Here's an article you might find interesting. It tells you about how waterfall came into popularity, how it was made, what not to use to clean it. Some interesting stories about it. (Such as why so many pieces made and that we still see today are bedroom suites. Depression era couples often started out living with parents, so had nothing much to call their own except their bedroom furniture - if they could afford that.) Click on What is Waterfall, Anyway? I'd be very leery of Krud Kutter on wood, but especially delicate, aged veneers. That's a degreaser meant for everything from aluminum siding to garage floors. There are lots of recipes out there for cleaning antique wood. I have a routine I like. Start with Formby's Deep Cleansing Build-Up Remover. Just be careful with any loose veneer, some of it could be about paper thin and not take a lot of pressure. I like Restore-A-Finish for pieces that need spruced up but not a full strip and restore. It's worked wonders on solid wood. If using on veneers, avoid the steel wool it says you can use. Too harsh on veneer imho. When you've got it nice and clean, consider a good paste wax like Trewax or I like the liquid Howard's Beeswax Feed N Wax (Sears Hardware, Ace). If someone in a store suggests Bowling Alley wax, I'd suggest avoiding it. It was recommended to me by a retailer who said a couple of his 'old-timer' antique dealing customers use it. That stuff was about impossible to buff out and was kind of gummy feeling to me. My SIL gave me a beautiful deco era waterfall accent table, from DHs grandparents. She just didn't want it anymore. I just did a light RAF wipe rather than a lot of elbow grease with super fine steel wool. Didn't want to risk harming the veneers. Anyway, I did my Formby's, RAF, Howard's Beeswax routine and sent her a photo with a thank you. She was amazed at the difference and wanted to know what I refinished it with. ;) This is a different piece, before and after. An ebay purchase, a vintage solid cherry hutch in pristine condition structurally but had smoke film on it and other kinds of grime, the finish was dull and needed a really good cleaning. seller's photo after I did my Formby's>RAF>Feed n Wax routine.

I've been trying to figure this out. I think I associate the color/finish with a certain style of furniture that I consider too old and formal for my tastes. Just to set the record straight I did not buy this stuff and then wonder why I don't like antiques. Nor have I ever been a huge antiques fan. I like some old stuff but because I like it, not because its old. I googled mahogony furniture and its all the same color - formal ornate stuff. I don't think this dresser is really all that ornate per se but it has that style association due to the color and I think I'm just tired of it. In the past my "taste" has been all over the map - I think I'm too impressionable or easily led. And I know I've had trouble with what I call Imelda Marcos syndrome. Ever heard the saying "selling the dream"? I think I have that more than I like one specific style - that dream - some Stickley seems to scream my dream:) but its not the whole picture. My dream is casual, semi-rural, getting simpler and less fussy as I get older. Definately practical. I love wood, big chunks with mortise and tenon. Some primitive or simpler country is ok (I don't like country things that are turned round things too much, too fussy, to ornate ), some just ordinary "normal" traditional is ok. I don't like shopping much and hate making decisions (see above) so I think I was hoping to avoid that with refinishing. That plus the reuse, recycle aspect. I think just to sort of "make sure" I've covered the options with refinishing I'll get a second opinion from a different refinisher again seeing if I can get the color/finish to a different look although I suspect that moving mahogony will be next to impossible without bleaching and I'm not going there. When ideefixe mentioned paining black and more formal - I thought totally wrong direction. But I wonder if a greenish black stain would be so bad? (Is there such a thing?) It would be different, it wouldn't be red (I really don't like the red) and wouldn't be a glossy black formal paint look. ttodd - the estimate on the nightstand was around 200. The dresser was probably going to be more like 700-900. After writing the above I went to the Van Dykes site - I can see where new hardware isn't going to be so easy either. Yea, talk with a second refinisher and if they don't inspire me then its grappling with the what to buy decision.

Mary, $150 is not alot for that, but that being said it doesn't look like professional job. You mentioned to me in the e-mail that your choices were extremely limited as far as shops in your area. That would run $395 in my shop to refinish. He brushed on Shellac , that's really not a modern day professional finish. He even noted that you can see the brush marks. It should be a Satin lacquer that is sprayed on. It also looks like there is very little finish, meaning no build of finish. It also looks like the horizontal piece of wood just under the drawer does not match everything else. Again, this is not the proper way to finish. All the non Mahogany pieces should be finished to match the Mahogany pieces, so to the untrained eye ,the whole piece appears to be Mahogany. For $150 dollars , you did ok.

Hello!! I think about you all often :) Well about a month after finishing my room, Drover, my 9 year old maltipoo, ruptured his CCL :/ so I had to put the bed on the ground, build a ramp, and I switched out to shorter nightstands. His recovery has been my main priority and it has been a lot of work. It can take up to 6-12 months for him to fully recover. Before his injury I was working on repairing the exterior basement door frame that had dry rot, digging out a tree that was growing into the irrigation box and trying to resolve an irrigation issue - the sump pump and rain drain empty out in the same spot and is causing a muddy mess.