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My first experience of amateur restoration. The first and the last, I think. (Guest post by Marina Zabrodina)

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

This is a guest post by an illustrator Marina Zabrodina. You can find her previous guest posts here and here.
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So, I decided to give second life to the bedside table rotting in a shed, that was lucky to get my eyes on it on one sunny June day...

Here it is:





It was very old... made at least seventy years ago of solid wood and plywood (I think).

This is what I needed to do to give it a decent look and make it usable:

• to sand the surface and remove the old paint as much as possible,
• to replace the rear wall that was rotten and partially eaten by some bug,
• to replace the bottom,
• to replace the shelf,
• to replace the lid,
• to put a few wooden patches over the holes for the the door hinges on both sides, 
• to patch and sand the cabinet,
• to paint it,
• to put a wooden patch on the door,
• to patch and sand the door,
• to paint the door
• to re-make the drawer,
• to decorate the surface by using pyrography technique for the drawer front, the lid and the shelf, 
• to decorate the door with a piece of tapestry,
• to replace the missing handles,
• to hang the door on the hinges.

That was the exact plan. Thank you for reading the list)

Then everything went not according to the plan at all!

I would like to start with showing the pictures of the dismantled cabinet.


This is my favourite picture

Let's continue if you are still reading. I sanded the cabinet first, and then painted it right away with the oil enamel. I do not know why. I would prefer not to admit that, but the pictures would give me away :)

This is the back. I coated the inner side of the cabinet with the enamel and stained the outer side.



Then I made a shelf and stained it.



Then suddenly I remembered that I had a plan, so I started working on the patches.



I patched the door too (there was a hole there)



Then I made new bottom and new drawer:




I will admit that I got some help with the handle :)



Then I spray-painted the cabinet with a matte paint. By the way, it stuck to the oil enamel well. I think it worked out for me that I brush-painted the surface first as my skill level of spray-painting was rather poor. 


I painted the door and glued a piece of tapestry on it:


I installed the shelf, then finished the bottom and glued the lid on the top:



I hung the door (ok, I admit that I got some help here too, as I was out of inspiration at that point :)


A few details:





As you can see, the cabinet is far from perfect. I achieved my goal to make it usable, though. Now it lives in my home. It does not look new, but that is acceptable for a cottage style cabinet :) 

It was my first experience. If I've known what I know now, I would do it differently and changed all wood instead of patching it. 

Here is "Before and After" picture:


In the house:


Thank you for looking!

Marina Zabrodina

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