Coat Rack Restoration

I was approached to restore a 60 year old piece of furniture. It is a very unique piece - somewhere between an entry hall table, a coat rack, and an umbrella bin. Never seen anything like it. The piece had been transported across the country, was very unstable, missing peices, had broken hardware, and needed a lot of attention. I accepted the challenge.

Scope of work: replace broken hardware. Sturdy the whole piece up to last another 60 years. Install new glass. build new umbrella bins on both sides. replace missing paneling.

The project was quite fun to do - the greatest challenge was the umbrella bins - built of oak, these "rails" were a good 1.75 inches thick, 2 inches tall, perfectly curved with a routed face. Of course, I messed up on the first round, so I made a second. That one stuck perfect. It is all held together via mortise & tenon joinery.

To firm up the back, I simply attached a 1/2" sheet of birch plywood, screwing it in to the back of the original piece of furniture every 9 inches or so. Much sturdier. The sides were trimmed out with a small piece of oak to hide the plywood.

The hardware was tough to find - I wanted something that matched pretty close to the original, something that said "I have been here a while." I found a manufacturer in the northeast that forges bronze hooks - they fit the bill very nicely.

Check out the "before" and the "after" photos below...

BEFORE

Notice the umbrella bins to the left and right are all but missing. The mirror in the middle is gone, and there are three panels of wood missing.

One of the four antique coat hooks are missing.

A view inside the cupboard - random parts

The original umbrella bins featured an aluminum tray lined with rubber below, surrounded by a rounded piece of wood, with a copper bar on top. No backing, from what we could tell, so the piece was open to the wall behind.

AFTER

Fully restored. Note that the center is a mirror.

Up-close of the umbrella bins - oak top and bottom with dowels to contain umbrellas. Neoprene padding below to catch the umbrellas and to protect the wood from moisture.

New antique bronze hooks