Refinished Ethan Allen Hutch
by
Julie
2 Materials
I wish I would have started taking photos from the beginning of this project! My husband is an Auction fanatic! So I went with him knowing we needed to purchase a dresser for my oldest son's room. He also needed some shelving so this piece worked out beautifully! He's 10 and is so into Star Wars right now, so this is just the beginning of our Star Wars room transformation, and at the same time I will be working on my youngest son's Pokemon room transformation. I will post those photos later.
This is a photo I found online at Ebay that is very similar to our dresser find. This piece is a little narrower than ours but it was the same color. "Maple" and they call it a Vintage Piece. I have a ton of respect for Ethan Allen Furniture and promised the Auction owner that I would not "paint" the piece!
The first coat of Minwax Stain - Ebony
My wonderful hubs took apart the piece carefully and sanded the original red stain down to raw wood. Then it was my turn. I brought the piece inside since the garage was still pretty dusty and cold and the outdoors was cold and rainy, this was early March when we started this piece.
like I said, wish I would have thought photos
I used Minwax Wood Stain Ebony. Remember Star Wars theme so we needed furniture to be masculine and dark. (The actual Star Wars will come from accessories.) After the first coat, I sanded each piece with a fine 220grit sandpaper, no I didn't do it with an electric sander either, I used my arm and hand power… I didn't want to sand all the way through the stain and so I decided not to take my chances with any power tools, I'm accident prone so my hubs doesn't trust me with power tools without supervision! haha.
After 2 coats of Stain and hand sanding all of the separated pieces are complete. Now time to reconstruct! I added no wax finish or anything, I wanted a mat finish with a rubbed look and this is what I got. I did spray wood furniture oil and wiped the entire piece down.
This is our finished piece. He's slowly adding his Star Wars pieces (accessorizing) and it's looking great. We still have a small antique desk we're going to let him refinish with dad, and painting walls the colors he's picked out. Once we're finished with the project I will add another post.
Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 5 comments
-
Ethan Allen furniture is quality, but just because something is vintage doesn't mean valuable. You did a great job!
-
I'm enjoying several pieces of Ethan Allen furniture myself with its original beautiful finish. I just can't bring myself to change anything. Everything looks so beautiful when polished. Thanks for sharing your project with everyone.
-
I have always enjoyed Ethan Allen, but this Auction find was a great deal. $90 for this piece and ebayers were selling this one piece for over $350. I knew the Maple wouldn't fit the decor so I had no heartburn changing the stain.
-
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?