Answering Some Common Questions About Restoring Old Furniture Pieces

Having furniture pieces restored can be a good way to preserve that piece, versus having to buy something new. Restoration can be done on antique furniture, as well as newer furniture that may have gotten broken or damaged somehow. If you're thinking about having any type of furniture piece restored in any way, note a few questions you might have, and this can help you decide if this work is right for your furniture.

Can restoration do something about a piece that keeps breaking?

Older furniture may be notorious for breaking, as wood tends to get soft and weak over the years. You may have a chair or table that suffered one broken leg or arm, and then another, and so on.

Restoration is actually good for these types of pieces, as a furniture restorer can help to brace up the frame of any chair or other piece. This might include adding shims or wood pieces along the inner framework, giving the piece more strength, or replacing older wood pieces with newer pieces that are strong and durable. Your furniture restorer can tell you the options for strengthening a certain piece in particular.

What if a wood piece smells bad?

Furniture upholstery can get musty and mildewed and start to smell bad, but you might not expect a wood piece to eventually stink! Wood furniture can hold mould that eventually makes it smell bad, and certain wood species may also have an unpleasant odour, which is obscured by wood finishes. When those finishes wear off over the years, you may notice that unpleasant wood smell. A furniture restorer can typically clean a wood piece of any developing mould, and also recoat that furniture so that you don't notice the natural odour of the wood itself.

Can all antique fabrics be salvaged?

Whether or not certain upholstery can be salvaged will depend on the overall condition of the upholstery itself. Tears and rips can often be mended, or patches can be added so the fabric looks new again. A thorough cleaning can restore the colour and nap of the fabric.

If the fabric over a piece cannot be salvaged, however, a furniture restoration company may be able to find that same fabric, or something very similar, and use it to recover the piece. If the fabric does need to be replaced, it can be good to bring in photos of other furniture pieces in the same room, so the restorer can ensure the upholstery matches and everything will coordinate once you get that restored piece home.