Author's posts
Furniture Repair – How Cleaning May Restore Your Furniture
Do you keep walking by your dull table and hoping that one of these days it will look like you first brought it home? Sometimes all your furniture needs is some extra TLC in order to not only restore but breathe new life & extend the life of your furniture. Furniture eventually reaches a point …
Buying Old Furniture – What to Look For
If you have a worn old dresser or rickety heirloom chair on your hands, you may be thinking of refinishing it yourself. Older mass-produced pieces whose origins fall somewhere between 1850 and 1960 are ideal candidates for refinishing. With a few exceptions, they don’t have high value as antiques but are solidly made and can …
Furniture Refinishing – How To Tell If Your Wood Furniture is Worth It
When you find a piece of wood furniture that needs a little love, it’s really tempting to just fork over the cash and take it home as your next pet project. But wait, says woodworking expert Teri Masaschi, author of Foolproof Wood Finishing: For Those Who Love to Build & Hate to Finish. There are …
Weather Changes & Your Furniture
Wood is very sensitive to water and changes in relative humidity. As the weather changes from season to season, so does the humidity in your home and also the moisture content of your wood furniture. This situation causes the wood to expand and contract with every change in the humidity. The purpose of the finish …
CARE OF ANTIQUE FURNITURE – ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
Todays post is about the proper care of your furniture (even newer furniture) and the damage that can be caused by central heating systems. By Valerie Taplin, Air Improvement Centre Much of the damage to furniture has been caused by central heating dryness, and it makes sense to suggest that the client installs a humidifier, …
Leather Care Tips
NEVER CLEAN WITH SOAPS AND DETERGENTS – Soaps and detergents can cause the leather’s surface to break down and, in some cases, will remove color. NEVER USE OILS OR SILICONE – With continued use, oils may darken leather or soften the color, causing it to peel or wear off. Silicones cause leather to become shiny …
Clean and protect the finish on antique furniture.
The practice of caring for and restoring fine furniture has changed dramatically in recent years. Consideration now needs to be given to the preservation of original finishes and restorers are not as quick to recommend refinishing. Stripping and refinishing is no longer standard practice. The original finish is significant to historic furniture and should be …