E Jay Vintage Modern

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Redondo Beach, CA
E Jay Vintage Modern

Vintage hardwood furniture restored and restyled for the modern home. on Instagram Custom finishes and design services available.

Specializing in mid-century restorations using durable catalyzed lacquer finishes.

05/21/2026

Another restoration, done and dusted. I just love taking off that white paint and seeing the original veneer shine again.

05/19/2026

Fun little restoration of a not-quite-vintage Pier One console table that I acquired from a neighbor whose kids had used it as a coloring book 😆

The original finish had an odd greenish tone, probably intended to hide the color variation across the different wood species, or possibly the result of a lower-quality finish aging poorly. But once I got it stripped down I knew a classic walnut finish was what this piece needed. Classic brushed aged brass k***s complement the wood tone and the timeless feel.

03/04/2026

Another client piece, this 70s Lane cedar chest got a second life as a coffee table! The base was rebuilt to accommodate legs and was edge banded in matching white oak veneer. The decorative panels on the front, despite being a faux-grained plastic, got the same brown walnut color treatment as the rest of the piece with some additional glazing for depth and to enhance the designs.

The finished piece is lighter and more modern than the original dark finish, and the legs give it a little more stature. It now lives in my client's sunroom and gets to enjoy a second life of loved usefulness.

02/17/2026

The back end of 2025 was kept very busy with custom restoration and refinishing work. One of my most favorite moments was being able to refinish and reimagine a very sentimental antique cedar chest for a lovely local customer.

This piece held so many memories from her childhood but was in rough shape. The old legs were cracked or missing, the finish was shot, and the original copper hardware was so tarnished it practically disappeared.

I rebuilt the base, used a Sodium hydroxide - hydrogen peroxide 2 part bleach to lighten the tannins in the wood, and used a combination of wood stains and toners to get an even biscuit-colored finish. The copper hardware was cleaned and polished, and my customer picked out new legs that I finished to match. It now lives in her entryway and gets to be enjoyed and cherished every day. Swipe all the way through for its journey.

04/11/2025

This was a fun little restoration. A campaign dresser from the late 70s had nice bones but the original yellow oak finish was in poor shape and was just ... uninspiring. I knew a warmer walnut tone would look great with the brass fittings. I love the size of this dresser, too. Great for a smaller bedroom or as a TV console, accent piece, or dining room storage.

44"W x 18"D x 29"H

03/21/2025

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This was a fun journey of reinvention for this white oak Harmony House dresser. Let's run it down:

• The original plinth base was replaced with gorgeous new legs from
• The pickled finish was stripped, the white grain filler scrubbed out of the pores, and a classic white oak wash applied
• The awkwardly shallow fingers pulls on the drawers were filled to create smooth and seamless drawer fronts for a custom soft scandi-white color
• New custom white oak pulls were installed to echo the original curves of the upper and lower face frame
• The entire piece was sealed with my favorite super durable water-based poly, General Finishes HPTC.

All in all, you'd never know this was the same piece. Swipe all the way right for pics of the original. The bones were great! It just needed a major makeover!

02/02/2025

Heading back to its home today is this cute vintage oak secretary desk. My client was looking for a dark and moody piece with just a touch of deep rich wood tone to offset the black stain. I love that the character of the wood grain still comes through, and look at how nicely those vintage brass pulls cleaned up. They look incredible against the dark wood drawers.

I love being able to give clients a truly unique piece of furniture that meets both their needs and their aesthetic. It's the best part of this job!

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09/27/2024

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I know it's been a minute since I've posted anything new, but I'm happy to come back from a break with renewed energy and fingers itching to get into some fun design work. First up is this gorgeous beachy babe.

This LA Period dresser had some truly terrible white paint over the original very yellowed blonde finish. After stripping it all down to the wood, I decided to honor the blonde with a more muted "modern blonde" finish and complement that warm wood with an earthy green. Originally on a plinth base that had been ripped off over the years, it got new legs and some very very cool hand-made wooden pulls to play up the retro vibe. One of a kind.

Slightly taller than a standard lowboy dresser, this has 9 big dovetailed smoothly-gliding drawers for plenty of storage.

60"W x 19"D x 35"H

$850 cash, venmo, PayPal, or credit card. Free delivery within greater San Diego.

05/04/2023

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Sometimes I pick up a piece that has been very badly painted. I adore those kinds of pieces because the transformation is extra satisfying. Also, the worst paint jobs usually mean the painter didn't do great prep work (typically just slathering chalk or wall paint over the original finish) which makes them relatively easy to strip. So imagine my surprise when I started in on this piece and encountered an absolute wall of professionally-applied white oil paint. Multiple rounds of scraping and stripping later, I had a walnut Dixie dresser absolutely riddled with stubborn white paint deep in the grain. (Scroll to the end for the horror shots.)

After exhausting my various tricks to get the paint out, I decided to pivot and embrace a lighter finish. A "tan wash" on the walnut pairs so beautifully with this deep bronzey gray lacquer, and accents of creamy greige on the sides bring some extra scandi-boho to the clean-line party. Airy and modern, pretty without being overtly feminine. Finished in a modern flat sheen.

38"W x 18"D x 44.5"H

Free curbside delivery within San Diego county. Delivery within SoCal and beyond is available.

05/02/2023

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What do we owe to flat-pack furniture design? Before IKEA, Danish teak flat-pack furniture revolutionized the spread of mid century Scandinavian design around the globe. Easy to transport, easy to ship across oceans. Teak veneers, good design. One can argue that flat pack furniture from Denmark paved the way for flat pack furniture from IKEA, and well, we all know what a juggernaut of accessible modern design IKEA has been.

This excellent record player bench is a great example of vintage Danish flat pack. Like a lot of other vintage furniture, it was used and abused, had water marks and plant rings, had been set out in the rain for a bit, and might have been left for dead had a keen eye not spotted it and directed it to me.

A fun and colorful design was created to share the stage, as it were, with a record player or even a simple cushion. Half function, all form. Adjustable and removable dividers hold records, files, or even shoes 🙈.

38.5"W x 17.75"D x 23"H

$399, pickup in Tierrasanta 92124 or delivery is available for a fee throughout Southern CA

Address

Redondo Beach, CA

Website

http://instagram.com/ejayvintagemodern

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