Gorgeous Dahling, just gorgeous!

That's beautiful. I'm excited for you.

Lovely! I wish you had some "before" pictures.

Holy smokes that's a gorgeous piece! I wish there was a 'before' picture. Was the graining visible when you bought it?

Looks wonderful. It's inspiring me to fix some pieces here.

I have GOT to get some of that stuff. I read about it here and on the HGTV boards, but it's hard to find here in Maine. I finally found an Aubuchon Hardware store that carries it.

This picture is worth a thousand words! Like the others, I'd love to see a 'before' if you have one.

Great Job! Beautiful piece.

How did you apply the restorafinish?

It looks great! That Restor-a-finish is some wonderful stuff! I always keep some on hand, it makes anything look beautiful!

Glad to see your progress pictures, and know you are liking your results. Great job!

Susan

Wow!!!! That buffet is absolutely gorgeous! I have an old mahogany dining table with an aged, scratched and dull finish on it. Do you think this product would work to help restore it, or would I need to remove the old finish and restain? I'd love to get it looking good again.

Thanks, everyone. This morning it looked like the wood must have soaked up more of the wax, and there are still a few dull spots in the finish showing up, so I'm going to try buffing it out with the Restor-A-Shine polishing cream today.

Since you asked, here's a before-and-after. Unfortunately, I have kept a batik runner on top of the buffet for years to cover up the ugly mess, so you can't see the worst part, but you can get a good idea of the dings, etc, and the worn handles:

Before:

After:

WOW...I bought it in several colors and am amazed at how great a job it does. I used the 0000 steel wool and a pretty heavy hand. Then used a different brand of honey wood feeling stuff that I have in the house. It is woncderful stuff . GREEAT JOB SARA !! c

sarschlos: That looks wonderful. You are really making progress, step by step. Could you please provide more information about the feed-n-wax? I want to refinish the end tables I bought a few weeks ago and there are some scratches on the top, also some cracking of the finish. Do you think this process could work for me instead of doing the whole sanding and refinishing route? Perhaps in colbinatine with the steel wood that trailrunner mentions?

Here's what I did:

I used the walnut Howard's Restor-A-Finish with 0000 steel wool (super fine), on small areas at a time, rubbing with the grain, and wiping down with a soft cloth immediately.

When I was done with that (since you wipe down the Restor-A-Finish right away, there's no wait time for the wax), I soaked a cloth in the wax (and resoaked -- I smeared about 1/3 of a bottle of the wax on that thing) and smeared it everywhere. The wax does not require you to move with the grain, but I did on general principle. Let that sit for approx. 20-30 minutes, then wipe off with a soft cloth.

This morning, I used the Restor-A-Shine burnishing cream to restore the shine to the areas that were a bit dull from the steel wool. Wipe on in generous amounts in circles. Allow to dry to a dull haze, then buff off with a soft, dry towel, again in circles. I might do a final step of their orange cream if I think it needs it. Their products work so well together (and are designed to be a step-by-step process), so I stuck with their products. Very happy with the results.

They have a brochure that acts as a guide to which color you should choose.

That looks great. I don't think it looked too bad before, but I know the top always looks the worst. How hard was it to do?

That is impressive and inspiring! Especially with all the other major projects you are tackeling! Beautiful results! Are Howard and Formby's products different? The Howard label reminded me of Formby's and made me wonder.

I now realize the error of my ways. I am glad I checked back as I now realize I need to get the Restore a Shine. There are dull areas and I didn't know what to do about those...duh...read the directions...c

WOW is that one gorgeous piece of furniture! They just don't make things like they used to.

I am really impressed. Great job!!! I love that piece. I will be heading off to the store to buy Restor-A-Finish. :)

I have used it on several pieces. I am in Lo-ve with the stuff.
Your buffet is gorgeous!

OP, I am so glad that you posted! I was just thinking of your "hovel" thread and wondering how you were doing with it. I even tried to search for it, to see if there were updates that I had missed, but couldn't find it.

The buffet looks awesome.

Sarchlos: Your buffet looks stunning! I discovered Restor-A-Finish for the first time this year and I'm hooked. I'm constantly recommending it to people. I didn't know they made Restor-A-Shine?!? I feel like I've been living in a cave (paint/hell cave) LOL. I'm going out tomorrow and asking my local Ace Hardware where is the Restor-A-Shine stuff. I thought I had to live with a dull finish. Thanks for enlightening me and once more your buffet is beautiful.

I'm so glad to see you're making progress and you don't seem so despondent. Happy improvements!!

Sincerely from your So. Cal (orange County) GW friend, Ann.

BTW, I need to know your DH's secret to getting the Wii Fit. I've been trying to buy it for the last month and still nothing!!

Thanks for listing the steps. Now I know what products to buy when I get around to working on my tables.

Ann -- DH pre-ordered the Wii Fit from Amazon before it was released.

Val -- you're very welcome. It is a fairly simple process and does not take a lot of time for a piece that is in decent shape. I think I spent about 3 hrs total so far -- I'm going to add the orange cream just for overkill :)

Thanks for all the kind words everyone!

Wow, fantastic! Beautiful buffet!

is this a product you buy in hardware stores? ~~ in paint stores? ~~ big box stores? ~~

I want to know where to get it too! That's great :~)

Most antique stores carry Howard's products including Restor-a-finish

We got ours at our local Ace Hardware, which also carries BM products. Ace Hardwares are individually owned, so they carry different products.