05/29/2025
I scored this large cabinet 16 years ago for just 20 bucks from my local Goodwill. It was originally the iconic hideous 60s orange often the shade of choice for danish modern furniture of that era. (If you were around at that time, you know the one I'm talking about.) The tag claimed it was teak. At the time I purchased the cabinet, I was pretty new at refinishing and looking for a project. $20 was in my budget so I took it home and got to work.
The piece is tremendously heavy and the insets on the doors seemed virtually impenetrable. SO, with my inexperience, and very few tricks up my sleeve, I slathered it in multiple coats of espresso gel stain from Home Depot and called it done.
I wasn’t terribly mad at how it turned out so Peter and a dear neighbor dragged it into the living room where it's lived accumulating board games, craft supplies, old bank account statements, and tons of other "stuff" that filled its cavernous compartments.
A handful of years ago the top developed two large black rings when a plant that sat on top was over watered and went unnoticed for too long. It had also suffered other dings and scratches and spills over the years. I finally decided a few days ago that it was time to address the damage.
Now, I am barely able to move this monster even a few inches to access an outlet or vacuum behind it, so relocating it to the garage for repair was clearly out of the question. I knew I was going to have to work on it in place. "It should be fine, It won't take long to redo the top"... I tell myself.
Three days later ..... Here we are.
By the way, I discovered it is NOT teak at all. It’s black walnut! (My favorite!) I hope my skills have improved enough to do it better justice this time around. Fingers crossed!
