Restoring the Buffet

We recently were given an antique buffet that belonged to Bryan's mom. It came to us in pretty bad shape. It spent a while in our barn and also outside in a shed at someone else's home. It was pretty beat up and dirty. I researched restoring it and considered sanding and painting it but in the end decided to clean it up and go from there.

the buffet after being cleaned

badly damaged doors... we actually left these off the finished piece, they were just too bad off

gluing pieces back together

I started by cleaning it with Murphy's Oil Soap, at least 5 or 6 different times. It was so dirty that the water would turn black each time I scrubbed it. Once it was relatively clean and no longer smelly, we moved it into the house to finish it up and protect it from the weather and from being in the barn. I was still so scared to start the actual restoration process because this piece of furniture is one of the few things Bryan has that belonged to his mom. He was very hopeful that we could restore it to it's former glory and keep it as true to it's original state as possible, the way it was when his mom used it. Heirloom pieces carry such sentimental value that I wanted to do right by this old buffet and Bryan's request.

After doing my research, I decided to use a product called Restore-a-Finish. I found it at Home Depot. The buffet had some chipped up pieces that needed to be glued back down so that was step one. After the glue was dry, I started applying the Restore-a-Finish with a clean rag. Immediately I knew we had made the right choice. The old dried out faded looking wood came back to life beautifully. The next step was cleaning the hardware that was on the buffet. I just used some Brasso. After the Restore-a-Finish, a final step of applying a beeswax polish was done to seal the finish.

finally finished

some of my blue Mason jar collection and dried roses from Bryan's Mom's funeral in the clear jar

close up of the restored top

We are so happy with the results of this project. I am thrilled to have a meaningful piece of useful furniture in our home that was passed to us from my mother in law. I hope that we can look at the buffet and always remember the value all things have and the worth there is in taking the time to restore something. Whether that be a piece of furniture, an old truck (that's the next project), a relationship, anything, it's worth it.

~Tara