Consumerism is out, and minimalism is in! And we’re here to de-influence you from buying that new desk or splurging on that new watch, Pandas. Join the majority (93%) of young Europeans who say that they’d rather repair an item than replace it with a new one, and dive into the world of restoration.
It’s becoming a tradition here on Bored Panda to showcase the most beautiful examples of old things getting restored. This time, we have a new collection for you to feast your eyes on and get some inspiration for your simple living journey. Perhaps it will inspire you to visit a thrift store, get your tools out, and do some restoration magic yourself!
#1 Brass Window Latch Before And After. Crockpot Method Is Magic
Image source: -_-xylo
#2 Front Door Restoration
Before – Previous owners painted over and beat our our original (1900) front door to Hell. They even had painted over the frickin’ mail slot!
After – Stripped, repaired and stained. Credit goes to World of Wood for their amazing job. They even shined up the trolley bell.
Image source: IceGoddessLumi
#3 My Wife Has Had This Desk Since She Was A Kid. I Made It My Self-Isolation Project
Image source: Georgiegoodboy
#4 Done
Image source: Tall-Selection-3281
#5 Restored, Re-Worked & Added To This 150+ Year Old Bar Out Of NYC For A Very Special Client
Image source: ssjr10
#6 My First Big Project
It didn’t turn out perfect, but I learned a lot and at least it’s not blue anymore lol
Image source: snakes780
#7 1926 Spanish Tudor Cottage Fresco Restoration
Restoring this piece was quite the journey! After spotting a dainty occipital plume atop the birds’ heads, I suspected they were Great Blue Herons—a hunch confirmed when brilliant blue tones emerged beneath the dirt. I cleaned, replastered with Venetian plaster, and painted with specially ordered clay paint to stay true to traditional fresco techniques. Though I’m no master restorer, I gave it my all, and with a bit of care (and luck), I hope this artwork lasts for many years to come.
Image source: Steffyweffy007
#8 Before And After Of A Medieval Ring Restoration – It’s Approximately 700 Years Old, Amazing To Imagine Wearing These Rings Once Again
Image source: PopularSituation2697
#9 My Fiancé And I Rehabbed This Bifl Kroehler Sofa From The Mid 60s
We do furniture restoration. I do the woodwork and she does upholstery. In terms of quality, Kroehler was unmatched, and there are still tons of upholstery pieces available by them from the 60s on FB marketplace that just need a skilled craftsperson or two to bring it back to life.
What makes their pieces so high-quality is the internal build material. This sofa uses WHITE OAK for the FRAME, which no one would do now. It’s harder than a walnut and heavy!
This sofa specifically was made in the style of, or sort of a copy of, Adrian Pearsall, whose brand, Craft and Associates, made walnut-framed furniture with very forward designs. Their designs were more aesthetically pleasing, but whenever we get Craft and Associates pieces, (which is actually worth more) the frames are always broken and need repair.
The Kroehler-made furniture is always rock solid. If you ever want a vintage sofa that is worth the investment of new upholstery – go with Kroehler!!!
Image source: Vintagesourcekc
#10 I Restored This 1920s Adding Machine/Cash Register
Image source: viktor72
#11 When My Nanna Died No One Wanted Her Bedside Table, Now They Are Suddenly Interested
Image source: rodgeramjit
#12 1912 Craftsman Staircase Restoration
Image source: Arousing_Wedgie
#13 Bird Feeder Restoration Project
My mother-in-law gave me this old bird feeder she had because she knew I could restore it and make it new again. It definitely needed some TLC, so it got some new paint, and now it’s all ready for the birds to enjoy. Swipe to see the before photos!
Image source: mom2one2610
#14 One Of My Favorite Restorations I’ve Done
Image source: cdev12399
#15 Before And After Restoration Pics Of My Late Grandfather’s Watch
Image source: evanzo
#16 Come With Me, And You’ll Be, In A World Of All-Clad Restoration. $3, A Whole Can Of BKF And A Little Sweat Equity
Image source: DiskoNuggets
#17 The Oldest Headstone In Old Settlers Cemetery Has Been Restored
The oldest known burial in the cemetery is that of Joel Baldwin, who died October 21, 1776, at the age of 26. His headstone has been hidden in storage for a number of years, but now he’s back standing strong and more secure than before. Something really special is happening at Old Settlers Cemetery and I’m proud to be apart of it.
Image source: TilDeath1775
#18 My Bedside Table Finally Got The Respect It Deserves
Image source: Melodic_Local_4385
#19 We Did A Thing.. $40 Brasilia Desk Before/After
Image source: amosfargus
#20 Refinished A Clawfoot Tub That Was Left In Our Yard. The Wife And I Refinished This Cast Iron Clawfoot Tub That Was Left In Our Yard When We Bought The House
Image source: Informal-Ad8066
#21 Finally Finished This Piece. Picked This Up At GW As A Project Piece For Learning Purposes. I Know It’s Nothing Special, Nor Highly Sought After, But It Was A Good Learning Process
Image source: AdJolly5899
#22 Polishing Your Shoes Is The Frugal Choice
Image source: PersonalBrowser
#23 Refinished Post Box. No Sure Of The Exact Age But It Came With My Second Century Home. I Can’t Believe How Good It Looks. We Just Need To Add The Gold Embossing Back
Image source: podcartfan
#24 I Restored A 1950s Step-Stool
Image source: Kangar
#25 1970s Shadowbox Before And After
My mother bought this in New York for her first apartment. As a child i loved imagining i was tiny and this was my house. She found it in her basement last year and gave it to me. I spent some time cleaning and refurbishing and adding some new details to it. It makes me so happy to see it hanging in my kitchen.
Image source: Domestic-Archer-230
#26 Before & After: Mcm Hutch From Fb Marketplace
Image source: WeilaArt
#27 “Landlord Special” Hardware
Image source: champs
#28 Restored An Antique Statue For A Very Fun Lil Old Lady
Repaired with plaster and concrete compound, sanding with fine grit sandpaper. Painted with acrylics and sealed with numerous coats of clear outdoor Krylon spray paint.
Giving this to a very interesting little old lady (91) who’s had this in her yard for decades. Hope she’s surprised!
Don’t throw out Grandma’s old cruddy statues! They clean up so nicely.
Image source: EasyonthePepsiFuller
#29 Why For The Love Of God Did Someone Paint Over These Original 150-Year-Old Face Plates
I restored these using electrolysis and then a tiny bit of electroplating.
Image source: Sufficient-Serve8174
#30 Restoring And Whitening A Vintage 90s Landline Telephone!
I recently restored a vintage 90s landline telephone that had become heavily discolored and grimy over the years. The restoration mainly involved whitening the plastics using peroxide and UV light, carefully removing old, sticky stickers, and thoroughly deep-cleaning the entire phone, including the keypad, which had accumulated quite a bit of dirt and grime. Thought you’d enjoy seeing this transformation – it’s amazing how fresh it looks now! I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions for future projects.
Image source: Wolfis-Den
#31 Chair Restoration
These chairs were salvaged from the owner’s childhood home, which was lost due to a house fire. The wife brought them to me for restoration. She requested a walnut stain to coordinate with existing furniture. Very happy with the results.
Image source: sandpapergal
#32 Before And After – Flipped A Cheap Table I Got Off Of FB Marketplace
The table was $360. I stripped and sanded the table and sized it down from 10ft to 8ft long. Took a week.
I also got the chairs off of FB Marketplace – $100 for all of them.
They’re actually great quality, only minor stains and fabric pilling, but after a fabric shaver and steam clean looked brand new.
In addition to $200 in materials to refinish the table, I spent $660 on the entire setting.
Image source: lettuceown
#33 Paoli Chair After And Before
I posted a couple of months back this cool Paoli rocker I picked up on the marketplace. It was in desperate need of reupholstery, the rocking mechanism needed to be fixed, and the frame was quite dingy as well. Here’s some After and Before pics of the chair.
Image source: _e4rI
#34 Iron-On Patches To Cover Cat-Scratched Couch!
Image source: StormyandPerc
#35 I’m A Beginner At Working With Leather Materials, But Last Weekend I Bought Everything I Needed And Spent My Day Restoring This Bag To It’s New Glory. It’s Not The Best But I’m Proud Of It
Image source: snatchpanda
#36 Just Finished Restoring This 1973 Harrison M300 Lathe
Image source: EggChaser
#37 I Found This Vintage Copper Ashtray While Bottle Digging And Restored It. It Came Out Better Than I Expected
There’s no makers mark so I’m unaware of the date but it’s certainly vintage, maybe even antique?
Image source: VeryCasualPCGamer
#38 Before And After Of My Latest Restoration
Image source: Austeration
#39 I Saved And Reupholstered My Chairs. Results Are Better Than Expected
This place is still a rental, but with the time between tenants, I like to restore the original hardware. Reassembling cleaned-up mortise locks is always a fun puzzle!
First time around I used black lacquer spray paint, this time I used Ballistol. Any other suggestions?
Image source: squirlgirl32
#40 Before And After
Image source: LilPatatje
#41 Got This 20-30 Year Old Chair From Work, A Little Rusty And Very Filthy But It Came Out Great!
Image source: Slizzard_73
#42 Update!
Image source: dasdakotaman
#43 Refinished The Slate Floors In My 1964 House’s Foyer
Image source: senor-mango
#44 Mom Asked Me To Restore This With Some Paint
16 year old garden stone that was given to my mom at my uncle’s funeral service. Still need to hit some spots of the background but I hope I did it some justice!
Image source: No_Finding_9441
#45 Thrift Store Find, Before & After
Sanded, oiled, and re-upholstered the seat on this 1960-made chair from H. Krug in Kitchener, ON, Canada. Super comfortable. Unfortunately, the label under the seat got tossed when it was re-done.
Image source: Suede71
#46 Wife Put Me In Charge Of Wedding Favors And I Needed A Project
I found it on the marketplace, lowballed the guy, and he took the offer, so suddenly I was in very deep. It weighed what felt like 300 pounds, so I built an all-wood frame to cut down on the weight significantly, reinforced with metal brackets on the corners. Modded the wheel to spin freely to the left, so nobody had to pay, of course.
Our favorite candy, individual Advil packs, and Keychains I made. I’ve always been obsessed with dinosaurs and own reptiles, my wife loves animals and has worked with them her whole life, so it’s mostly Keychains of dinosaurs or animals, a few secret ones. I make art, so I had several generous artist friends contribute their time or expertise. Shout out to my friend for the signs, specifically.
It went great! People were eating it up, and it was picked clean by the end of the reception.
Image source: kbenpho
#47 Reversing The Landlord Special. One Doorknob At A Time
I was stunned at the gorgeous details hiding under all that paint (I counted at least 5 layers!) Debating whether to commit myself to stripping the rest of the original door plates from our 1920s rental once the weather perks up – my house still smells like citristrip.
Image source: No_Lion_1498
#48 Refinished My Jaguar
Just refinished my ‘93 MIJ fender jaguar. I love this thing but was never big on the original candy apple red paint job. Stripped, stained, and sealed it and swapped for a red tortoise shell pickguard to go with the original matching headstock. My first attempt for anything like this, very happy with how it came out! Mastery bridge and trem were previous upgrades.
Image source: _dangus_khan_
#49 First Timer Here. Picked This Up From A Neighbor. Had No Clue It Was A Real Broyhill Brasilia Until I Sent This Pic To A Friend
Image source: Cool-Mom-Lover
#50 A Before And After I Restored These Flood Damaged Consoles
I bought this lot online from a store that unfortunately had been completely flooded. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and they weren’t cheap but I figured if I can make my money back and keep a top loader it’s a win. I ended up fixing all of them and they now work perfectly. I will be selling them on to play another day for someone else to enjoy.
Image source: Benzona
#51 Before And After Of My Bench Restoration
Image source: squeemers
#52 Paid $100 For My 28”, Restored It. Made Smash Burgers For The Test Run. Before And After
Image source: pm_me_ur_buns_
#53 Before And After. Rodd Silver Plate Tea Set – Cleaned Up
Image source: kingboo94
#54 Bought A Dutch Oven At A Thrift Store Because I Like The Look Of It. Restored It And Started Using It
Image source: yinglish119
#55 Another Dresser Complete
Another beautiful dressing table is complete! This one is Australian Blackwood. It was warped and covered in black water rings. The mirror was broken into 4 separate pieces, and the whole thing needed to be glued and clamped as it felt like it was going to fall over. Stripped, sanded, and re-finished – its natural beauty is shining through!
Image source: Tall-Selection-3281
#56 $3 At The Thrift Store: Before And After
Image source: sassubear
#57 My First Restoration – A Dresser For My House
Found this absolute monstrosity and decided try try my hand at restoring it for my house. It’s far from perfect now (don’t look too close), I could have continued working on it, but I was ready to be done so I’m happy with “good enough”.
I think the insets behind the drawer pulls used to have some br hardware sitting in them, and the wood there is really rough. The person who painted it also decided to put dozens of little metallic stickers into each one – removing them then tore up whatever coating was originally there. I will likely end up painting those black to get it closer to the original look.
Image source: MERMO
#58 Before And After Restore: $6 Salvage Company Score…. Chemical Rust Remover, Wire Wheel, 80, 150, 220, 600, 1000, 2000 Grit Sandpaper, Then Buffing On A Bench Grinder, And Paint
Image source: Familiar_Big3322
#59 Refinished My Old Bag Instead Of Buying A New One
Image source: Fenryder
#60 A Little Cleaning And A $30 Leather Repair Kit, And It’s Almost As Good As New
Image source: IAmAPhysicsGuy
#61 Before And After Restoration
Image source: sabbathian
#62 70 Year Old Amf Dewalt Radial Arm Saw Restoration
I bought this 1950’s AMF DeWalt 9” radial arm saw for $50, and spent 4 weeks restoring it. I am aware that they are fairly dangerous, but I understand how to use them safely and plan to have this be a dedicated crosscut machine. It took a few hours to fully calibrate everything, but once I did that, it was dead accurate.
Image source: Dimsdale53
#63 1920’s Scale Brought Back To Life
This is a 1920s Hanson Scale Co Bluebird Series home scale. Found it at an antique shop a few months back. I had the deconstruct it, sandblast each piece, remove rust, hammer uneven metal pieces, hire someone to redesign the face template, then paint it and put it back together. This was a process. It’s painted in what I believe to be the original blue that the Hanson Scale Co. used 100 years ago.
Image source: joligee
#64 Restored One Of These Beauties From The Past
I wanted to share the transformation with you all. What started as a dusty, grimy, nearly-forgotten keyboard turned into a beautiful piece of retro tech again.
Image source: Wolfis-Den
#65 Restoration Before And After: 1994 Mizuno MP-14
Image source: bradmeehan
#66 Gorgeous Opal And Pink Sapphire Set In Sterling Silver Ring I Found At The Flea Market For $20! Before And After Restoration
Image source: galaxyMLP
#67 Restored Grandparents Western Electric 554
My grandparents had this in their house in the 60’s. I snagged it quite a few years ago and just finally got around to cleaning it up.
It’s my favorite thing in my house now.
I can only imagine the conversations my mom had on it as a youngster, or the family members who are no longer around.
Image source: ArtisticDeparture107
#68 My Friend Said I Should Post This Here. I Restored This Meiji Era Tansu That Someone Tried To “Upcycle.”
Scroll through to see me go insane picking various kinds of blue whatever paint off of it.
Today she’s holding several kimono from her era. Thank you for looking.
Image source: Souls_At_Zer0
#69 Not Gonna Lie, I Rather Enjoyed Trying To Fix This
The paint didn’t match perfectly, but I’ll repaint it all after a couple of other fixes on the stairs. The last picture is my little perpetrator before the paint (penultimate picture).
Image source: CalbertCorpse
#70 First Tool Restoration. 18″ Pipe Wrench. How Did I Do?
Image source: Mistermind88
#71 Before And After, Anvil Vise Restoration
Image source: deepbriarbaytrading
#72 Before And After
Thought some would like to see how the damages at my house were fixed! Done by and and my friend (we are not skilled in woodworking but think we did a pretty good job)
Image source: Odd_Photo_7179
#73 Craftsman 103 Drill Press Restoration. Before And After
I originally bought this thinking I’d just be cleaning it up but one thing led to another and not only did I end up replacing all the bearings and rubber parts but I had to paint it too because the base and table were to rusty.
Color ended up being lighter than I intended. It was supposed to be Rust-Oleum New Haven blue but turned out closer to their 5 in 1 lighter blue. Don’t know if I got a bad batch of cans or what. Still looks good though.
Image source: TheRealMasterTyvokka
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