Built-in refinishing in St. Louis.
The millwork in your home wasn’t put there to be replaced. We make sure it never has to be.
Hutches. Bookcases. Buffets. Wainscoting. Mantels. All of it.
When a St. Louis home was built in 1905 or 1925, the millwork wasn’t an afterthought. It was part of the architecture. The dining room hutch was built into the wall. The living room bookcase flanked the fireplace. The wainscoting ran the full length of the hallway. None of it was ever meant to come out. That’s the work we do.
Built-in hutches, buffets & bookcases
Dining room built-ins, china cabinets, library bookcases. Original woodwork that has no modern replacement.
Learn moreRoom millwork
Baseboards, crown molding, wainscoting, chair rail, window trim, mantels. The finish that ties a room together.
Learn moreWe also refinish
- — Fireplace surrounds and overmantels
- — Window seats and built-in benches
- — Butler's pantry cabinetry
- — Built-in desk and office units
- — Staircase newel surrounds and wainscot paneling
If it’s wood and it’s part of the building, we can refinish it.
You can’t buy what’s already in your walls.
Here’s something most homeowners don’t realize until it’s too late: the millwork in a pre-WWII St. Louis home is old-growth wood. White oak, American chestnut, heart pine, old-growth fir. Tight grain, dense fibers, extraordinary durability. The wood that built these houses came from trees that took 150–200 years to grow. That stock doesn’t exist anymore.
New wood isn’t the same. Modern construction lumber is fast-grown — softer, more porous, with wider, looser grain. It doesn’t accept stain the same way. It doesn’t hold up the same way. And it won’t look like what was there before.
When a homeowner replaces a dining room hutch or tears out original wainscoting, they’re not upgrading. They’re trading something irreplaceable for something inferior.
Refinishing is the only option that preserves what you have. We strip the old finish, repair what needs repairing, restain to original or updated color, and seal it with polyurethane — oil or water-based, depending on the application. The wood stays. The character stays. The value stays.
These pieces can’t go in a tank. And they shouldn’t.
Built-in woodwork can’t be dip-stripped. It’s attached to the building. Even when individual components can be removed — a cabinet door, a section of wainscoting — dipping is the wrong method. Chemical tank stripping raises the wood grain, swells profiles, attacks glue joints, and leaves residue in pores that interferes with the new finish.
We strip by hand. Every piece of millwork, every panel section, every carved profile, every linear foot of crown molding — stripped with appropriate solvents, scrapers, and detail tools. It takes longer. It’s worth it. The grain stays closed. The profiles stay sharp. The character of the wood is preserved, not dissolved.
This is especially important for carved or profiled millwork. A shallow ogee molding or a beaded cabinet door frame has geometry that’s irreplaceable if damaged. Hand-stripping is the only safe method for that kind of work.
Most St. Louis millwork has lead paint. We handle it correctly.
Pre-1978 homes — and in St. Louis’s historic neighborhoods, that means almost everything — have lead paint on their woodwork. Sometimes it’s visible. Often it’s buried under layers of subsequent paint. Either way, stripping it incorrectly creates lead dust, which is a serious health hazard, especially in homes with children.
Sue Wheeler is an EPA Certified Lead Removal. Millwork refinishing on pre-1978 surfaces is handled with proper containment, HEPA filtration, wet methods, and documented cleanup. You receive a completion record.
This matters especially for built-ins and millwork because these surfaces are in living spaces — dining rooms, living rooms, hallways, bedrooms. Where your family actually spends time.
Strip & Refinish or Perk Up & Protect?
Strip & Refinish (S&R)
Complete restoration. Strip to bare wood, address any damage, stain if needed, finish with polyurethane. For millwork that has failing finish, significant discoloration, paint buildup, or hasn’t been properly finished in decades. Most historic built-ins need this.
Perk Up & Protect (PUP)
Maintenance coat. Light sand and fresh finish over a solid existing base. For millwork that is structurally sound, holding its finish, but looking dull, slightly worn, or faded. Faster and less expensive. Not right for every situation — we’ll tell you honestly which applies.
Some rooms need a mix: wainscoting that’s in decent shape gets PUP while a hutch with peeling finish gets S&R. We scope it piece by piece.
“Our dining room hutch was original to the house — 1912, solid white oak. It had been painted over at some point in the 1970s and we thought it was ruined. Sue stripped every inch of it by hand, brought the grain back, and matched the stain to our hardwood floors. We had no idea what was under there. Now it’s the best thing in the room.”
— Homeowner, Compton Heights
Common questions
Let's talk about your millwork.
Free estimate. No obligation. Sue answers every call personally.