Not a lot of people can say they have a custom piece of furniture. Fewer, likely, can say that their father built it.

Normally, builder Tom Figueiredo works onsite jobs in homes, but every now and then he works on projects in his shop at home. His most recent project is a special one – two custom dressers for his teenage daughters.

Using plans he found in his grandmother’s attic, Figueiredo built 18th century dressers out of antique hard pine.

The wood isn’t easy to come across, and Figueiredo knew when he found it on a job that he needed to do something special with it. He’s been working on the dressers on and off since 2016, and has just recently completed them.

“I wanted them to have something I made,” Figueiredo said.

While he doesn’t often build furniture for his own home, finding new uses for old wood is something Figueiredo is pretty familiar with.

“I’ve been concentrating now on historic restorations,” he said. “I repurpose a lot on the job. I can reuse rafters and stuff like that. It’s saving money and you’re getting better lumber than you can buy now.”