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Just the Woods, LLC | a Colorful Home & Healthy Lifestyle Blog

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3 Simple Steps to Revive & Refresh Vintage Apothecary Tables

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Save a pair of vintage handmade wooden apothecary tables in 3 simple steps. Restore and revive old wood. Not all furniture needs paint. See how to refresh old wooden furniture the easy way.

Vintage Handmade Apothecary Tables

Part I

Let’s start with the predicament first. Part I is less about a project and more about the decision before the project.I have found myself in a bit of a quandary when it comes to these apothecary tables.  They are a perfect matching pair, very old, vintage and from what I can tell handmade. The apothecary tables are solid wood, with dovetail cubby drawers.

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here for my full disclosure policy. 

First, if you have never heard of or seen an apothecary table you may wonder what is an apothecary table used for. They are unique because they come with an abundance of drawers. In past times, apothecary cabinets were used by pharmacists and doctors to hold tools and items associated with medicine.

Apothecary tables, what is an apothecary table, table with numerous drawersSounds amazing, right? Whats the problem you may be wondering. Let me tell you, for starters, the hardware on these wooden apothecary tables cannot be removed without risking damage and possibly complete destruction.  Note the photo is of the inside of the drawers where the hardware is merely a nailed end hammered down.  You don’t see that every day (at least I don’t)!

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The craftsmanship of these handmade wooden tables is fantastic. You can tell how much care and work went into building them. They are imperfect, yet made to last, obviously.antique handmade tables, nailed dovetail joints, vintage wood tables

These vintage wooden tables have no drawer tracks at all. The drawers merely slide into the open apothecary cubbies.

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The Original Plan to Paint Apothecary Tables

Originally, the plan was to decoupage a pretty print on each apothecary drawer and paint the body. Seeing the issue with the hardware, I’m not so sure that’s even possible. I tossed between whether I should leave them alone or attempt to work around the hardware and paint.

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There are no markings on these vintage wooden apothecary tables to decipher age or make anywhere to be found.

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Another option is to leave them alone, revive the natural wood and line the bottoms of the insides of the drawers to cover the ink stains while maintaining the original character of the tables. antique apothecary tables, old tables, many drawers, apothecary table, ink stained drawers, restore old wood tables

Love apothecary style furniture? Find an amazing selection of apothecary chests, apothecary cabinets, and apothecary tables for sale online in this post: Amazing Apothecary Chests apothecary chests for sale, apothecary cabinets for sale

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Part II

Saving the Apothecary Tables in 3 Simple Steps

Materials Needed:

  • Howard Restor-A-Finish
  • Wallpaper
  • Iron

Staging/Home Decor

  • Trumpet Decor
  • Vintage Style Clock
  • Faux boxwood plants
  • Flying Pig

After much consideration, I decided to NOT paint these apothecary tables, but revive the natural wood instead. The tables are cleaned them up and the wood refreshed using Howard Restor-A-Finish.  A simple cleaning and refresh brightened and enhanced the rich chestnut color of the wood.Restored vintage tables, restore old wood tables, revive old wood, restore furniture, apothecary tables, restore a finish

Next, line the drawers with a neutral wallpaper featuring a simple design that doesn’t take away from the character of the tables.wallpaper lined drawers,

Do make sure to iron the wallpaper first. Use a clean cloth as a buffer and iron the print flat to make sure it doesn’t curl up in the drawers. By placing the wallpaper print in the drawers and not gluing them in you can make sure that the drawers are clean and a place that someone would want to place personal items. But at the same time, you don’t compromise the integrity of the handmade tables.

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3 Simple Steps to Save Wooden Apothecary Tables

  1. Clean the tables inside and out
  2. Refresh the wood with Restor-A-Finish
  3. Line the drawers

Once finished these apothecary cabinets are gorgeous, and without paint.  For those who follow my work, I paint everything but I can always appreciate a piece that doesn’t need paint.  These definitely fall into that category!

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Prefer painted furniture but not sure where to start? You can start at the beginning with How to Paint Furniture – a Beginners Guide.

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If you like this save, then you will LOVE this Restoration of an Antique Storage Chest.

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Comments

  1. Kat Wynveen says

    December 31, 2015 at 3:51 am

    I paint furniture and love to see old pieces brought back to life with color and unique finishes. That said, if I had those tables, I wouldn’t do a thing to them, except give them a bit of wax. They are so unique and interesting as they are, that I wouldn’t paint them if they were mine. But…they are yours, so follow your own instincts.

    Reply
    • Kandice says

      December 31, 2015 at 3:54 am

      I actually think I will not be painting them, but just line the inside of the drawers (since they have ink stains).. and thats it. I dont want to ruin them 🙂

      Reply
  2. Jill says

    January 5, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    I love the look of these pieces. What did you use to refresh them? I tried to click on the link but nothing is coming up.

    Reply
    • Kandice says

      January 5, 2016 at 2:57 pm

      thank you. uh oh. I think I linked to the word “refresh” .. its Howards Restor-a-finish.

      Reply
  3. Terry says

    January 5, 2016 at 5:15 pm

    Hello Kandice! I just want to say that I think you really did these lovely little tables justice! Well done. While I love painting pieces, I think these are lovely as is and refreshed! I hope you have a great week!
    Smiles!
    Terry

    Reply
    • Kandice says

      January 6, 2016 at 12:37 am

      thank you Terry! Its not often that I hesitate to paint something, but I just couldn’t bring myself to paint these. Have a great week! I hope its warmer where you are then it is here 🙂

      Reply
  4. Patti says

    January 6, 2016 at 2:20 pm

    Are these tables for sale? They are gorgeous! I live in western NC….

    Reply
    • Kandice says

      January 6, 2016 at 8:05 pm

      thank you Patti and yes, they are for sale. Email me with your zip code and I can get you a shipping quote!! [email protected]

      Reply
  5. Debrashoppeno5 says

    January 9, 2016 at 1:41 am

    You made the right decision. The tables are very eye catching.

    Reply
    • Kandice says

      January 9, 2016 at 9:34 pm

      thank you .. If they dont sell I just may keep them 🙂

      Reply
  6. Cindy says

    January 10, 2016 at 1:41 am

    Another amazing transformation!
    Thanks so much for sharing at AMAZE ME MONDAY!
    Blessings,
    Cindy

    Reply
    • Kandice says

      January 10, 2016 at 5:23 pm

      thank you !!

      Reply
  7. Amy | Home Remedies says

    January 12, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    Great call on skipping the paint and restoring these tables, instead! They turned out beautifully! I’m sharing this post today at the Talented Tuesday Link Party – please stop back by and grab a “featured” button!

    Reply
    • Kandice says

      January 12, 2016 at 8:48 pm

      Awesome! thank you! Love being a part of the party!

      Reply
  8. Maxine White says

    January 13, 2016 at 6:19 pm

    These are so classic Kandice!! Just Awesome!!
    Maxine

    Reply
    • Kandice says

      January 13, 2016 at 10:44 pm

      thank you!! Im actually glad I didnt paint them.. which is weird since I had a whole different plan for them. Those permanent little pulls were such a game changer! 🙂

      Reply

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