Pine Built-In Restoration Reveal
Last fall, I purchased a vintage pine built-in cabinet from a junk shop in a neighboring town. Coated in about four layers of paint, my plan was to strip it to reveal the gorgeous bare wood before placing it in my library.
The work was pretty grueling. But I pressed on, convinced the end result would totally be worth it.
At the outset, I made the decision to use the heat gun to strip most of the paint. I probably could’ve used a paint stripper, but in working with paint strippers in the past, I just hate how gooey and gross it is. Plus, it leaves behind all kinds of residue that ends up needing to be sanded off anyway.
The stripping was easier in some areas than others. There was a spot on the top of the bottom cabinet that gave me the most difficult time. It appears something was set on it and leaked, which caused the paint to overly adhere.
I made the decision to remove the back piece off the cabinet. For starters, it was not solid wood, and it had been so badly damaged and warped that saving it was of no interest to me. Given that our walls in the cottage are all tongue and groove, I opted to leave the back off. The old built-ins we used on the other side of the library also don’t have back, so they complement each other very well.
From there, I took 80-grit sandpaper to remove the stubborn bits of paint and smoothed it all out with a 120-grit. I made the decision to leave behind some of the paint to give it a bit more character. It was nearly impossible to get the paint out of the corners of the inlaid doors with the stripper or sander. But I love how it turned out.
The previous owner had painted over all of the hardware. I wanted to salvage the latches, especially, so I grabbed a cheap mini crockpot from the thrift store, filled it with water and Dawn dish soap, and “cooked” the hardware overnight.
The next day, the paint practically slid right off. One of the latches was already broken, and another broke once I had put everything back together. But trying to find matching latches seemed pretty impossible, so I rigged it so that the doors can be opened and latched without actually using the latch.
I finished up using some furniture wax, rubbing and buffing it back off. I really wanted to try some of the furniture salve from Wise Owl. But I hesitated because it comes in different fragrances, and I didn’t want to purchase without a sniff test.
Getting the pine built-in into place in the library proved a bit of a challenge because none of the original hardware on the back came with the piece. We knew we wanted it to be free standing, so my husband was able to conspicuously connect the two pieces together. We thought maybe the top would still need to be mounted to the wall, but his fix was so solid that we opted to allow it to remain free-standing.
This was easily one of the hardest projects I have ever completed. My body ached from head to toe after a few 10+-hour days attempting to strip and sand. But I have also never been more proud of a project.
The vintage pine built-in turned out exactly how I envisioned, and I get such incredible compliments on how well it looks in my library. I imagine it will be a long time before I can bring myself to part with this incredible piece.
