Unique Techniques On An Old Radio Cabinet

 This beautifully designed old radio cabinet has had it's interior re-made into  a shelving unit, which is a great idea!  The exterior though needed some work.  The finish was worn, so the first thing we did was to strip that off.   This revealed beautiful veneer, but also failing glue.  That failing glue caused the veneer all over the sides to lift away from the cabinet, and the beaded trim to fall off.  So our next step was to glue the trim back in place and to carefully go underneath the veneer and re-glue that without causing any damage.  Veneer is very delicate and could easily have cracked or broken.  Once all the repairs were completed, we could do our prep-sanding and get it ready for a beautiful new finish.

The finish work on this Radio Cabinet really is interesting.  We began by applying a water based Dark Pine stain. We then hand painted all of the trim, beading, florets, and grooves on the legs with a glossy black paint.   We also did some decorative shading all the way around the cabinet top as well as the lip around the base and legs.  And finally we finished it with a gloss top coat.  There were quite a few techniques done on this cabinet and the overall appearance now has a modern look, but at the same time retains the integrity of the beautiful old styling.