Duke Restorations

From pilling to appealing: a family heirloom security desk that has seen better days. In all the fronts of the drawers the veneer is pilling or already gone. The color of the furniture was faded and yellowed. And some veneer was loos or broken.
I started by removing all the old veneer from the drawers. After that I removed all old finish and color from the secretary. I glued new veneer on drawers, repairs and fillers. I applied color and varnish and finished with some coloured wood wax

2 web caned chairs. For both of them the seats webbing were torn and for one of the chairs the top of the back rest was broken into several pieces. I repaired the back rest and blended the repair with stain and new lacquer (for both chairs). For the seats, I removed the old cane, renewed the color and lacquer and re-canned both seats with new webbing.

Inside out: a 150 - 200 year old wardrobe that I restarted the inside and the outside. The inside had fabric glued all over. The bottom panel is made out of small boards that were not glued and held on only because of the fabric. Side panels shrunk and the entire piece had woodworm damage.
What I did:
1. Took the entire wardrobe apart and removed all the fabric.
2. Removed the old finish, sanded all the pieces and fabricated some new parts and new joints.
3. The top was bowed so I cut a groove and pulled it down and glued a strip of wood in the cut.
4. Glued the whole wardrobe back and applied stain and finish.
5. I added a rod for hanging clothes with an option to remove it.
6. I did a bunch more things but I don't want this post to be any longer.

The Italian job: an old (100 years old) dining table that needed a new top coat. Had some scratches and large heat marks. I removed the old finish from the top and the extensions. Applied 5 layers of gloss varnish and the table is back in action.

ChatGPT description of art deco furniture as such: "Art Deco furniture is characterized by its bold geometric shapes, luxurious materials, and sleek, streamlined forms. It emerged in the 1920s and 1930s".
This desk although it is of the period (it is around 80 - 90 years old) looked nothing like described by the futuristic AI, but as a big heavy, take me to the recycling center desk.
I decided to restore it and give it the art deco treatment.

Hand built rustic garden/party table made from an old cable wheel. It is food safe, fire and water safe. Has 4 large wheels to move around. It has a bucket for ice and cold drinks, and a barbeque for roasting or for heating on a cold night. Option for delivery with extra cost

A dining table top restoration. The parts were in good condition but had some minor damage and the color was very different between the parts. I sanded all parts, applied stain and lacquer to match and protect the parts.

Save and repair: The goal was to retain the colors, shades and gold decorations. I removed the old finish from the top and sides, and sanded the doors lightly. I re-created the gold decor on the top and then stained the top and sides with new stain with the same color as the original color. To finish the work I sprayed 3 layers of clear coat lacquer (2 mat and 1 gloss).

From bottom to top: This was the bottom part of a larger piece of furniture. The top needed a lot of TLC. After sanding the entire piece I taped the top and primed the rest and sprayed it with a gray color. The top got 5 layers of clear coat.

A vintage desk that needed a lot of care and work. Most of it is not solid wood, and the veneer has no special characters. The owner and I decided to paint it a custom green color that I mixed. The drawer fronts and top were sanded and oiled with hard oil/wax. The leather on the desktop was in terrible condition. I replaced it with a new piece. I also changed the hardware on all the drawers.