As you can see in the pictures, the main thing it needed was the base completely rebuilt and fortified and the whole thing cleaned and conditioned.

I tackled the base first, gluing and screwing everything back together and adding several brackets for added strength. I also added another cross bar between the two sides for added stability.

Then, I just need to clean it well. I'm estimating it took me about 20 hours or so. I first sanded every finished surface by hand and used my sander for the unfinished surfaces. Then, I used steel wool to further sand and polish the finished surfaces. Lastly, I wiped on a generous amount of Orange Oil to clean and condition the wood.

The last thing I need to do was put it all back together, but that was easier said than done. I'm glad I had help from my father-in-law, because it would have taken me hours to do it myself. Even with his help, it took us about 2 hours to get everything lined up correctly because there were extra (?!) holes all over the place. And the correct holes were all stripped, so we had to use toothpicks to get the screws to sit tightly (what a great trick, by the way).

One more thing I added was 2 lengths of steel pipe so that it could be used to hang clothes since there is not a closet in our guest bedroom. The left side had plenty of hooks, but they weren't really suitable for hangers. And the right side has shelves.

It looked amazing afterward! I was so pleased with the result. Since I had known this piece from my grandparents' house from the time I was born, it holds a lot of sentimental value. I really had to beg my parents for it, because, at the last second, they had decided they wanted it, even though it had been promised to me since it went into storage 15 years prior. I didn't care how long it took, I was going to make this look fantastic again! Mission accomplished!

Antique Wardrobe