Jay scooped this up on his way to work one morning. It was hard to overlook. The frame and the doors are solid oak and were in great shape. The back and the top panels were damaged and would need to be replaced. It would also need new shelves. I can’t believe how this turned out!
We removed the back and top panel and the damaged shelves. Next, we removed the decorative plates from the door fronts. We wanted flat door fronts so we decided to get rid of these. They were attached with screws and came off easily. After that we repaired the holes on the doors with wood filler.
The original hardware was so unique! We wanted to try to salvage it to keep some of its character.
We removed the hardware from the doors and boiled it in a vinegar and water bath. Then we scrubbed the hardware with Barkeepers Friend and steel wool. It cleaned up beautifully – and is solid brass.
We then sanded the entire frame and the doors with 120 grit sand paper and then 220 grit sandpaper. It was easy to sand as most of the paint was already chipping off. Jay cut the top lip of the frame with a circular saw so that the frame appeared more square.
Jay cut a new top panel and back from 1/4″ sanded plywood. For the top shelves, he used the remaining plywood to create new shelves. He glued the sanded plywood to wider wood boards, cut to size and ironed banding on the edges. This was done so the back and the shelves would match once stained.
We began staining the back piece and the upper shelves with ipswich pine but didn’t like the color so we switched to mission oak. Each stained piece has one coat of ipswich pine and two coats of mission oak to get our desired color. We filled any remaining holes or cracks on the frame with wood filler or painter’s caulk.
Jay created a bottom shelf for behind the doors to replace the missing shelf. He used the same technique as he used for the upper shelves but without banding since we knew we would be painting this shelf.
We applied a total of three coats of black milk paint finish to the frame, the doors and the bottom shelves. We then applied hemp oil to the entire piece and put the hardware back on.
Look at these results!
Here’s a list of products we used:
- Pine Stain
- Mission Oak Stain
- 1/4″ Plywood Home Depot
- 2 1″ x 2″ x 8′ pine boards
- Barkeepers Friend
- Paint
- Hemp Seed Oil
Flippin In the Saw 
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