Saved from the Dump, Vintage Record Cabinet
- By Joan
- July 31, 2017
- 5 Comments
I’m finally ready to tackle the vintage record cabinet I rescued from the farmhouse back in February. He wasn’t my first choice for a makeover but if I didn’t stick him in my car that night he would have been headed for the dump the next day.
He’s been on my mind ever since…not that I’ve been looking forward to tackling this project…but he’s been sitting in my garage and every time I pull in I just about run him over.
I have got to stop bringing home these strays. Last week it was the chest of drawers, this week it’s a record cabinet. Just because they look at me with their old vintage wood and beautiful wooden legs does not mean I should adopt them.
Seriously, this guys skin has all but peeled off.
The inside of the cabinet was mostly intact, just a case of spider webs and mildew. That white on the bottom, is not dust. Nothing a good bath couldn’t take care of.
Besides the peeling veneer, the entire top was warped…it had to be totally removed. Nothing a good whack with the hammer couldn’t take care of.
If you disregarded the mildew and the spider webs, the inside was actually in pretty good condition. All it needed was a good wipe down with Restor-A-Finish 
My big plan for replacing the top was to find an old cabinet door as large as my top, so off to the salvage yard I went.
As you can see, that board I have placed on the top of the cabinet does not look like an old cabinet door. I couldn’t find a large enough door so in its place is a piece of tongue and groove wide plank flooring.
This was the nicer side of my flooring but I’m going to have to use the under side so I don’t get those big divots in between the floorboards.
The old top was somehow routed out so that the thin sides fit up into the top.
I’m just cutting that thin sliver of wood off so that all my edges are even.
No project would be complete if I didn’t have to make a run to the hardware store. I needed a 6ft , 1×2 and trim for the top, but I also bought this wood accent piece for the front.
Cut the 1×2 to fit along the top edge of the cabinet and nail and glue into place. I needed to beef up those sides so I would have something for the new top to nail to.
Stain the 1×2’s so they more closely match the interior color of the cabinet.
Cut the tongue and groove off of the outer edges of the cut floorboards and sand.
Use finishing nails to nail the top to the cabinet nailing thru those 1×2’s.
Miter the corners of the decorative trim and use finishing nails and glue to finish off the edges of the floorboards.
Repair any scratches, nail holes and blemishes with plastic wood.
That almost looks like my original warped top, but it really is not as bad as it looks.
When dry, sand with find sandpaper.
The front panel had a large section of veneer missing..a little too large for the plastic wood. Cut the veneer with a utility knife so that the edges are not jagged and pry off.
I’m using a piece of veneer that had flaked off the top to repair the missing veneer on the panel. The veneer is easily cut with scissors. Glue well and clamp into place.
The remaining smaller veneer holes were filled in with the plastic wood.
The medallion was glued on with wood glue.
For the remainder of the cabinet, everything is dry and sanded and ready for painting.
I gave the cabinet a little undercoat of black and light blue mostly on the edges and two coats of Celery chalk paint.
Once dry, I sanded the edges where I wanted to show some wear and finished with one coat of clear wax and a final coat of vintage wax. Once sanded the black and the light blue are most noticeable on the top.
If you want a more clean finish go sparingly on the sanding.
This was taken the day I brought my stray home. You can probably tell why it has taken me so long to get around to this project.
Stay inspired and have a great week.
Shared at Wow us Wednesdays, Metamorphosis Monday
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What a hot mess your stray was but how pretty he looks now! Someone is bound to adopt him! Very nice. Not too many people would have taken a chance on that sad little piece. ?
I didn’t know it had it in him to look beautiful again.
Great job!
Wow, it looks GREAT!!! You did a fantastic job on it, I love it!
What a great rescue transformation!!! I love it!
Great job and it is beautiful now. I love it. I restored a sewing machine cabinet years ago almost the exact same shape and size and even used the exact wood decor piece. I guess we have the same taste.