Many lessons learned from one great refurb!

We had a wonderful opportunity to refurbish this bedroom set for some friends! It's a great pine bedroom set made by Bassett.

(Sorry, this first picture is actually after beginning the project)The tops had a lot of damage ~ gouges, scratches & dings. I was unable to sand them all out because the tops were only a very thin piece of wood veneer. Wood filler to the rescue. This brings me to a very important lesson and something that a lot of people ask me about. How can you tell if a piece of furniture is solid wood or not? Some companies such as Bassett & Lane are very good at making it look like solid wood.

Here is a very good way to tell ~ look at the back. Can you see the 6 different pieces that are used on this night stand? 3 out of the 6 are solid wood. The top & center support is made of high density particle board with a very thin piece of wood veneer on the top of that. The 2 decorative moldings on the top edge & on the center of the tall dresser molding are made of solid wood. The side is made of regular particle board with a photo type of veneer on it

(which must be sanded very lightly ). Here is a huge misconception ~ If a piece of furniture is heavy it must be solid wood. No, not necessarily. Particle board is actually heavier than most solid woods. Some woods are very light weight, such as ~ alder, mahogany, some pines & etc. Be very careful when buying furniture that claims to be solid wood.

One interesting observation is that dogs quite often will chew on the solid wood parts of furniture. So, lots of wood filler was needed for the job the doggy did on this dresser.

I just molded it on there and let it dry for 24 hours, then sanded it into a nice shape.
The dental molding, the bullseye, the drawer fronts, knobs and bun feet were all solid pine! But the interior of the drawers were made of particle board. Something to look out for ~ if you want to buy a better quality piece of furniture look for real wood there too.

Here is the night stand after a few coats of black satin paint were sprayed on.

Another helpful lesson to pass on! Rubbing wax on the wooden drawer guides helps the drawer to slide more easily. Just rub it on both pieces ~ the guide on the bottom of the drawer too.

Notice ~ only the top drawer guide is made of wood on this dresser. The others are made of metal, which didn't need any waxing to help them glide better.

Now here is the night stand after some distressing and then all nicely sealed with clear lacquer.

And the dresser looks fabulous too! You can't even tell where the dog chewed on it.

One more picture ~ nice and close. I don't like to over-do it on the distressing and only the solid wood parts could handle it. Also, I did not distress where there was a lot of wood filler. That wouldn't look so good.

Bye for now, ~*~Lynda~*~