Set of drawers

Caroline:

A gift from the family was so badly smothered with dark dark varnish that the beautiful personality of this set of drawers was lost.

I removed the varnish by sanding and the lumpy black paint off the drawer knobs by soaking them in vinegar and I found an amazing oak veneer underneath. I would have kept the oak veneer if it had been possible to get all the old varnish out of the wood grain but that proved impossible without damaging the veneer or using a lot of poisonous paint strippers - which I want to avoid.

After undoing I then redid the body with 2 different colours of stain.  For the drawers themselves I chose teak (a tropical hardwood)  and for the body a black walnut stain which is a dark chocolate brown. I also stained the insides of the drawers and dressed the bottom of the drawers with moss green paper covered by a sheet of thick plastic. These can easily be removed so the drawer can be dusted and the plastic can be cleaned. Very practical and looks elegant in my opinion. I love how one now can see the wood grain through the stain, it looks so much more alive. What do you think?

Click on a picture below to see full gallery of before and after photos:

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