Refinishing Furniture Projects

Over the years we've refinished many pieces of furniture with projects ranging from fixing a scratching to completely stripping and refinishing, including applying new veneer. When it comes to selecting a finish we take into account the age of the piece and how it will be used. In some cases a modern hardwearing finish is more appropriate and this is what we would recommend, however, for older pieces with patina then sometimes just oil or lacquer works best! We always try to re-glue veneer that has become separated from the piece but in some cases (particularly waer damage) replacement is needed; we then match the existing veneer (for wood species and thickness), and then glue in the new piece carefully to ensure that the final finish looks just as good as new. For more information please see our channel on YOUTUBE with some short videos showing different highlights and techniques and discuss the projects in more detail in our BLOG.

A Victorian glider rocker needing refinishing and the mechanism repairing. The finish was thick and flaky hiding the beauty of the Tiger Oak. We came up with a fix to repair the mechanism. WATCH VIDEO

This tallboy had damaged veneer, we replaced this and refinished it carefully blending in the finish. The hardware was polished making the finished piece look as good as new. WATCH VIDEO

Refinished for an impending arrival! This highchair was a family heirloom and was painted in milk paint. The new 'occupant' was on her way and our client wanted a natural finish. Looked so pretty when finished! WATCH VIDEO

This modern piece had some damage to the original finish, probably a hair product. We carefully stripped it and refinished it to look like new and show off the amazing color of the wood.

This beautiful camphor chest was missing hardware and the finish was badly damaged; it needed to be completely restored. Looked great when finished. SEE BLOG

This pretty side table had black marks (ink?) and needed some TLC. We carefully removed the black marks and restained the top to match the rest of the table, finishing with a coat of beeswax as requested by the owner. Looks as good as new now!

This lovely Victorian drop-leaf table arrived in the workshop with a very badly damaged top -- water marks, scratches, missing wood plugs. It had it all! Took some time to restore it and get it looking good but we were proud with the finished result.

This was built by our client's grandfather who understandably wanted to have it brought back so that it could take pride of place on her porch. It was literally falling apart and needed new bearings and some new pieces to be made but it was soon looking great (once again!).

This table had been stored in an outside shed and the high humidity had caused the veneer to buckle. The veneer needed to be replaced. We used a mahogany veneer and then refinished in varnish and refinished the apron to match the table top.

This chest of drawers was well made but very dated and tired; it actually looked orange when arrived. We completely stripped it, restained in a more subtle wood shade and then refinished in conversion varnish. We also added a new back.

This hutch had been in a historic home in New Orleans, which had been left empty for many years. The furniture was dirty, the veneer was lifting in places and parts of the legs were delaminating. We cleaned it and restained/refinished to really bring it back in addition to repairing the veneer and legs as needed.

This antique hunt table is semi circular in shape to help cut up game. Needless to say the finish was badly damaged, however, we did not want to do too much and completely strip it as we would a new table. Rather we cleaned it, stained the sections to ensure they matched in color and then oiled it to give an older style finish before applying beeswax.