Thursday, September 19, 2013

Refinishing 2 Cedar Chests

Chablis and I have slowly amassed quite the varied collection of furniture that we wanted to refinish.  We've been hitting garage and yard sales all summer and our garage is overflowing.  Crammed to the rafters with so much furniture in fact, that Louie finally told me that we had better start working on some of this stuff and get it out of there.  I gave him the sad face and before I knew it, a new storage shed was erected in the yard and all the furniture was moved out of the garage.  Chablis and I staged everything out in the yard to decide what we wanted to start on first.  Let me tell you - there is a lot of stuff!

With the weather forecast calling for a few days of cool temperatures and sunny skies, we decided to tackle a couple of projects this week.  We decided that the 2 cedar chests were first on the list to be done, because we could easily store other stuff inside them once they were finished.  Smart idea, huh?

I decided to tackle this Lane Cedar Hope Chest.  Other than being severely scratched and badly water stained, it was in really good shape.  All the wood was sturdy and intact.  I gave it a good sanding down and also removed and cleaned the hardware handles.


 
Chablis had finagled  negotiated a really good price on this antique cedar chest and she couldn't wait to start on it.  This one was in really bad shape.  It had several cracks in the wood, missing moldings, rusty hardware and really dirty all over.






Since we had the sander out, we decided to sand down several other projects right away as well.  After all, if everything was going to get saw-dusty, we might as well get that out of the way...


After the sanding we gave everything a good vacuuming and a thorough wash down...







My son had also just asked me to find him a small dresser for his room.  I picked up this one for free!  He didn't care for the wood finish, so I sanded it down and then he asked me to paint it dark brown.  If you look closely in the background you can see my new shed that is still crammed with lots more stuff to work on....


Here's his finished dresser.  Plain, I know, but it was exactly what he wanted....


Here's what the finished Lane Cedar Chest looks like.  Based on the serial number stamped on the bottom, I think it was made in October of 1974.   I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet but it sure is beautiful!

**  I wanted to add this after- the- fact discovery.  I contacted Lane Furniture and asked about background information on this chest.  I got an almost immediate response: " It was from the CACHE collection by Lane. Mounted on Hidden casters and made out of Oak veneers and had a dark oak finish.  It was also identified as being made in 1974."  I'd like to thank Susan B. over at Lane for helping me find the correct information on my chest.  I'd also like to highly recommend the Lane Company - they go above and beyond for their customers!  **






Chablis was thrilled with how her Cedar Chest turned out.  She put a ton of work into it.  She had to repair a crack in the bottom, removed a lot of the crappy trim and really cleaned up the hardware.  Then she stained it.  I love the color and the natural dents and dings.  It has a lot of character.  She said she's definitely keeping hers.



 The original hardware looks amazing!



We got railroaded by rain the last 2 days so our projects got put on hold.  We have lots more to finish up before winter hits and it's too cold to work outside any more.  Unless I give my husband the stink eye and worm another shed out of him to work in.  Hmmmm.........

I'm joining Craft Frenzy Friday at Obsessive and Creative and Sunny Simple Life's From the Farm Blog Hop.  Stop by and say hi!

19 comments:

  1. I love how the furniture looks when you refinish it, it gives you such a sense of accomplishment!! It's all beautiful Kim!! Great job!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow-- you guys have been busy! Everything turned out so nice! Cedar chests are wonderful to use! Your husband sounds like a keeper too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Diane - we're trying to squeeze in a lot before winter hits. And yes, my husband certainly is a keeper!

      Delete
  3. I absolutely LOVE that cedar chest!! Great great job!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you SO much!! That is so nice to hear. We worked so hard on them.

      Delete
  4. Wow! you guys did an amazing job on both of those cedar chests!!
    I'm happy you enjoy doing the furniture together.
    I hope the old stink eye works...lol.
    xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's so nice to be able to work on these mother/daughter projects.

      Delete
  5. You all did such great jobs. Can't wait to see the rest of your projects. Nothing like the stink eye :)
    xo Laura

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - I like the stink eye!! Stay tuned for more projects. We are working fast and furious and until dark most nights.

      Delete
  6. BRAVO! I love this post on so many different levels. You guys are awesome people, that's all I have to say.....BH

    ReplyDelete
  7. Reminds me of my childhood. My mother was always finding "bargain" antiques and refinishing them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It gets in your blood and gets very addicting. Thanks for coming by!

      Delete
  8. Wow Kim - these are incredible. Good for you girls! I love that 1974 hope chest and the carved wood detail. How fun to receive the extra tidbits of historical information.

    I like the idea of a hope chest...do young gals or guys, for that matter, have hope chests these days? They sure were popular when I was a teenager...actually I was 14 in 1974 so I am from that era; I never had one albeit I sure wanted one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, they were very popular years ago but I don't think they are so much anymore. It's a shame, because they have such a sense of romanticism, don't they?

      I graduated from high school in 1974 and they were all the rage. When I moved into my first apartment with a couple of friends, one of the girls had one and I was SO jealous. I always wanted one so badly and I couldn't afford one back then.

      I feel like this one was meant for me to find.

      Delete
  9. Wow, look at all those furniture projects! :o) The chests turned out beautifully! Wish I could bring my furniture projects and come join the party with you guys!

    Tania

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you for posting! I just refinished the same Lane cedar chest, and I was curious to know more about it's age. I really appreciate it, and you all do beautiful work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi adam. Thank you!

      It should have a style number and a serial number on it. look at the serial number. Mine was: 2475101. Read backwards it is 1015742, which means it was made October 15 of 74. Cool huh?

      Also, Lane had a lock recall and any chest made between 1912 and 1987 qualifies for a new lock at no charge.

      Contact Lane thru their on-line messages on their website. They were very good about contacting me, asked for photos, verified the date it was built and mailed me a new lock. Very nice customer service and I was impressed. Let me know what you find out and good luck.

      Delete

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Please leave a message because I love to hear from you!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...