Furniture Refinishing

Gentle Hands Restoration does furniture refinishing.

Some of the reasons to refinish furniture would be; to remove paint, a sticky finish, sun damage (sun damage can turn the old varnish a green colour), water damage,  heat damage and deep scratches.  Nowadays a lot of people are refinishing their furniture to give it a new life; renew, rejuvenate, refresh, update and just to change the colour.

A lot of people ask us “Will we destroy the value of our antique by refinishing it?“.  Our answer to that question is as follows; there are pieces of furniture out there that should not be refinished.  Examples of this would include early furniture pieces made prior to the “Industrial Revolution“, early painted pieces, and also pieces of furniture with historical significance.  If the finish is in great condition, there would be absolutely no reason to refinish it.  Sometimes I suggest to people a good coat of paste wax or bees wax on a dresser top or a small table top will help protect it a little.  It doesn’t protect as well as the newer varnishes but it does protect a little especially if it is applied yearly.

We advocate refinishing a damaged piece of furniture for a couple of reasons.  Sometimes refinishing gives new life to a piece of furniture that is deemed no longer beautiful..  In my mind it is a part of the reduce/reuse/recycle way of life.   Refinishing is a very good way of protecting a cherished piece of furniture against future damage.