It’s time for another furniture before and after!
You might remember this credenza I bought off of Craigslist a few months ago for our entryway. It was exactly the size and style we were looking for, but it had definitely seen better days.
It might have been hard to tell from the photos, but here are a few close-ups of the 60+ years worth of damage this baby had suffered.
A big nick out of the top right corner…
The bottom edge looked like a teething puppy got ahold of it, and one of the feet was missing its little gold cap…
There was a large chip out of one drawer…
And the top had scratches and watermarks from years of use.
Overall this baby was looking a little shabby – and not in the chic sort of way.
So one weekend when it was still warm out, I pulled the credenza outside and started sanding.
If you’re really good you might have realized this is the project I was working on in this post.
I sanded doors and drawers and got 3/4 of the way done with the body of the piece by the time it got dark.
Then it was time to bring it inside.
Another afternoon of work later, and the rest of the piece was sanded (curvy legs done by hand) and the big chips were filled with wood filler.
The credenza hung out in our entryway like this over the holidays – partly due to the busy season and partly because I couldn’t decide how I wanted to finish it.
Sometimes I like to mix it up when refinishing furniture, but with wood as beautiful as this, I just couldn’t bring myself to paint it. Mr. Heard really liked the idea of keeping it the color of natural wood or giving it a two-toned finish, but I kept going back to the classic mid-century medium stain.
This is where I lose half of my readers by saying I decided to go classic. 
I bought some Minwax Dark Walnut stain and tried it out on one of the back legs. Too dark and too gray.
Then I tried some Golden Pecan I already had on the other back leg. Too light and too pink.
The solution? Mix them together! I mixed about 2 parts Golden Pecan and 1 part Dark Walnut to come up with the perfect color.
Here is the credenza (on cardboard in our living room) during the staining process.
It was at this point that I realized the wood filler I’d used wasn’t stainable. 
I decided to mix up some brown paint (like I did with this nightstand project) to cover up the light areas.
Then it was time to polyurethane. I used the Minwax Fast Drying variety.
After two coats with a foam brush and foam roller, the finish wasn’t as smooth as I hoped it would be. So, I got out my hand sanding block and gave the whole piece a light once-over with high grit sandpaper.
Here is the body of the credenza after its final coat of poly.
And here is the finished piece!
The last coat of poly went on sooo smoothly. The credenza feels wonderful to the touch.
Now for some close ups of the repairs. The top right corner is nicked no more!
After some wood filler and gold spray paint (to substitute for the missing metal foot), you’d never know this bottom corner looked so rough.
The top looks a million times better without the scratches and watermarks.
Even the drawer pulls got a new shine (a la this post).
I knew this credenza would serve as the Heardmont post office and key station, so the top had to be protected and clutter-free.
I added the lamp for ambiance and the runner (a freebie from my MIL) to protect the wood. This photo is probably the truest in terms of color. Our entryway is a hard-to-photograph space!
Our entryway is quite long, so it was a perfect place to stash an extra dining room chair, which also serves as a cute place to put on shoes.
I went back and forth trying to decide if I’d chickened out when I decided not to paint this piece or add any new details. In the end, I’m glad I didn’t mess with a classic. It might have seemed like a lot of work to sand the whole credenza only to re-stain and poly it just as it was before, but I know we’ll have it forever and now it’ll be good for another 60 years, right?
I hope you enjoyed reading about this makeover! Thanks for visiting.
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Meredith, this looks awesome! i love the wood against your walls! it’s always better to go with your gut feeling, i love the stain
It looks FABULOUS! And I am so glad you went with the stain instead of painting it. It is a classic and it looks great that way! Impressed as always, Meredith!
Wow, I think you did a FABULOUS job! You’re right, it should last another 60 years with all of your hard work. Beautifully done!
It looks like a brand new piece! The entryway looks great!
Look at you!!! This is majorly impressive! =] I really like it and I also love the blue color of your living room.
Thanks Morgan! In case you’re interested, the LR walls are Valspar’s Sage Bud.
This looks great! I really love your starburst mirror too!
Thanks Holly! Here’s a link to the mirror tut: http://welcometoheardmont.com/2010/10/creating-a-sunburst-mirror/
Beautiful! I am a huge fan of paint, but I actually love that you left this stained. It looks amazing.
ps. Your starburst mirror is awesome!
What a great piece and you made it even more Awesome. Fantastic job. looks professional.
Beautiful! I like all of the things in your house. All of them.
We’re needing a new entryway table, actually…we moved the buffet we had in the entryway to the dining room so Nolen could have a place to put his cookbooks. It makes more sense in there, anyway, since it has the wine/spirits. If you see anything you think might work for that area, give me a holler, since you’re the queen of craigslisting/thrifting.
That looks fantastic! We’re in the process of finishing a dining room table so I get how hard that was. Great job…and awesome blog!
I’m so glad you did not paint this credenza. It’s beautiful! Thanks for providing the tutorial.
love this! and you have it set up beautifully with the mirror- and i am so happy you refinished it!
Such a beautiful makeover. I’m having a GIVEAWAY going on…hop on over and enter. My weekly NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAYS PARTY is going on…would love to have you join in on the fun.
Blessings,
Linda
looks gorgeous!!! you are sooooo talented. I really know nothing about refinishing furniture, but I do have one tip to share – you can use fine steel wool (002 or 003) and get a nice smooth finish on furniture. My dad had me do that to the antique curio cabinet in my dining room when I got it and it made a big difference. It wasn’t in bad enough shape to need to be refinished but the steel wool made is it shine again.
Ooooh AWESOME tip, Leslie! I’ll have to file that away for another project!
My mom would be so proud that you didn’t paint this beautiful piece! It definitely looks brand new!
Great job! I have a campaign dresser I keep going back and forth about refinishing or painting. Your piece looks fantastic stained, great choice!
I love it! I was so scared when I read as far as the sanding, I thought you were going to, in my eyes, ruin it with paint. I’m so glad I was wrong. These pieces have such amazing structure, and I think painting them takes away from that.
I’m restoring a credenza at the moment. I was only going to do the top, as the rest is rather good condition. After seeing this I’m tempted to go the extra mile though…
As much as I love painted furniture, stained furniture is always a classic that will never seem out of style. Amazing amount of work, but you did a gorgeous job!
Would love for you to drop by this weekend and join Passion for Paint!
http://muralmaker1.blogspot.com
Awesome… you have given me the courage to refinish two beautiful pieces I inherited from my elderly aunt… I love the form and the function… but I want to see some luster and some rich color! You did a beautiful job… thanks for taking the time to share!
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Wow! This looks awesome! I refinished a piece of furniture with a similar finish, but my sander (which looks exactly like yours) didn’t get down to the wood at all. What could I be doing wrong? I used 80 grit sandpaper. Do you put pressure on the sander at all? Go SUPER slow or something? One wouldn’t think it would be too difficult, but apparently it is for me!
Hi Linda,
I would think 80 grit would do the job really quickly – I used 120. I did apply some pressure and it took many hours to remove all the finish down to the bare wood (we’re talking in the neighborhood of 8 maybe?). In the future, I will probably try to strip the glossy finish off first and then sand away the stain. If the stain is a color I’d like to keep, I’d also consider just stripping the gloss and reapplying. Much less labor intensive!
It was really an intensive process to get the piece down to the bare wood. If it weren’t in such good shape under the scratches, I wouldn’t have wasted my time! I hope this helps and good luck.
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Wow.This is awesome.
Do you thick spray paint could be used as well?