This was an unexpected estate sale find. I had seen a knitting cabinet such as this at an antique store in Kalamazoo when we went to the Art Fair the first weekend in June. It had sold for $180.00 as it was about 100 years old. This one had come from someone who had lived in St. Clair and was moving all the furniture out. I couldn't resist since it looked like it just needed a little bit of love. The only broken piece was the left handle on the top drawer, an easy fix. The cabinet was in excellent condition otherwise with its fluted and turned legs. Other than a bit of debris in the deep ends, it was fairly clean too. After I fixed the broken knob, I gave the entire cabinet a thorough sanding, and re-stained it with dark walnut, which brought out its natural walnut finish.
I then applied two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane, sanding between each coat. The naturally dark wood came back to life after staining, and all the scratches were diminished. I was very happy with the final results!
