Darren's Antique Furniture Repair and Restoration

Darren's Antique Furniture Repair and Restoration Where Timeworn Becomes Timeless

Willett Solid Cherry Side Table - Didn't do much to this table. It had great bones and I didn't want to completely stri...
06/05/2026

Willett Solid Cherry Side Table - Didn't do much to this table. It had great bones and I didn't want to completely strip the table to repair the scratches. All I did was clean and darken the stain and send it to a new home. On to the next project

Oak Arts and Crafts Stool - Found the stool by the trash and wondered why anyone would put this in the trash. The frame...
06/05/2026

Oak Arts and Crafts Stool - Found the stool by the trash and wondered why anyone would put this in the trash. The frame was solid and just needed a cleaning and a new pad on top to give it a new life. Of course I went with a neutral color because I wasn't going to keep it and wanted whomever ended up with it to have it match their decor. I cut a piece of plywood to fit into the center, added some foam, and upholstered the top. It took maybe two hours to turn this back into something everyone would love in their living room. It found a new home and I'm on to the next restoration project

Art Deco Chifforobe - Picked this up on marketplace before is was going to be sent to the dump. The cabinet wasn't in h...
06/05/2026

Art Deco Chifforobe - Picked this up on marketplace before is was going to be sent to the dump. The cabinet wasn't in horrible condition. One drawer bottom was missing (likely from someone slamming the drawer) and a few of the handles were damages/missing. There was also some lose veneer around the edges and the drawer insides needed some tightening and greasing with a candle so they opened and closed smoothly. I cut the one drawer straight and added a piece of pine as a replacement. I then took a photo of the trim and printed a piece to the size of the new board. This was the only way I figured I could match the color and pattern of the cabinet. I used a spray adhesive to attach and coated the sheet with a hardener for durability. I found replacement handles on Ebay, and waxed all the drawers. The end result looks pretty good and it went to live with a family in Lexington

Four Maple Dining Room Chairs - This is one of those projects that sat around for a long time while I tried to figure ou...
06/01/2026

Four Maple Dining Room Chairs - This is one of those projects that sat around for a long time while I tried to figure out what to do with them. The original chair had caned seats in the center. Those broke out over the years so the next iteration was to nail a hard pressed cardboard cutout over the center holes. These probably worked well until someone spilled liquid on them and they started to disintegrate. I took a board and glued a padding to them. I then upholstered them and needed to sink them flush with the top of the seat. to do this, I traced them onto the chair and used a router to remove the material to the depth of the seat up to the edge of the drawing. After some trial and error on the first one, I got a technique to reproduce the results on all four chairs. The result looks like they always were meant to be this way

FYI, I'm happy to get these out of the garage. Chairs take up a lot of storage room and don't stack well. I've fixed chairs in the past and they sat for a long time but I was fortunate to find someone a few days after these were listed. To be fair, these look amazing, but it isn't always easy to find the right home for my vision. These are done so on to the next project.

Three-Drawer Oak Dresser with Mirror - Somehow ended up with two of the identical dresser and fixed this one just like t...
06/01/2026

Three-Drawer Oak Dresser with Mirror - Somehow ended up with two of the identical dresser and fixed this one just like the other. Fortunately this one didn't have the 'Frankenstein' modern drawer slides added to each drawer, but it did have a common issue I see with older cabinets. The drawers have been pulled in and out so many times that the sides of the drawers wear away and sag when the drawer is pulled out of the cabinet. It also causes the bottom edge of the drawer to hit when it's pushed back into the cabinet because the drawer doesn't sit level with the cabinet. The solution is to either replace the drawer sides (requiring new dove-tail cuts to a new board), or maintaining the original character and adding a small piece to the bottom of the drawer bringing it back to within level.

I also had a 'split' in the leg that had to be glued back, and a missing side detail I nearly overlooked before realizing I needed to trace a template from the existing side and reversing it onto a piece of oak for the other side. I stain color match later, and the piece looks as good as new. On to the next project

Pine Side Table - Another project I was 'given' when I traveled to pick up something else. This is a nice little table ...
05/07/2026

Pine Side Table - Another project I was 'given' when I traveled to pick up something else. This is a nice little table that isn't spectacular but it shouldn't be at the curb going to the dump. All it needed was a good sanding to remove all the dents and oil stains, and a quick once-over with stain to make it look new. I also had to replace a few broken screws in the legs and tighten the exisiting. I didn't even get a chance to list it for sale before it was snagged up and taken to a new home. The repairs were so quick I forgot to take any before pictures. Just wanted it fixed so I could move on to the next project

Eastlake Parlor Table - Sometimes I think WAY too much into an item. I got this nice side table out of the trash and th...
05/07/2026

Eastlake Parlor Table - Sometimes I think WAY too much into an item. I got this nice side table out of the trash and thought I would re-veneer the top and make it new again. In reality, this is the perfect table to sit in front of a window with plants on it. All it needed was a good cleaning, a touch up to the finish, and a nice polish to make it look newer (not new). It found a new home almost immediately as a plant table and I moved it out for the next project.

Mahogany Coat Rack - Many times I am 'given' something when I go pick up another project, be it a dresser or vanity. Th...
05/07/2026

Mahogany Coat Rack - Many times I am 'given' something when I go pick up another project, be it a dresser or vanity. This was a coat rack the owner wanted to toss into the dumpster after I picked up an antique mirror because it was missing the poles to hang objects on. I asked for it and brought it home to make a new life for it. I picked up some thick wooden rods from goodwill for .50, cut them at an angle and used them for the pegs on the rack. The hardest part was drilling a large enough angled hole into the mahogany because the pegs were 1.25" thick. I ended up having some old milling bits from my grandfather in a toolbox that worked perfectly and the results were fantastic. Off to the next project

Teak Coffee Table with Boomerang Legs - this was a combination of leftovers from two different projects that have been s...
05/07/2026

Teak Coffee Table with Boomerang Legs - this was a combination of leftovers from two different projects that have been sitting in the garage for about a year. I got the bottom of a coffee table from the trash and never knew what to do with it. I just replaced the missing pieces and fixed the broken leg. I then had a rustic tabletop I built for my daughter to create a table on top of a dog bed she had. When she moved, she returned the dog bed top and I had the idea of combining the two into a cool retro table. It wasn't perfect nor exactly what I wanted but it was perfect for someone else and it sold pretty quickly. Out it goes and on to the next project

05/07/2026

I have to apologize in advance. I have been fixing furniture but haven't been making many posts because I just haven't had the time. I also try to post before and after, and right now there is a LOT of in-process and not a lot that is getting complete. It seems there is a lot of gluing, replacing, pulling apart and analyzing, researching online to try and determine what the original intent was, etc. Suffice it to say I AM still repairing furniture. Summer just makes it harder to document the process.

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Crestwood, KY
40014

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+17195103609

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