You can accomplish pretty much anything with enough patience, grit, and determination. There’s a lot of pleasure to be had in accomplishing a difficult task, like restoring an old object to its former glory. Even more so if you know for a fact that most others would have given up a dozen times over. While there you are, slowly putting your skills to the test, learning from your mistakes, and working on something that’s going to make the internet’s jaw drop.
Our team here at Bored Panda has collected photos of some of the most impressive restoration projects from all around the net. We hope these pics will scratch the same DIY itch it did for us, and inspire you to do something similar. Scroll down to enjoy some truly magnificent restorations.
Bored Panda reached out to artist Gavin Gerundo, who spent a whopping 150 hours restoring and painting this grandfather clock, to hear about his project, workflow, and passion for art. Read on for our full interview with him!
#1 I Do Custom Shoe Polishing And Dyeing! This Is My Newest Restoration
Image credits: zwxe
#2 1930’s Parquet Flooring Is Restored Today
Image credits: Fallinator95
#3 In 1916 My Great-Grandfather Built His House From A Sears Home Kit. 100 Years Later We've Restored It To Its Original Beauty
Image credits: RealHotSauceBoss
#4 Completed The Restoration Of My Dream Car
The restoration was done by myself and my father-in-law. He did most of the heavy lifting with the bodywork and paint and he had the knowledge. I learned a tremendous amount during the process and it was an awesome experience overall.
I started collecting parts and restoring smaller pieces in my basement starting about 3 years ago. Then a year and a half ago we pulled it into the shop to really start all the work.
Image credits: finallygotmymustang
#5 Impressive Restoration Work
Image credits: TheOneThatGotBanned
#6 I Restored A Really Old Mausoleum Door
Image credits: MoonMoonMoonMoonSun
#7 Staring At My Recently Restored Tintin Childhood Collection
Image credits: waanix
#8 My Buddy Restored A 1955 Cushman Golf Cart. He Says There Are Only 2 Of These Models Left In Existence And The Other One Is In A Museum
Image credits: camperjohn64
#9 Bicycle From 1969, I Got For Free From A Lady Wanting To Throw It To The Trash
Image credits: chlebasmiatou
#10 Before & After Of The Raritan Inn Bed & Breakfast In Califon, New Jersey
Image credits: raritaninn.com
#11 I Restored This Antique Lamp And Made A Bohemian Crescent Moon Mica Shade With Antique Chandelier Crystal Pendants
This lamp features silent film actress Billi Dove sitting on a paper moon in a cosmic rhinestone sky. I wanted to do something different, by mixing Victorian/Edwardian style with art deco. I also wanted to do something I think has never been done before by making a Crescent Moon shade which is normally made of embroidered silk with a beaded fringe out of mica and replacing the fringe with antique chandelier crystal pendants.
Image credits: DooleyRestored
#12 Viking Axe Before And After Restoration (10th–11th Century)
Image credits: Museum of Artifacts
#13 Restored My Grandfather's Carpenter's Hatchet Last Year (It's Between 75-100 Years Old). Not Too Bad For A High Schooler If I Do Say So Myself
Image credits: C_Greuel04
#14 I Restored My Grandma's 65-Year-Old Kitchen Step-Stool
Image credits: Kangar
#15 Refinished And Reupholstered Vintage Mid-Century Lounge Chair
Image credits: rk5n
#16 I Can’t Draw But I Consider This My Art. I Restored A Classic Stingray In My Garage
Image credits: iCommunicateInGifs
#17 I Wanted To Share Some Pics Of This Authentic Mid-1920s Art Deco Maiden Figurine Lamp Base I Restored
With a custom leaping gazelle alternating Amber, silver mica shade that I made...
Image credits: DooleyRestored
#18 My Family Heirloom Restoration Complete
The 150-year-old safe restoration project is DONE! Here it is back in all of its glory - gold leaf and all (yes, REAL 23k gold). Swipe to the last picture to see what it looked like when I first picked it up. If you're interested in more of the story, keep reading below. In 1871, Ulysses S. Grant was president and Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated only 6 years earlier. And this safe rolled off the factory floor at the Detroit Safe Company, in Detroit Michigan. In the 1890s it found its way to Bay City, MI in the back of a new meat market founded by Max T. Malleck. Decades passed and the market eventually closed nearly 100 years later, but this safe was saved from the market and moved to Grandson Mike Malleck's house in the 1980s, and there it sat for over 40 years!
Image credits: WarrenCluck
#19 Painted Antique Mantle Restoration Transformation
We've worked our restoration magic on this antique solid walnut mantle.
This stunning piece came to us in dire need of help, coated in layers of white paint and falling apart. Now she's all fixed up and shining just as lovely as she did 100+ years ago.
The final result of this project was the most rewarding.
Image credits: kinfurnitureco
#20 Restoring Great Grandfather's Trunk (From 1911)
Image credits: welker4mvp
#21 Got A 100-Year-Old Painting Cleaned Earlier This Year
Image credits: jaguar_loco
#22 Last Summer Me And My Sister Secretly Restored Our Father's 64 Beetle. Results:
My father bought the beetle in the early 80s for about 20 dollars. in the 90's he got kids and the car was left to rot away in our backyard. Last winter I started working as a car painter assistant in hopes of becoming a car painter. Around the same time, my father started talking about the beetle! Witch he wanted to fix up but he felt that he needed to wait for retirement about 15 years away. So me and my sister thought maybe we should give it a shot and quickly try to fix it up for him so we did.
And to add insult to injury we totally trashed it as children. Plus he is a huge car guy and he goes to shows and always feelt like he wanted something to "show".
Image credits: kontjo
#23 Although It Was In Bad Shape, I Happily Paid The $4 Sticker Price Because I Knew I Could Spruce It Up
Image credits: EnidColeslawToo
#24 Restored A Family Heirloom
Image credits: Cori-ly_Fries
#25 Instead Of Buying A $300 New Chandelier, I Bought This Antique One For $40 And Spent A Few Hours Buffing It Clean, And Also Glued A Few Loose Pieces
Image credits: reggit99
#26 Restored My Dad's 50-Year-Old Hammer As A Christmas Present
Image credits: turbo_man_
#27 Vintage Shenanigans Camper Restoration
I bought this 1973 Prowler camper in Springfield, MO for $1000 on Craigslist. I had been looking for a small single-axle vintage camper for a while. These vintage campers are getting hard to find, and those that aren't completely rotted beyond repair sell for a premium. I guess something is only worth what people will pay for it. I was one of six people to answer the ad that was posted early in the morning. I showed up with the cash first, and it was sold before noon. Although it had been sitting outside for a few years, it was the size I was looking for and was repairable.
In the end, I invested about three months and about $4,000 in total. It has been on several float trips on the Huzzah River, Table Rock Lake, and a motorcycle rally.
Image credits: ranbn8
#28 Revere Ware Pan I Got From The Flea Market Today
Image credits: tpstephens92
#29 My Father Unexpectedly Passed Away In October Of A Heart Attack. As A Tribute To Him, I Decided To Restore His Workbench And Learn How To Become As Handy As He Was
Here’s the workbench now. I’m pretty proud of myself overall. I look forward to improving myself and working on future projects!
Image credits: MarcAdark
#30 I Bought This Coffee Table In 2018 For $15 At A Flea Market Because It Was Cheap And I Needed Something For My Living Room. Finally Got Around To Stripping It This Weekend
Image credits: account-info
#31 I Restored A Beat-To-Hell Old Pair Of Doc Martens I Found Lying Around My Neighborhood
Honestly, I didn’t use any hard chemicals or anything I just cleaned them using paper towels and water. I own a basic shoe shine kit that has a standard black shoeshine, a microfiber cloth, and a horsehair brush. After getting all the dirt off I spent like an hour or so applying and reapplying the shoeshiner to get to the point where the gloss was restored. You mostly have to focus on shining the toe and the heel because that’s where most of the damage will be. It’s a super simple process.
Image credits: jacobmay63
#32 Before And After Of My 8-Year Project (1972 Datsun 240z Restomod)
Image credits: Henness0666
#33 Vintage Radio Restoration. This Is A Canadian Made Northern Electric Baby Champ 5400 Tube Radio I Just Finished Restoring
It was made approximately between 1948 - 1950ish.
Image credits: bapzranigan
#34 Wood Plane Restoration
So I borrowed a long-forgotten Stanley wood plane from my father-in-law... He told me it had been a wedding gift during the pre-power tool era, over 50 years ago. I wondered how many miles of wood this thing had peeled over time? It was seized up and practically unusable, so I pulled it apart.
Image credits: crucialficti0n
#35 Teak Table Restoration
Image credits: reddit.com
#36 I Heard Y’all Like Cauldron Restorations (Circa 1840)
Image credits: Tugg-Speedmen
#37 Restoration Of A 1950s Dixie Stove
This came out of a 1953 Silver Streak (camper trailer) that had been left sitting in a field for decades. The trailer was filled with rodent droppings and carcasses. I found multiple nests inside this stove.
It took days to fully clean this piece, but it was so worthwhile!
I ran new wiring and changed out the clock mechanism so everything is fully functional. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of it illuminated, but the name "Dixie Wanderer" also lights up.
Image credits: WaywardTrailers
#38 Me And My Dad Restored This Yamaha Rajdoot 1979 Bike
My dad loves these bikes, he had one of them when he was young but he had to sell it because of money problems. My dad is happy after a long time.
Image credits: Jujhar_Singh
#39 People Thought I Was Crazy... 04 SVT Cobra Resurrection
A lot of people thought I was crazy when I bought this car in the state it was in. But where they all saw a hopeless wreck of a car, I saw something with huge potential! I couldn't let this amazing car just return to the dust from whence it came!
Image credits: rainydayrecess
#40 Fully Restored Papa Bear Chair - Before And After Photos
Image credits: setho212
#41 Thrifted And Refinished A Set Of Teak Lounge Chairs
Image credits: DamnTheAdmiralty
#42 Restoration Complete
Image credits: HamsterNomad
#43 Restored An Iron Bench, Replaced The Wood With Mahogany
Image credits: xanre_
#44 I Detailed A 1968 Torino. Couldn't Believe I Was Able To Get The Seats This Clean
Image credits: Zewsey
#45 Coke Machine We Finished Up A Couple Of Months Ago For A Client
Image credits: FleetAdmiralWiggles
#46 Nib Restoration
Image credits: pennsler
#47 I Restored A $5 Kitchen-Aid Mixer I Found At The Thrift Store
Image credits: Benzona
#48 Update On My $5 Thrift Store Allen Edmond Shoes. Spent The Afternoon Focusing On The Right Shoe Just To Get This Picture
They had some deep discoloration so I decided to re-dye them since I don’t have any dark brown shoes.
Image credits: chadlikemad
#49 1995 Zippo, Before And After. One Day It Will Look Like It Did Before The Sanding And Polish
I started with 400, then 600, then 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500. I made sure everything stayed rinsed off and wet the entire time. After that, I used "mothers mag & aluminum polish" for about 30 minutes. It was very nice when I got done, hairline scratches show up the second you put it in your pocket though and fingerprints are insane. That's the only downside to it. That, and it took me 5-6 hours to finish it.
Image credits: nothing_fancy21
#50 A Wrench I Restored
Image credits: Familiar_Big3322
