How to repair and refinish these two nightstands?

[Mark Gibney]

A client couldn't find a refinisher who can take this job on in time for her visitors in a couple of weeks.
I don't do this part of woodworking for other people, but she's a good client, she pleaded with me, I said okay I'll help you out.
Now I want to make sure I do this as well as I can.

The nightstands seem to be MDF covered in a plastic laminate.
There is chipping, peeling, and a lot of discoloration.

IMG_7679.jpg IMG_7676.jpg

How would you tackle this job? I have some ideas but I'd prefer to first listen to what you have to say.

thanks, Mark

[Stan Calow]

No answers from the smart folks yet - I'll take a shot. I've done a lot of repairs on various projects with mixed success. I think it depends if the goal is to make do while guests are there, or to make them look like new. If the former:
1. find an inconspicuous spot on the back or other less visible surface, and take some pieces off you can use to patch the chips where they are visible.
2. use new plastic edge banding to replace some missing sections and try to get close to the right color with stain or paint.
3. use colored touch-up markers to cover the spots like the chip in the corner of the second photo. The difference is hard to spot from a distance to the untrained eye.
4. discoloration - cover up with doilies, mirrored glass or some other big item. Paint if all else fails.

[Wayne Lomman]

What standard of repair do they want? I am not surprised that they can't find anyone with the 'time' to repair them. Cheers

[Lee Schierer]

I would take measurements of the existing nightstand and make a new one from a quality hardwood matching those dimensions. Then stain or dye it to get the desired color. In the long run it will look better and last longer.

[Robert Engel]

Google > "restoring plastic laminate".

[Ted Phillips]

Find some nice wood-grained contact paper.

[Keith Downing]

Find some nice wood-grained contact paper.

I was kind of thinking along these lines too. Manufactured furniture isn't really intended to be refinished or even repaired in a lot of cases. I don't see how you would "correctly" patch or refinish that. You could try covering it with another layer of some type of laminate or contact paper, but you'd likely end up spending more time and money than it would ever be worth....(see Lee's comment above).

[Dan Hahr]

Tint some epoxy putty to that color and smear it into all the cracks and crevasses. Use a wax pencil to fill in anything and blend it together. Not worth doing much else.

Dan