Antique Furniture Restoration & Repair FAQs

The edge banding of this table was severely damaged.

Before

After

Before

After

Why Restore Antique Furniture?

There are generally two good reasons why a piece should be restored.

Sentimental value is probably the most common reason for restoring a piece of furniture.

An old rocker may never have been that expensive, but when it was the one your mom or grandmother rocked you to sleep as a child, well, you can't put a value on those memories, they are priceless.

The other reason for restoring a piece is to enhance its value.

A broken piece of furniture is probably worthless and in fact, its owner may incur a cost to have it removed. Restoration will restore value. What that value may be is a more difficult question.

The best way to determine whether the restoration will be "worth it" is to compare the cost of the restoration to the full replacement cost of a new piece - of the same quality. Frequently, the cost of a restoration to original condition will be anywhere from one quarter to one half the cost of replacing the piece (this assumes there are no major structural issues). If a piece needs only "touch ups," the cost may be even lower.

For commercial settings where appearances are very important, restorations can be very cost effective. Not only is the restoration much less expensive than replacing worn pieces, the work can be performed in the evenings or on weekends, making it much less disruptive than a full move might be.