Vintage Cedar Chest or Side Table Needs a Makeover

In January I purchased this 1950s vintage Lane cedar chest with a pull-out drawer off of CL. I drove two towns over from Cohasset to meet this gentleman who had literally piles of stuff in his garage. It was 5pm and dark when I drove up - admittedly some alarm bells did go off but I looked around and decided it was safe enough to walk over and buy the darned chest. Overall, the situation was a little weird (and I am happy to still be alive), but my new chest has great bones and is in desperate need of a makeover!!

Vintage Chest's Makeover in Detail


What I didn't tell you is that the crazy guy that sold me the chest smooshed the chest into my Volvo (station wagon) in such a way that challenged the integrity of one of the legs. I had to fix this. Gorilla glue is the best stuff on the market and will hold this leg in place, no problem.

With that done, I chose the paint color and got going. See the fanned detail in the before and after photos? Yes, it's the same across both shots. The fan was in such good shape that I taped it up in order to preserve the original color and accent the detail when I was done. I chose a rusty cherry red as my paint color (this was an "oops" gallon of paint from Lowe's…you know, the paint color that a customer returned despite the fact that it says not returnable on the label but cost me only $5).

Overall, the chest was in good condition. However, I didn't really like the fact that there is just one drawer but 6 drawer pulls (not to mention several pulls were missing the handles) - the drawer is not picture below. Thus, I decided to remove the pulls and cover up the holes with wood filler.

I sanded and primed my chest. BTW, it's not difficult to sand a finish that's 65-odd years old. Finally, I primed the chest with Kilz water-based primer but added a bit of the paint color so that the white didn't peek through when I distressed the chest.

A day after the priming, I added two coats of paint and this bad boy was ready for distressing!! I took my orbital sander and 120-grit hand sand paper to the chest. It was a lot of fun on a 40 degree day. Hey, at least it was sunny :) See the snow in the background? It's been a brutal winter here in Massachusetts.

I added a bit of stain after I distressed the chest. I simply LOVE this step - it really ages the piece and finishes the look. Here are a few shots during the staining process. See how the stain changes the look of the paint?

And the final touch. I wanted to bring the original gold color back to the old brass hardware. Wow, Censational Girl has just the trick! Lemons and salt worked like a charm.

The After

I'm really proud of this piece. It would be great as a sideboard, end table, or bar!

I love refinishing furniture :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Bex Wilder