Jewelry Box With Missing Molding Fixed With Bondo

Deer Run Revamps
by Deer Run Revamps
7 Materials
$12
6 Hours
Easy

I found this vintage jewelry box that looks like a mini dresser. I absolutely adore it ❤ I came up with a refinishing game plan...a gorgeous green (Dixie Belle's palmetto), with copper accents and metal leaf (full tutorial here https://www.hometalk.com/diy/decorate/rooms/jewelry-box-makeover-using-metal-leaf-41494528 ) I got started with my typical prep...clean, sand, fill, sand, clean. Then started to lay on the palmetto, two coats to be exact. Then I finally noticed a piece of molding was missing on one of the small drawers! It don't know how it took prep and two coats of paint before I noticed 😄 My OCD wasn't going to allow me to let it slide. If you've checked out my previous projects, you know how much I love bondo! I use this stuff all the time! And again for this problem. I was able to make a mold using one of the good drawers and use that mold to make the new piece of molding that I needed. Here is step by step how I was able to save this project....

This is what I used for this project. You can improvise where necessary...

You're going to want a disposable mixing cup, something disposable to mix with, non stick spray, glue gun and glue sticks, of course bondo and not pictured, sandpaper and wood filler.

Using a drawer with all of the moldings, I lightly sprayed cooking oil on the area of the piece I needed to make a mold of.

Using hot glue, smother the molding you just sprayed

Once the glue has dried, about 5-10 minutes, carefully remove it

Sand the area of the missing molding and then clean it very well. Lightly spray the inside of the hot glue mold with cooking oil.

Now mix your bondo. For this project, I didn't need much. And remember, bondo dries extremely quick, so move fast. I prefer not to, but it's a good idea to use gloves when using any chemical.

Scrape the bondo into the hot glue mold.

Carefully smoosh into place where the missing molding is wiping away excess that oozes out.

After about 10-15 minutes, you can remove the hot glue mold.

Allow the bondo to dry for about 3-5 hours and then you can sand off the excess and shape. I noticed that I had a couple gaps on the sides of new molding so I filled it with wood filler.

Then I painted! You can't even tell which is which. In fact, if I didn't get a little hot glue on the inside of the drawer, I wouldn't be able to find out which molding is bondo.


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  • Renee Renee on Jun 13, 2021

    OMG!! Now I know how to repair my dresser the movers messed up!! Thank you!!

  • Sarah Sarah on Jan 10, 2022

    Awesome!! I have molding missing on a french door insert and thought I'd have to replace whole door. Thank you thank you for this idea

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