A Cedar Chest Rescue Project

There's refinishing, and then there's rescuing. Refinishing is just giving a piece a new look, a bit of paint, maybe a new top or some new pulls - no big deal. Rescuing is pulling a piece of furniture back from the brink of death. This is the second cedar chest I've rescued in the last couple weeks. Where as the last one was on death's door structurally speaking, this poor cedar chest had fallen on hard times and begun to associate with bad company, I had to rescue it spiritually. Or in other words, the place I purchased this off craigslist was a meth den, and I was lucky to get out with the cedar chest, to say nothing of my life. No I'm kidding, they were very nice and polite meth heads...but super high.

So anyways, this cedar chest had seen better days. At some point it had been painted arguably the worst color I've ever seen in all my years of doing this. It was a hazy, sticky mustard yellow with a dark glaze, I think. Luckily the interior was in excellent condition, which is the important part in a cedar chest. So I sanded the top, and I must admit I did not have high hopes, but thankfully, this absolutely stunning mahogany was underneath that gross paint. I sanded the rest of the case and painted it a pale sage green, lightly distressed, and finished with a dark wax. This is one of my favorite transformations ever, and since I know it's going to a wonderful client who already has quite a bit of my furniture, it will be in much better company from here on out.

Look at those antique bottles reflected in the surface of the top. Hell Yea!