Not all projects go as planned.

It’s a natural part of restoring furniture. Certain pieces have unforseen issues or problems that cause the restoration process to have to change.

This was one of them. I had picked this up with the thought it’d be a straight forward restoration. Sure it was beat up but nothing looked all that scary from the pictures I saw. However once I got my hands on it the real issue became clear.

This piece had a water damaged top. To try and salvage my dream of this being a straight forward restoration I attempted to clamp down the lifting veneer and swollen substrate. As you probably guessed that didn’t work.

So it was time to pivot and deploy plan B which was to apply new walnut veneer. Before doing this I sanded all the top level even if it meant burning through the existing veneer. Once that was complete I filled any voids or rough areas and did on last round of sanding. Proper prep is key with veneer, you want the surface to be perfectly level and clean.

To apply the veneer there’s a couple ways to do this, all with their own unique pros and cons. For this piece I went with @3M Super 77 spray adhesive. This was applied to the veneer backing and top of the dresser before applicaton. It provides a really strong grab but also gives me a tiny window to make any minor placement adjustments. (If you’re new to veneering I’d reccomend PSA which is essentially peel and stick. This is the easist to apply in my opinion as the adhesive backing is already attached to the veneer.)

Finally I performed a full restoration. This was a touch tricky as new walnuts color is a darker brown with purple undertones whereas vintage walnut is a medium orange brown. It takes some finesse and color magic to make these two appear the same.