Phone Restoration

My grandmother had this old phone hanging in her dining room as decoration since I was a little girl. Several years ago, when my husband and I were first married I asked her on a whim if I could have it for our house. She said yes. It never got hung in our house and just sat in a box waiting and waiting. When we sold said house, I brought the phone with me in hopes of restoring it so I would DEFINITELY hang it in our new house when it is finished being built.

I need to learn to take more before pictures of my projects. Once we decide to do something, the project takes off quickly and normally finishes  quick too.

My dad and I decided to see if the black paint would come off the phone and we longed to see what was underneath. Therefore, my one "before picture" has the nice wood "stripe" down the side. 

Dad took apart the phone for me. I was in charge of putting all the parts and screws in a safe place for later.

This was still inside the phone. I took tons of pictures of this because I was pretty certain that this part was not going to be able to be salvaged in the restoration process.

First step was lacquer thinner to get the black paint off. It started off well. Later, I decided to go with an actual paint stripper and that worked much better.

After all the paint was stripped, dad took the sander to the wood for me.

After the black paint had been stripped.

We decided it would be nice to stain the piece. I used the Gunstock stain for this project. I think it will go very nicely in our new home eventually.

I did about 3-4 coats of polyurethane all over the phone after all the staining was complete. 

Here is the finished result. I am in love with it.

Dad shined up the bells the best he could for me.

I know EXACTLY where it will hang when we move to our house.
Now, I just have to store it once again till then.