PRESERVING AN ANTIQUE WOOD CABINET

I had the pleasure of preserving an antique cabinet. She was really pretty from the outside, super old, hand made once upon a time and had lots of ware. The inside was another story, rotting and falling apart were just a few of her issues. It had been a rodent retreat for some time. They chewed large holes in the wood and did their business all over the poor girl. There were also multiple repairs done over the years leaving a large selection of different nails to be dealt with. The wood had shrunk so much there were ....

gaps between every back board and door frame. So many 

spaces between boards in the drawer bottoms you couldn't

 put anything in them with out finding stuff slipping through

 into the cupboard below. The door hinges were rusted and 

seized and I would have to find just the right size screws to

 get the doors secured and working again. But enough of the

torment, please have a look at the photos I took along the way.

STEP ONE

deal with the bottom,

this is the part that smelled the worst!

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STEP TWO

remove the back and rebuild inside,
this is tons of work no one ever gets to see

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STEP THREE

fix all the drawers and doors,
this is fussy meticulous work you need great patience for,

glad I have some.

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STEP FOUR

clean and clear coat the whole cabinet,
this part you get to smell some different things, better things.

STEP FIVE

secure the crown and top shelf,
OH the nails, all the teeny tiny nails, many going in and more coming out!

STEP SIX

Smile .... you're done,
this truly is the moment you puff out your chest and be proud

 

  

Realistically there are a lot more little steps involved to 

accomplish a project like this, but I have shared the

big ones with you and some humor I hope you'll appreciate.

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