This is one of my favorite types of projects to work on. When someone asks me to save a piece of furniture that has almost no other chance for a new life. This one started out so bad she was going to the landfill.
This secretary had stickers on it, screws in it, ink stains, drawers that didn't work, but the largest problem was one drawer was missing the whole corner.
My solution was .... get rid of the drawer.
I moved the bottom drawer up and the sides off.
I moved the front kick board up and cut the side panel back
to the rear legs. And I put new legs on the front. Check out
the photo above for details.
Here she is standing up again with two drawers and new legs.
The inside of the top was also a big challenge to deal with. It
had floor tiles stuck to the work surface, melted wax to
remove, holes that needed fill, and the piano hinge that held
the fold down was bent and missing screws. All of which
I fixed over time and with great patience.
WD-40 is great for removing stickers and adhesive. Be sure
to wash the area with soap and water after using it. WD-40 is
an oil based product that will cause water based paint to react funny on the surface.
Here she is all painted and put back together.
I hope this will give you some options for saving other wood furniture pieces from the landfill.
BEFORE AFTER
