One of the best things about refinishing furniture is that furniture can be passed down from generation to generation but be updated so it doesn’t look like it is old and worn out. Today I’ll let you in on a little secret about how to repair legs on these older pieces of furniture.
Get more of my favorite Tips for Repairing Old Furniture here!
Brook inherited this old nightstand that was once her grandmother’s. It is solid mahogany with 4 drawers, but the top was pretty badly beaten up with scratches and water rings all over. Not to mention the finish was coming off. The worst of it was that the back legs had broken. They once had flared out like the front legs, but the beautiful curve had broken off both of the back legs.
Thankfully we were able to update this piece and repair the legs so no one would know that it was once broken.
 The damage on the top of the nightstand. Photo by the client. |
First we grabbed the orbital sander with 80 grit sandpaper and sanded the top down smooth. There were a few deeper scratches that we filled in with wood filler.
Next we took all of the drawers out and then tipped it onto it’s top. This made it so much more easy to work with the back legs. After lightly sanding where the legs had broken off, we mixed up a batch of Bondo. This stuff works miracles. It dries fast and hard unlike wood filler.
Using the plastic bondo scraper I worked the bondo onto the legs, filling in the broken area. My goal was to fill it in as good as possible so I could sand it completely flat. We didn’t feel the need to rebuild each leg with the flare. We just wanted to make it uniform and neat, especially because these are the back legs that nobody really sees.
I wish I had taken a picture or two of what the bondo looked like at this point. But let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. There was a big blob of bondo on the bottom of each leg, but that didn’t matter. Once it was firm, but not completely hardened (took about 5-10 minutes) I took a box cutter and carved the extra bondo away. Once it gets completely hard it has to be sanded away. And it ain’t easy.
Afterward I let it completely dry. Then I grabbed the sander and sanded each leg base completely flat. I wanted the bondo to be flush with the old wood, and then each leg to match the other leg.
Wahoo! The legs were finally repaired and everything was ready for some paint. The hardware on each drawer came off, the drawers were taped off so paint didn’t get where it shouldn’t be and everything got a light sanding and a bit of wood filler in the deep scratches.
She wanted the nightstand to match her pillowcase, so we picked a paint swatch from Home Depot that matched it and we got our paint.
The hardware was covered in dirt and grime, but it easily came off with bar keepers friend. We usually have to scrub a lot to get hardware to this point, but the grime came right off of these ones.
After a few coats of paint, some light distressing and a few coats of poly, this mahogany nightstand has a new life. It went from being old and worn out to being perfect for her bedroom where she can enjoy it for years to come. It is such an honor that Brooke (like many others) chose us to transform her grandmother’s nightstand!
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