red Cedar. A beautiful timber but very soft. And it comes in a wide range of shades, all of which were used on this piece. So the next step was to stain it to a ‘consistent’ colour. My efforts were not 100% successful but it looks good from a distance.
Also the softness of the timber meant the draws were beyond help as they had worn an arch on the bottom of each draw side.

Luckily the draw fronts were in good condition so the draws were scrapped and new draws were made which I then attached the old draw fronts too. The draw runners are metal because it is going to be my son’s study desk and will need to stand up to some abuse.

Hope you like it as I doubt I will ever do another restoration project as they are too much work.

The other pieces were a table made of silky oak, a Hoop Pine table and a pine side table. The side table was trash but there was enough quantity of timber in the tables will be enough to do a some other projects. The hoop pine is being used to make a blanket chest, which is well under way.

-- Living is a constant gamble, life is about working the odds in your favour