I saw this dresser on my local for sale site and the guy was open to offers. Yes, you read right it was for sale.

I offered $20 and my son said he would offer a match because firewood was all it was good for. So, I wanted to prove the doubters wrong even though I had never restored on before. In my head, I can do anything if I try and luckily most projects work in the end.

Tips for Restoring an Antique Dressing Table

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This was the dresser when I picked it up. (The spiders and the webs were included in the price…Bargain.  As soon as I got it home, I regretted my decision. On closer inspection, I noticed that not one piece of wood was intact.  Every section had a big split down the middle where it had dried out and shrunk.  It had no legs, and most of the hardware was missing or rusted and the mirror was peeling.  But I decided to try and restore it anyway.

Fixing the frame of the dresser

I thought I would rebuild the structure first because it was no use continuing if I could not do that.  Every piece of wood was warped and loose.  I did some research (I Googled it) and some suggested steaming the wood with a clothes steamer.  This did work a bit, but it took forever.  As I steamed the wood, I used clamps to pull the wood into place and left them for a few days to dry out again.

I glued all the loose areas, which was nearly every piece of wood on the dresser. To hold the structure in place while the glue dried, I used clamps and ratchet straps.  I was still left with some small gaps which I filled with wood filler.

Adding some legs

There were no legs on this dresser they had all rotted away.  I found some suitable legs in my stash of pares from stripped-down furniture. strip down old furniture that cannot be repaired and keep the parts as spares.  That is where I got the legs.  I attached the new legs by screwing them into the base. I did have to add some blocks of wood so they would fit properly, but you would not see them.

Repairing the dresser tops

The dresser tops were the same issue, they were split in half and had water stains all over them.  I repeated the same process of steaming and glueing the pieces back together and filled all the gaps with wood filler.

Replacing the shelves

The shelves inside the dresser were beyond repair they had shrunk so much the gap was too large to fix them.

To make some new shelves I used some scrap plywood that I cut to size.  To hide the fact that I was using plywood, I used some wood veneer tape to hide the plywood layers.  I ironed on the tape, and cut away the excess with a craft knife so it looked more like solid wood.

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Repairing the drawers

Even though the inside of the drawers were all dried out I did not replace them. It was just a matter of gluing them back together.  

Cleaning the hardware

The hardware that came with the dresser was so rusty and most of them were missing.  I did a bit of research (Yes I googled it again) looking for new matching hardware.  A full set was so expensive so that was out of the question.  I decided to try and clean what I had and replace the others for my hardware stash. To remove the rust you can soak the hardware in undiluted vinegar for 24 hours.

After 24 hours all the rust just rubbed off, I have never been a big believer in these home remedies but this one worked great. The hardware from my stash was not the same but they were close enough in resemblance to blend in. Once the hardware is all clean and dry you can spray them with WD40 if you are not going to be painting them.

Repairing the mirror

This mirror had some areas where the finished had peeled of which was unsightly.  I phoned around to see if I could get the mirror stripped and resprayed, but no luck there. To have a new mirror cut to shape was also too expensive. Which left me trying to repair the damage with a mirror effect spray paint.

Before you apply the mirror effect spray you need to remove all the old peeling paint first. A Stanley knife blade works well to do this.  

You need to add at least 2 thin coats of the mirror effect spray paint. It was not perfect but was good enough for me to at least sell it.  

Fixing the doors

The doors of the dresser were not that bad, I just had to glue them all back together. The holes for the hinges were all worn, and the screws would no longer grip the wood.  To solve this issue, you can put some toothpicks into the hole and the screws will grip again. 

Sanding the dresser

I sanded down the whole dresser using a random orbital sander using 120grit and ending with 240 grit. I used Dark Mahogany stain because I still had some watermarks that did not go away with sanding. But they did not show through once stained.

Staining and varnishing

I used an oil-based satin varnish to seal the dresser and after the first coat of varnish it was started to look good already.  (Ignore all my scrap timber and other projects in the background.  Note to self.  Tidy work shed up for photos.)

Once the dresser was all stained and varnished, I replaced the hardware and put it all back together again.  I replaced the backing with a new thin piece of MDF board because the old one was beyond repair. The drawers were so hard to push in because all the wood was still so dry on them. 

I had some Annie Sloane wax that I use with the chalk paint and rubbed some on all the sides of the drawer and now they close as smooth as butter.  Very proud of myself coming up with that idea. 

Finished dresser

It is becoming a thing that one or both of my fur babies end up in my photos.  They always seem to come around when the camera is out. I am sure there were a few things I have forgotten to put down so if you have any questions feel free to ask.  The colour does change in some of the images depending on the angle and light.

This photo is the most accurate to the colour of the finished dresser.

The image below is the best one to show the repair to the mirror.  The Damage looks worse from this angle, but head on it does not look that bad.   

More restorations

Old commode chair gets flipped

Leather top desk restored

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