Reviving Antique Furniture: My French Commode

Happy almost fall, dear friends! Today we are reviving my antique French commode… Several years ago, I re-glued the three drawers to this commode, as the case itself was in good shape then. Since that time, the top has come apart with just moving it around… Time for an early fall fixer-upper project!

History of this piece

My deaf brother Frank came down from Northern California to visit me at our house in the summer of 1990. Mr. Ethereal was still in the U.S. Marine Corps at the time and we were living aboard Camp Pendleton, in captains’ quarters in a small two-story duplex.

One day, we decided to drive up the coast on HW 5 to visit the mission there ~ Mission San Juan Capistrano, California. While we were there, we had lunch and then looked around in some antique shops.

As I walked into one of those stores, I literally gasped as I saw this French commode! (That’s how I usually know it’s something I really love…) I had never seen a French commode, nor really any French furniture. Didn’t even know I liked French Country style furniture. Nothing like that. But I did know that I needed a dresser.

Marine Corps Hubby and I were sharing his grandfather’s early 1900’s highboy four-drawer chest, at the time, and it was cramped with all of our t-shirts and underclothes in there. 😉

The antique seller there told me about the piece and said it was a French commode and it had just come in. We haggled maybe a second on the price, and I happily put a $50.00 deposit on the $300.00 total I now owed.

The commode was put on layaway, and I made a payment with every paycheck I received, sending checks through the U.S. mail. After just a couple of months, I was able to pay it off and bring it home. 🙂

Charles was off on a West Pac to Yuma, AZ, I think, with the Marine Corps when I drove back to Capistrano to pick up this piece. It barely fit upside-down into our hatchback Hyundai, and one drawer had to sit on the floor of the passenger seat with the seat leaning backwards. It was crazy, but we made it home!

I then took the drawers upstairs one-by-one, and flipped the case over and dragged it up the carpeted stairs by pulling on the legs. I remember being tired after all that maneuvering!

My love affair with French Country style

That was the beginning of my love of French Provincial style and a love of beautiful French furnishings… I found books on French Country style after that and tried reading anything I could about the style.

There is no company plaque attached or numbers on the back of the commode, which makes me think it is genuinely French. My guess is it is from the 1880’s and a reproduction of an earlier piece, though it could be a little older (or younger). The carvings are probably machine done, but there are some irregularities, so maybe it was hand-carved?? At least in part??…

The French desk I own was made by Drexel, of Drexel-Heritage, but before the two companies merged in 1957.

***If you haven’t seen my post from around my birthday and finding our new French maiden, you’ll see more of this desk there.

My desk, which sits underneath the large pier mirror in our living room entryway, is also a French Provincial piece, probably 1940s to 1950s. As I am learning from Google AI, Drexel made a high-end series of French Provincial pieces in a set they called Touraine. Apparently, my desk is a Louis XV walnut version, and it does have lovely graining showing down the sides and some across the desktop.

Founded in November 1903 in Drexel, North Carolina, the Drexel Furniture Company began as a small sawmill and low-priced furniture builder with a $14,000 investment. It evolved into a premier American furniture giant by shifting to mid-and-high-tier markets, merging with Heritage Furniture in 1968, and later changing hands through several corporate acquisitions.

AI overview, northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/drexel-furniture-company/

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So, what’s going on with this French commode?

The top of the commode has been lifting over the past couple of years and I have just put off fixing it. Over the past spring, I noticed that the whole seam between the two boards had finally fully separated. Definitely can see the lifting here in this photograph above and below!

But no longer! Since it is a lovely warm day outside, that makes this a perfect day for working on this small project indoors. 😉

Super easy fix!

• Lay plastic or some kind of rag underneath the surface you are regluing to keep your floor and/or the rest of your project clean.
• Start by lightly sanding both edges which need gluing back together.
• Wipe off all the sanding dust. Edges need to be clean and free of residue to glue well.

• Apply wood glue to both edges; be liberal with the glue as you want a tight joint. Use a glue which doesn’t foam and which will dry clear.

• Pull pieces together ~ line up horizontally as well as vertically. Apply small clamps along the edges to keep the pieces from shifting vertically.

• Apply clamps for 24 hours to keep the wood boards of this joint together while the glue dries.
• If any part of the boards still tries to lift, use weights to keep that section down as the glue dries. Heavy books work great for this! 😉

• Use a damp paper towel to wipe off any glue right away from the top side and underneath. Scrub it off the top surface, especially if you aren’t planning on redoing the entire top at this time.
• After 24 hours, unclamp and lightly sand, as needed.
• Refinish piece with stain or paint, if that is part of your project.

Friends, even running back and forth for more papertowels to wipe up excess glue and for extra clamps, this whole process took less than 20 minutes from starting to sand and finishing the clamping.

This small home DIY project was that easy!

And the results are exactly what I hoped: a joined top which looks like one piece again and is ready for years more service! Let me know what you think in the comments, thank you. 🙂

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Happy decorating,