Are you looking for some practical advice on how to restore your old furniture? While you will almost always need the help of a professional to have an antique furniture item reupholstered, other pieces can be restored at home. You will just need the right tools, chemicals, and sufficient time to complete the job.
Here in this post, we will discuss the six key steps to restoring your old furniture.
1. Safety Comes First, Always
Numerous tools and chemicals required for restoring old furniture can be hazardous.
Before embarking on a furniture restoration project, it is important that you know about all necessary precautions such as:
Use the proper tools required for furniture restoration; this will not only make the task easier but also keep you safe
To prevent exposure to chemicals, be sure to put on protective gear such as long sleeves, rubber gloves, etc.
To prevent inhalation of vapors (from chemicals), it is advisable to work outdoors or in a well-ventilated space
Old furniture may have paint finishes containing lead; if this is the case, make sure to always use a ventilator when you start stripping it off
2. Correctly Identify Old Furniture’s Finish
You need to know about the current finish on a piece of wooden furniture before you can begin restoring it.
Identifying paints, enamel, etc. is pretty easy. You will know if it’s a pigmented finish just by looking at the wood.
If it’s wax or oil finish, you can identify it by gauging the shine on the surface.
Identifying natural finishes such as varnish, shellac, etc. is generally difficult.
You won’t be able to identify them by just looking at the wood. Furniture restoration experts also do some experimentation to verify the type of current finish on antique furniture items.
Find a hidden area (just as the backside of a drawer) and apply a little denatured alcohol on it.
With shellac coating, the finish will come up quite easily.
If it’s a lacquer finish, you will need lacquer thinner to remove the coating. Nothing else will work.
If neither denatured alcohol nor lacquer thinner remove the coating, its most certainly varnish.
3. Cleaning Old Furniture
A piece of old furniture will always require thorough cleaning.
Some furniture items can look as good as new with a good cleaning.
You will need a professional-grade wood cleaner for this task. Oil-based wood cleaners are pretty good at removing layers of wax and dirt accumulated on your old furniture over the years.
If the original luster is still not in sight, consider using a solution of detergent and warm water to clean a piece of old furniture.
Use a clean piece of cloth to apply the solution. Make sure that the wood does not get too wet. You just want to clean the surface.
Immediately after you rub the wood surface with a detergent solution, use a piece of dry cloth to wipe it clean.
If none of these wood cleaning methods work, you need to use a solvent made specifically for cleaning old furniture.
Such a solvent can be denatured alcohol or turpentine.
Be sure to be outdoors when you apply a solvent on the wood surface with the help of an old towel or piece of cloth. Remember to wipe the wood surface clean immediately after you apply the solvent.
Use professional-grade cleaner once again to clean the wood surface.
4. Re-amalgamation
Your old furniture looks dull because, with time, finishes wear off and develop cracks and scratches.
With re-amalgamation, you can easily repair the finish of an old piece of furniture.
During this process, a solvent is applied on the wood surface to even out the imperfections such as cracks, scratches, etc.
Make sure the wood surface has been properly cleaned as described in the 3rd step above before you start with re-amalgamation.
Now, if it’s varnish, you cannot re-amalgamate it.
For shellac and lacquer finishes, you can use denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner respectively as solvents for re-amalgamation.
You can use a bristle brush to apply the solvent. Keep in mind that you need to apply the solvent quickly in a manner that the brush doesn’t turn dry. Once the solvent dries, your old furniture will be free of scratches or cracks.
Gently rub the wood surface with steel wool. Remember to buff along the grain of the wood.
In the end, you can apply hard paste wax to make the wood surface shiny new.
5. Stripping
You need to strip the old finish in order to make room for the new strain.
If there are multiple layers of paint, you will need to apply a paste on the wood surface. This will help soften the previous coats. Then, you can scrap it away more easily.
Apply the stripper paste in a single direction at a time. Add some extra paste in areas where you think it’ll be difficult to remove the finish.
Use a putty knife to scrape the wood surface after about 15 minutes.
You may need to repeat this process a few times before you are able to remove the old finish completely. You may need to use a liquid stripper to get rid of the last bit (say, the remaining 5%) of the old finish.
6. Refinishing
In the last stage, you need to apply a fresh coat of stain. Use a natural bristle brush.
But first, sand the furniture item and clean the wood surface. Use tack cloth and a vacuum cleaner. Use 100 grit sandpaper for the first sanding.
Keep the strain on the wood surface for at least 5 minutes before you remove the extra amount with a piece of clean cloth. Get sanding sealer and apply it on the wood surface.
The following day, you can sand the furniture item with sandpaper before you apply the finish. Remember to use 220 grit sandpaper the second time you sand the piece.
Author Bio
Michelle is an interior designer at Westlake Village Upholstery and Drapery with over 20 years experience in fabric and custom window treatments. She offers clients in Southern California a new experience in traditional and modern design.
