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rudebekia

Advice? Restoring a 1913 Built In Buffet

Rudebekia
15 years ago

I would like to restore my built-in buffet so that it resembles the original--or at least loses some of the badly done changes made to it over the years. (The white paint is staying.) What concerns me is the upper half. As you'll see, there are two shelf unit sides with doors flanking an open display-type shelf. The doors are not original--just cheap overlay doors made of plywood. Due to the fact that there are some outlines where hardware went, I suspect that both of these sides once had inset doors that must have been very slender and that met and locked in the middle. Perhaps they even had some stained or beveled glass as there are both types of glass in the dining room windows. The display shelf has me puzzled. I took down a glass mirror that was poorly fitted in the space and says "1960s" on the back. As you'll see in the photos, someone nailed two pieces of plywood to hold up the mirror, and there's original beadboard (that's never been exposed to discoloration behind it). Do think this area had a mirror originally? There are outlines of a kind of frame that may have enclosed it, but the frame pieces are gone. There are also outlines of a hinge of some type on the upper front tops and sides of this display area, so my theory about the mirror may not be correct. Were there doors on this space as well? Even if there was a mirror there originally, I'm not sure I want to have it restored. I don't particularly like mirrors, and the large mirror lower down on the buffet (which also needs restoration) seems adequate. Perhaps I should just enclosed the space with a nice piece of wood and paint it white, keeping the open-look display space? Does anyone have thoughts of what this might have looked like originally, and opinions on how to proceed? Thanks.

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