Let’s Restore an Antique Stereo Cabinet!

Have you ever restored a piece of furniture that was being used in a garage and was in pretty bad shape? I recently did that with a dresser that we had used in our garage for years. It came out beautifully! Now I found myself looking at possibly restoring another piece of furniture that has been used in a garage. This piece of furniture was in the garage of the house one of my son’s bought. Actually, there were a couple of pieces (of what had been nice furniture) in that garage. The other piece was a bookcase – a really nice bookcase too! That piece only needed a good cleaning; it is being used in the house now. THIS piece, however, looked like it would need a LOT of work! So much work that I wasn’t even sure if it could be restored.

What? You’re getting rid of it?!

I have it – now what?

After I told my son that I’d take the cabinet, he brought it over. Now that it was not tucked away in a corner of his garage, I could get a really good look at it. Ugh! Was it in sad shape! The back was missing. The doors were not original to the cabinet AND the veneer on 2 of them was missing under the hinges; not to mention that those same doors were badly damaged on the inside. The ‘shelves’ were haphazard. The top had 6 holes drilled into it. It was weathered and beat up!

A little research

Before digging into this project, I wanted to see if I could get some history. How old was the cabinet? What did it originally look like? Since the label was still intact, I had the model number, so I was able to find out this model was built in 1949 – oooh – and confirm that the doors were not original. Obviously, all the equipment had been removed. While it was evident that I could not restore it to its original condition, I hoped I could restore it enough to be used as a cabinet. Now that I decided to forge ahead with the project, it was time to start!

Step 1 – Remove the finish

The first step was to remove the finish and see what the wood looked like. I removed the doors and set them aside to work on later. Using a stripper, I started one of the sides of the cabinet and quickly discovered that it was not working well. The lacquer that remained after years of use, was becoming a sticky mess. So….I moved to using a sander. It didn’t take long to uncover very pretty wood! I was happy to see that it was in good condition. Using my orbital sander and 120 grit sandpaper, I sanded both sides, top and front of the cabinet.

Step 2 – Fill holes on the top

When the finish had been removed, it was time to decide how to fill the holes in the top of the cabinet. There were 6 holes, and they went all the way through the top. I didn’t think that wood putty would be stable due to the depth of the holes so, to fill them, I decided to use a dowel. At first, I thought a pencil would work but the diameter was too large. Then, I found a dowel in my sewing room. It had come with a bag of stuffing to be used to get the stuffing into corners such as pillow covers. Using a hacksaw, I cut 6 pieces of the dowel. To install them, I put painters tape on the underside of the top where the holes were, spread wood glue around each dowel, and inserted them into the holes. Once the glue had dried, I removed the tape & added wood putty to the top of the dowels as needed. When the putty dried, I sanded the top of each dowel to smooth them out.

Step 3 – Repair the doors

The inside of the two small doors was very damaged. I considered making new doors out of thin plywood but really wanted to try to preserve these. I glued down loose pieces of wood then filled the area with wood putty. The damage was so severe that I really didn’t think this would work. After allowing the putty to dry, I sanded it and glued any areas that were still loose before adding more putty. I don’t have pictures of the outside of the doors but followed the same process with the missing veneer.

Step 4 – Paint & poly doors

After the putty was dry and the doors sanded, it was time to paint. I used a sprayer to apply 2 coats of Iron Ore, All in one Paint to both sides of the doors (*All in One does not recommend using a sprayer with their paint. But I decided to give it a try anyway). This was my first time using a paint sprayer, so I did some research and read that it’s a good idea to filter the paint. I used coffee filters, and they worked well. It took quite a bit of time for the paint to get through the filter. Next time I use the sprayer, I’ll try pantyhose to filter the paint. After the paint had been filtered, I did some practice on a spare piece of wood before spraying the doors. I love how smooth the finish is!

I applied two coats of paint, allowing drying time in between. When the paint was dry, I used the sprayer to apply a coat of water-based polyurethane. The sprayer worked well to apply the poly, but the finish looked cloudy; not the look I wanted. I switched to applying the poly by hand using a paintbrush. You can see where the inside of the doors was puttied, but unless you know how damaged they were, you wouldn’t notice. I like that the history of the doors still shows a bit.

Step 5 – Create shelves

The top ‘shelf’ that was in the cabinet was not a solid shelf. One section was part of the original cabinet and the other two sections had pieces of paneling just sitting in the grooves. I wanted there to be a solid shelf, so I removed the loose pieces so I could measure the area. Once I had my measurements, I created a template using some spare wallpaper that I had on hand. I laid the template on a piece of 1/8″ plywood and cut around the main sections of the template using my skill saw. To cut the notches, I used my oscillating tool.

Cutting thin plywood is messy and the edges are rough. I used a sanding block to smooth out the edges, then my orbital sander to sand the top and bottom of the shelf. Installing the shelf was tricky. I had to set it in place and remove it a few times to make adjustments to the notches. By the time I was done, it fit like a glove! But the label sustained some damage – drat!!

I glued the pieces of label that were damaged. Thankfully, you can still read the details. While it wasn’t necessary, I decided to use one of the pieces from the original top ‘shelf’ to make the right bottom shelf one level. It was already close to the right size. I just needed to make it square and fill in a couple of pieces at the back. I used my miter saw to even it out and the oscillating tool to cut the small pieces for the back. I used my nail gun to secure it in place. I then applied a coat of polyurethane to the bottom shelves and the interior walls of the cabinet.

Step 6 – Stain & poly cabinet

To get the color I was looking for, I used two Minwax water-based stains, Provencial & Ebony. Using a paintbrush, I applied Provencial followed by a little Ebony to both the cabinet and new shelf. Adding the Ebony helped to give it depth and interest. I wiped off any excess stain using a soft rag. When the stain was dry, I applied two coats of water-based satin polyurethane using a paintbrush.

Even though I had covered it with tape, I almost sanded off the PHILCO inlay on the front of the cabinet. Using a fine point Sharpie, I tried to fix my error. It isn’t perfect, but at least it still displays.

Step 7 – Cut, Stain, Poly, Attach Back

To make the back, I used 1/8″ plywood. I measured the back of the cabinet & marked the plywood for the dimensions. I then put painter’s tape along the marks to help prevent the wood from splintering while it was being cut. Using my skill saw, I cut the board then used a sanding block to smooth the edges after removing the tape. I sanded the front and back of the board using my orbital sander. Before staining the back, I applied a pre-stain product. I then used I the same process to stain the back that I did on the cabinet & followed up with 2 coats of polyurethane. Since the back is a different kind of wood, the stain gave it a different color. Since it is on the back, I didn’t mind the difference.

To attach the back to the cabinet, I used my nail gun with staples. After laying the cabinet face down, I set the back on it. I lined the edges of the plywood with tape before nailing it down. This is supposed to make it easier to fill the nail/staple holes with putty. After attaching the back, I puttied the holes and once the putty was dry, I painted each hole black. I carefully removed the tape and was happy to see that I couldn’t easily tell where the nail/staple holes were.

Step 8 – Attach doors

Finished Stereo Cabinet

This was a project that I was very reluctant to do. I wasn’t sure the doors were salvageable, and if they weren’t, would I be able to make new ones that would actually fit? I also didn’t know what the condition of the wood would be when it was sanded/stripped. Then, there were the holes in the top, could they be repaired without being super noticable?

But like with so many of the projects I’ve done over the years, I crossed my fingers and dove in! It didn’t take long for me to become excited about a possible great outcome. Once I started sanding and saw how beautiful the wood was, I had no doubt it would become a stunning piece! It is now at home in my son’s house. I could not be happier with the result of this project!

Antique Stereo Cabinet: Before, during, after

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