Sunday, May 23, 2010

Duncan Phyfe Restoration


Here is a Duncan Phyfe Revival china cabinet I had the pleasure of restoring a while back. It was made of poplar with elements in mahogany veneer. The Duncan Phyfe pieces have always been very much in demand and never seem to go out of style. In fact, you still see it in new furniture stores today. This particular china cabinet was probably made in the 1940s.


Apparently this old girl had seen a little weather, or was possibly stored somewhere damp for a long time. She had a lot of water damage to the inside walls.




Here is a close-up of the veneer peeling off from the water damage.




I put a birch plywood overlay on the inside walls to cover up the peeling veneer.



I had to do it on one entire side of the cabinet. I knew I could never buy the right color stain to match, so I made my own red stain.




Here is the basic shell with the staining completed and 1 coat of polyurethane applied.


This is one of the doors with mahogany veneer after applying polyurethane.



Originally there were routed grooves in the doors which were painted black. I taped off the grooves and painted them black again using acrylic paint and an artists brush. I then put another coat of poly on the entire door including the grooves.



Here is the crown and finial, nearing completion.



A close-up for you.



I removed the wooden lacework from the glass doors, along with the glass, in order to get everything back in pristine condition.




Everything got at least 2 coats of poly. A few areas like the doors got 3.



Completed and ready for another 50 years or more.





I love the simple elegance of Duncan Phyfe furniture.





What do you think?



If you are here from a link party make sure also enter mine, Modern Craftswoman Monday. Also be sure to visit my Link Party Directory. It lists over 100 great parties this week, and you can see who I am linking up with today.

48 comments:

Gracefully Vintage said...

Yikes, I love it- what an amzing piece- but you did some great work on that- love the break down-
ALso have to mention I LOVE THAT pink chair and fur Pillow-
im all over the pink-and fur..
Karryann

Rory from Tools Are For Women Too! said...

Hi Karryann,

Thank you. I was pretty happy with the way the china cabinet turned out. Glad you liked it.

I know it may not sound like a guy thing, but I am a fan of fur pillows too. The idea of recycling, and making use of old unwanted fur coats really appeals to me. I also think it is a great way to add some texture to a room. Thanks for stopping by.

Rory

Melissa said...

I think it is simply lovely.

Patti @ Pandoras Box said...

I am so happy that SOMEONE is still refinishing furniture - it is so easy to "spray paint" everything black or white (as you can see by my post). The cabinet came out lovely - be proud of your hard work!!

Stop over for a chance at a CSN LANTERN Giveaway - patti

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love it! What a wonderful job you did on restoring this beauty! I just love Duncan Phyfe and have a drop leaf table that I adore!
Great job.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Life in Rehab said...

Wow, that's just drop dead gorgeous!

Carrie said...

You did an excellent job!

Kori~Q~ said...

My mother recently inherited an amazing antique dining room set, so she is passing along her 1940s Duncan Phyfe dining table, chairs and china cabinet. The china cabinet is nearly identical to the one you refinished, btw.

Unfortunately, the dining table top is wrecked (my bro and I were not very kind to it when we were kids). I suspect it will need the veneer replaced on the entire tabletop, and the entire set of furniture could stand to be refinished. Any advice (especially on handling the table top)?

Ginger said...

Stunning! Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!

Ginger
SSB

Mya said...

The finished cabinet looks as if it never saw a bad day.

I am wondering:

1. if you were able to take the shelevs out to put in the plywood, or if you cut sections out and applied them separately...

2. how thick the plywood was...

3. was it necessary to smooth the old surface before applying the plywood...

If you can answer, great, but I do know there is a time constraint.

Rory from Tools Are For Women Too! said...

Hi Mya,

Thanks for the great questions. Here are your answers....

1.) First of all, only the inside veneer wall was bad, so it made it harder for someone to detect the repairs. That was an advantage. Yes, the shelves were removable, but I still applied the new individual panels, in sections. In order to makes it look more like a single piece I cut the sections out of the same length of wood so the wood grain would be uninterrupted from panel to panel.

2.) I used 1/4" thick birch faced interior plywood.

3.)There was no smoothing out of the old veneer needed, because no glue was used. I instead used some very small "quarter molding" to hold the new panels in place. I went ahead and used the molding on all the cabinet interior panels even if I didn't replace them, so that everything looked as though it was original.

The real trick was mixing some stain that looked right. It involved some trial and error on some scrap before I was satisfied with the color.

Hope that helps you. Feel free to ask questions. That's what I am here for.

Rory

Rory from Tools Are For Women Too! said...

Hi Kori Q,

Can you send me some pics? It would be easier to give you some solid advice that way. There are some tricks to repairing veneer, but I need to get a better idea of the damage.

Email them to:

toolsr4women2@gmail.com

Rory

Pemberley said...

If that hutch could talk it would say THANK YOU! Great job.

Sweet Bee Cottage said...

Wow! That is just phenomenally gorgeous! You did such a fantastic job. I can't believe how you took that from what it was to a piece so pretty I could cry! Well, not really cry, but I am getting choked up, well not really choked up, but this is one great restoration!

Kaysi said...

WOW!! That looks amazing!

Pamela said...

It is beautiful! I would love to have a piece like this.

Sarah @ The Pumpkin Patch said...

This is so beautiful! I love Duncan Phyfe furniture. Thanks so much for linking to my Transform Tuesday party!! It is an honor to have such a well-known blog link up to my small but growing one.

hope you have a great week!

Unknown said...

WOW...a LOT of work but STUNNING! Thanks for helping us have another great Anything Related!
~Bridgette

Lianna Knight said...

Great job!! Love it!! Check out my giveaway here...

http://jillybeansdoggieboutique.blogspot.com/2010/05/doggie-bed-giveaway.html

Megan Gunyan said...

I love the lines of this piece. you did a great job restoring it! I'm in awe...

Mad in Crafts said...

Beautiful job! Love that mahogany veneer.

Thanks for linking up to the Mad Skills party!

Unknown said...

It turned out very nice! You did a great job!

~Liz

Nikki said...

Great job, thats a real show piece! Thanks for linking up to Gettin' Crafty on Hump Day! :)

SueLovesCherries said...

Oh, that is gorgeous! Makes me want to redo my cabinet - not for a long while though!

AUDRA said...

Wow, I'm amazed at how this turned out. I've tried refinishing before, didn't turn out this great (probably because I took a few short cuts).
Great job!

I would love if you link this up to Socialize with me monday til sunday link party
http://simpsonizedcraftsandthensome.blogspot.com/2010/05/socialize-with-me-monday-til-sunday.html

craftyles said...

Just beautiful Great job bringing this piece back to life!

Sarah said...

Impressive! You are very skilled. Thanks for sharing this beautiful Duncan Phyfe piece. ~ Sarah

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

Definitely a timeless classic! Nice restoration; it looks beautiful. Sad though that such a great piece had that damage. I guess someone didn't realize what they had.

Susan Freeman said...

I think you did a fabulous job of restoring this piece to it's former glory!!

Love,
Susan and Bentley
xxoo

Sally Annie Magundy said...

Just beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Happy Rednesday,
Sally

★Carol★ said...

Wow, I'm so impressed, because I admire anyone that refinishes furniture! It turned out fabulous! We have a Duncan Phyfe dining room table and chairs, and the table desperately needs refinishing, but I always have vintage tablecloths on it so I figure why bother!
Happy REDnesday!
Carol

Unknown said...

OMG what a gorgeous Cherry peice.

The Prudent Homemaker said...

How beautiful! Classic furniture is something of a rarity where I live (Las Vegas). Most people have pressboard furniture. We had to order everything, since we love classic styling like that piece.

It's really lovely.

Johanna said...

Wow! What a fantastic job! It is really beautiful now. I love how you added that birch plywood-so crafty!
Happy Rednesday!
Blessings,
Jo

Sherrie said...

What an amazing job. I am so glad that you took the time to refinish and not just stick a coat of paint on and call it good. I loved what I saw so much that I am now going to go back and read your older posts to see what other treasures you have rescued. Thanks for sharing.

Sherrie said...

P.S. I had to become a follower. Nice to meet you.

Sherrie

Rory from Tools Are For Women Too! said...

Hi Sherrie,

Thank you for your compliments. I do professional restoration and consulting for a living, so this particular piece was one I did for someone else. It was an inherited family piece and I was hired to bring it back to life. Painting it was not an option. Glad that project is over. It had it's challenges. Please make yourself at home here and let me know if I can help you in any way. Rory

Leslie said...

Wow! Great job, Rory! It's beautiful!

Suzanne@Meridian Road said...

You do such beautiful work! It looks like new.

Fawnda@Fireflies and Jellybeans said...

WOW! That looks like a lot of work... but it is BEAUTIFUL! Great job! :)

Marigene said...

Wow, that is a stunning piece of furniture! You did a fabulous job of bringing it back to life.

Sew Can Do said...

I'd never have dreamed that before could turn into the after. Amazing job - thanks for sharing with Craftastic Monday!

Heather{Our Life In a Click} said...

Wow! Beautiful!! It looks stunning...you really brought it back to life.

-heather

Funky Junk Interiors said...

Oh my gosh.. I can't believe you got it to come back like that! Amazing job. And whadda piece! Very pretty lines. Have fun decorating that one!

Thanks for linking up to SNS!
FJ Donna
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

Ginger said...

Just wanted to let you know that you were featured today here:

http://superstinkyboys.blogspot.com/2010/05/mad-skills-monday-link-party-10.html

Feel free to snag my Featured button! Great work! Thanks!
Ginger
SSB

Julie @ Frugal and Fabulous Design said...

This is gorgeous! Thank you so much for linking up to the party. :-)

Room to Inspire said...

This is such a beautiful piece! I just love the lines and the refinishing really brought out all the lovely details. Thanks for linking this one up as well!

Chelsea

Sunshine and Shadows said...

You are so good at this. I have almost this same china cabinet.