Re-building a broken Armoire

I have just about resolved the remaining furniture issues in France.  The main issue is the back bedroom upstairs where it isn't possible to get a wardrobe through the narrow entrance at the top of the stairs.  Gradually I have come to the realisation that the best plan might be to take apart one of our existing wardrobes and take it upstairs in pieces

The scene below is the downstairs bedroom.  This particular armoire was E40 from a local charity shop so it can be safely sacrificed in the hope of getting this to work.

It would be safe to say that it did not come apart easily.  At some point in its history, someone had decided that all its main joints needed to be glued.  So it didn't come apart by just undoing the bolts.  But the damage wasn't too bad in forcing (or gently encouraging) the joints to open

So now it is the problem of getting it back together in such a perfectly plumb-square shape that the doors will attach and it won't fall apart.

This is far easier said than done - first some new bracing needs to be fastened in.

Then the original front piece need to be secured well - this is critical to the question of whether the doors will attach at the end.

It takes perhaps 3 hours of work, but in the end the armoire is re-assembled and seems to be reasonably square.  However, the doors don't yet go back in ok and some adjustment will be necessary.

History suggests that this adjustment process might also take several hours

Addendum

Three months later, and after many hours more work, the doors finally fitted and worked ok.  More bracing and it would seem that the armoire has enough structural integrity to not fall apart with use.

And it has been re-painted

Looks pretty good we think