Wow Talk about some great info you all rock. I will try to answer the few questions I saw, if I miss anyone just reply. I am in Texas not chicago area. I do think the short square one is walnut , someone else say it and thought it was earlier in the year. The short square one appears to be mostly solid with veneer on both sides, but not on the top or the draw faces. The shorter of the two serpentine fronted ones has veneer on the drawer fronts but appears to have a solid top. The taller of the two sperpentine fronted ones has veneer on drawer fronts and on the top. I'm not sure about where I will sell them, probably craigslist or ebay. If anyone is intrested let me know. I will post them soon for $250.00 for each of the birdseye serpentine fronted ones and $175.00 for the short square one. I know thats on the high end of the sugjested price range, but I don't have to sell them so it's not a biggie. Thank you all so very much for your time and great info. Chris

Yes...Eastlake....and the drop[ pulls are accurate....are you missing some? If you do get new....keep the old ones and only replace what's needed. The nails show because there were decorations, veneer and perhaps a rosette and someone removed them....and the nails are what's left. Pity. But it's still very nice... It's several kinds of wood....I don't see any walnut but then I am not close to it....likely butternut, which is a walnut variety but lighter in color...and perhaps maple and birch. Would have had at one time burl trim. Linda c

GCSciencechick, the Empire period was around 1815-1840. That means that Empire furniture is coming up on 200 years old now. As said, an Empire renaissance is coming, with appreciation for itincreasing dramatically--along with its price. If only I'd liked Empire more, I'd have been collecting it for decades as for most of my life it's been the only genuinely antique, fine quality furniture I can afford good pieces of. That said, yours is in poor condition, which will probably severely limit its price and restoration appeal for another few decades--until the good-condition stuff becomes prohibitively expensive for most people. AND you don't like it. Someone may have suggested this, but if you don't pass it on to someone who does want it, you might consider applying a coat of something removable to protect what is left of the original finish and the wood, then go ahead and fill and paint over that. Turning that homely, beat-up old thing into something that would be appreciated and cared for over these coming decades is not the worst thing that could happen to it by far.

Take a picture of the top, print it out and practice on the paper. Take good notes about which colors you used. Do it again with clear plastic over the spot you are repairing to double check your choiced. And apply one coat of clear shellac on the top before you overpaint so it doesn't soak into the wood. Then protect the top because the overpainting is susceptible to damage. That's fake tiger oak. The oak was extremely popular but not plentiful, so low-priced manufacturers resorted to painting on the grain they wanted onto a plainer wood. The underlying wood is going to be alder or whatever is easy to work and cheap in the area.