1970s Thomasville Buffet
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This buffet is such a beautiful quality piece of furniture by Thomasville. It weights a ton! I purchased it through an estate sale which is where I get a lot of my pieces. I finished it in a custom blend that I call “Stormy Seas” and refinished the original hardware in gold to give it a more sleek modern look. The challenge of this piece was not obvious when I purchased it. Most of the time, the auction that I used reveals all defects and damages. However, on this piece they neglected to do that. It is not seen in this picture. In fact, I don’t have a picture of the damage…..that was before I was taking pictures of everything….so sad! Anyway……if you look at the “Before” picture, at the feet, you can see how this piece has these cute curvy “feet”. In the back, on the left side of the buffet, the foot is broken off. Now these “feet” do not support the piece, they only serve as decorative that hide the actual feet. Not that that matters; I still needed to fix it.
So the challenge for this piece…..at least the FIRST challenge…..was to rebuild this missing foot. This article is about how I did that but all I can do is tell you, because I did not take pictures of this process. But I can tell you, that it turned out great! A normal person cannot tell that this foot was rebuilt. I was pretty proud of myself because this was the first time I had ever used this skill.
Before:
I found a picture of the rebuilt foot! Hallelujah! Doesn’t it feel good when you find something that you didn’t think you had?
So look at the back foot in this picture. That entire piece was missing when I bought this buffet. If you look closely, you can see that it is not the same as the front foot. What a dilemma! How was I going to create a foot that I didn’t have? Use the other back foot you say! No, that won’t work because it faces the opposite direction. The process of rebuilding this foot is to create a mold of another foot just like it. However, even though the other back foot is the same, it curves the opposite direction.
This is one of the original images that was in the auction and it really shows the way the feet curve. In order to get a mold of the foot with the curves going the right direction, I had to use a portion of the front right foot on this buffet. You can’t really see it that well here but that is what I did. And it worked!
So how did I do it? If you Search how to create a mold on YouTube, you will see that there are many methods. The method I used involved using a hot glue gun to create the mold. Go watch a video and you will see what I did. First I sprayed my foot …..haha, not my foot….the buffet foot with PAM so that the mold would come off easier. Then I just completely wrapped the area that I was going to use to create my new foot and let it dry. After it dried, I peeled it off of the foot and examined it for holes. I filled in any that I saw.
After the mold dried, it was time to fill it in. I used Bondo wood filler and I will provide you with the link. This stuff is amazing and fairly easy to use. Don’t be afraid! If I can do it, so can you. Because I didn’t have a perfect foot to create my mold, I had a lot of sanding to do after my “new” foot dried. It was way too big so I just sanded on it until I got it down to the right size. I wish I had pictures of this process but I will definitely take them next time. Even though my foot was too large, it did have the correct curve that I needed. All I had to do was sand it down until it was the right size.
Actually, I had another challenge that I faced on this project. Maybe it wouldn’t have been a challenge for an experienced furniture refinisher, but remember, I’m fairly new to all this. In the above picture, can you see where I painted the inside of the doors but not the edges of the doors? Well, they weren’t like that to begin with. Here’s my story…..
When I began this project, I had decided to paint the inside of the doors the same as the outside. Sounds simple enough, right? Oh my goodness, as I think about this project, I actually had so many problems that I almost gave up. But I digress. So I took off all of the doors to sand and paint. That was my first mistake. Actually taking off the doors is not the problem but if you are going to take off the doors to your project, make sure you write on them where they go. They do not always fit just anywhere even if they are the same size. Always try to put them back in the exact spot they were originally. That was my mistake! Although, with this particular buffet, I eventually figured out which door when were but only after I had to take them off and move them. Ugh! That was not fun!
So, back to painting the doors. As I said, I decided to paint the inside and the edges of the doors so that is what I did. All seemed fine, so I put the doors back on (a couple of times). I was so excited to finally finish this project and what do you think happened when I tried to shut the doors? You are so right! They would not close! These doors fit so snug that when I added primer and paint, it made them too big for the space. I was ready to throw this project to the curb. But of course, I didn’t. As you can see from the picture above, I sanded off the paint on the edges of the doors and stained them. In hindsight, I would have left the entire inside of the door stained.
I have searched, but I have not found videos or posts from other furniture artists about this issue. How do you paint the doors without causing this problem? If you know, please contact me because I am still learning. I learned so much completing this project but I did get very frustrated in the process. So to sum it up, here is what I faced and learned:
If you are going to take the doors off or drawers out, always mark them as to where they go and put them back in the same spot.
When buying a piece of furniture sight unseen, such as from an auction, ask if there is any damage that you cannot see.
I learned how to create a mold and rebuild a new foot using Bondo!
Be very careful about painting the edges of doors. They may not fit when you are finished.
After all of the problems that I had completing this project, I think it turned out great and it sold immediately! I actually think I charged to little for it. Another thing to learn! I was so frustrated with all of the problems that I had, that I underpriced it. But customers don’t know about all of the challenges you faced on a piece of furniture. All they see is the final beautiful outcome!
Supplies used:
Wise Owl Siren Song Chalk paint (mixed with Black to create my Stormy Seas shade)
The original hardware sprayed with Rustoleum Metallic Gold
Wise Owl Clear Wax
Varathane American Walnut stain for the top
Bondo Home Solutions Wood Filler, Sandable
1000 lb. Capacity Hydraulic Lift Table (This is only one brand, there are many to choose from)
