I recently came by a gate-leg hall table. It was painted in duck-egg blue gloss, and had clearly spent some time outdoors. The castors were in a bad way. The gate leg had come off and the hinges were too buckled to reuse. The drawers were painted shut and missing their handles. The base was warped.

I took the whole thing apart and got stuck in. As I stripped the paint off, I decided I rather like the distressed look, so the piece took a slightly different direction from what I had planned.

I made a new base out of reclaimed wood. I replaced the castors, because the old ones were very rusty. I also replaced the hinges in the gate leg, with barrel hinges. I stained and varnished the base and top with mahogany stain and satin varnish. The legs and drawers, I gave a matt finish over the distressed paint. I have used rope for the drawer handles, for a quirky finishing touch.

All in all, this was a major overhaul, but I'm very pleased with the results.