Wouldn’t you know it?  When I am not looking for furniture – it’s inevitable that I stumble upon a good find. Of course, this happens when living in an apartment with zero storage and 17 stairs.

With that in mind, all of these “before” photos were taken in the garage.  This sweet little washstand was a recent find in an attic of an old home and she had about 50 years of dirt and mice droppings in her.  Yuck.

 

 

I took her home and spent a couple of hours cleaning her up.  I used Murphy’s Oil Soap and and hot water to give her a once over cleaning. Then followed up with some Krud Kutter. The photos here show her after being cleaned up and having the hardware removed.

 

 

The existing finish was a little worn through in some places.

One of the reasons I decided to take this piece home was because of the fish scale detailing on the sides.   I thought it provided such a lovely accent to the piece. As of now, it is difficult to see because it gets lost in all the brown wood.  However, once it is painted, I think it will look stunning.

 

 

 

In addition to a good cleaning, this piece also needed to have some of the drawers fixed.  The top drawer needed a new wooden runner.  The repairs I made to this little washstand are similar to those I discussed in this post which discusses how to “unstick” drawers in an antique dresser.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by the blog this week.  If you check back soon, the “after” version of this little washstand will be posted.