Kitchen cupboard

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Hi,
I picked this up before the owner was to take to the tip. Story is a house has been sitting empty for 17 years before it was sold and the new owners took this outside to do up while the house was rebuilt. Anyhow I was grabbing it for latch parts but the main body was too good to not restore. I've managed to get replacement hinge for the worst one.

Anyone help me identify the glass? I thought artic but I think I'm wrong.

The doors are actually good except for the lifting of the veneer at the front. I thought this might be a time for me to try lifting the veneer, cleaning, gluing and clamping. Any guidance appreciated. My intention to to colour paint the doors. Is there any where that identifies the original old colours that were originally used?

The drawers are a sad state but being original I'll be silly and try to bring then back to life. They certainly have worn grooves but that's not a hard fix. As I see a bad job on replacing the bottoms of them I will strip that out and put in nice new ply board. The front joinery is that half moon sort of dovetail hence my wish to keep the original wood. The top lip of one drawer has been damaged by a little fury fella and so I will try my for repair of one of these.


Begining front.jpgBegining front door bottom.jpgBegining glass door 01.jpgBegining hinge 01.jpg

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Washed with Sunlight soap took quite a while but I try to minimise the risk of nasties.
Let the stripping begin ...
I use a scraper these days as I finally seem to know how to do it to effectively get paint off with out going too far and damaging what's underneath.
I follow with orbital sander trial a sheet of 240 grit and usually have to jump to a 120 grit for some areas.
Going to experiment with the hinges since I have one to spare. If I paint them then it is to accentuate not just be part of the wood.

Apologies for some side ways photo's but they start normal on my screen but as soon as I post the rotate

Cleaned top.jpgFrawer rail.jpgStripped front.jpgStripped side.jpgHinge.jpg

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First coat of an enamel probably shows I didn't prepare correctly but it's my first enamel and later coats are looking good. Painting in our winter is certainly making waiting time slow for me.
Painting side.jpg

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The drawers ...
At least one bottom has to be replaced if not both and I already have donor drawers so the vintage can be similar.
Because I'm painting the drawers I'm now thinking of wood putty.
For the worn down bases I'll add new strips of wood to the same height the old slides used to be. he new wood will be on the bottom but inside the old rails.
The fronts have to be dismantled to allow nail removal and proper gluing.
Realised my cleaning before hadn't included the drawers so that also has to happen. Completing removing the sticky paper will be fun .... not
Purchased a nice water based blue paint for the drawer fronts. When that's done I'll finish with either a satin or high gloss poly over that.
Wold like to keep the handles original but may have to reach out for the little plastic pieces.
Does anyone know if the handles on the doors are from the era or a retro? I wouldn't mind making one change and that would be some old glass handles I have somewhere.

Drawers inside.jpgDrawer front.jpgDrawer botton worn.jpgDrawer front 02.jpgDrawer front 03.jpg

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Removed old drawer bottoms that were wrong size and replaced with recycled ply from other drawers. This time a better fit to help support the structure.
Closer look at the sides has me convinced these are replacement sides and will need some glue to help reinforce the structure.
The base rails are going to have to be glued and clamped back on. The drawers will be far from perfect but mainly original.
Getting the old nails out was a real time challenger.
Drawers inside.jpgDrawer bottom new sheet.jpgDrawer side mismatch 02.jpgDrawer side mismatch.jpgDrawer bottom to repair 02.jpgDrawer bottom to repair.jpg

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Pieces broken off to enable new ply wood to be installed are now glued back into place.
New light weight side rail material is added with a good surface.
This will lift the drawers of the old worn slide surfaces to be functional and look right again.
I try to use very light weight material when I can.
Drawer old rail repairs.jpgDrawer replacement rails.jpg

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Quick install to see how the drawer reconstruction was going. So much easier to build new ones but I'm taking these challenges to build skills.
Drawers installed.jpg

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Did a trial run with the paint to see how it looked.
Now on to the ply wood doors. Initially stripped with scraper and then ROS using 120 grit.
Next challenge is gluing and clamping the loose ply veneer.
Need to sort out stripping the rust off the hinges.

Drawers 1st paint trial 01.jpg Glass door 2nd paint 01.jpgStripped wood ply door close up damage 03.jpgStripped wood ply door close up damage 04.jpgStripped wood ply door close up damage 01.jpgStripped wood ply door close up damage 02.jpg

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Considering the 1st photos -Tis a remarkable effort, the peeling ply/ veneer layers, I would have given up on. Being repainted helps as can use bog or whatever when things are missing or otherwise badly damaged. The only ones that I've done of this era were to a stained finish (which is clearly not how they were made -mostly -some were.) Hinges on the stained ones tended to be nickel plate as far as I can tell. Did pick up one for $2 mixture of hardwood, pine & ply -been stripped by someone else & they replaced the door fronts with solid hardwood boards - glued on. They would curve out during summer and straighten up again for winter - So I know what time of year they were glued up!!!
Is the bubbly veneer just the veneer or the plywood itself?

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Just the top layer. I was thinking I need to use some grease proof paper when I do it so that the melamine board I put against it doesn't get stuck.
You are right I am thinking these doors will have to have some replacement filler. I was thinking the same where the drawers have been rat chewed.

I have 3 more of these to be worked on eventually. The one that will be last and probably a keeper has sliding lead light doors.
It was hiding in the shed till my wife spotted it.