To restore or not to restore. That is the question

This late Victorian burr walnut centre table was almost declined for restoration as the top was extremely damaged. Totally destroyed finish caused by moisture and the lifting of large parts of veneer prooved to be a real challenge.

However after totally stripping the top and relaying the veneer, the whole piece was stripped ,cleaned and repolished. Missing veneers were replaced and coloured out to match the surrounding timbers before the whole piece was waxed. It was a challenge but paid off in the end

Polishing a mahogany dining table

This is quite an unusual table. on first appearances it looks like a standard reproduction regency style D ended table with an additional leaf, but after working on it for some time i came to the decision that it is a well constructed hand made table. The inlay in the top is quite unusual and very effective, being strung in ebony with pointed corner motifs. The table had to be stripped prior to French polishing and waxing. There were some problems with the central leaf being darker, probably due to the sun fading the outer leaves when it was not extended. This was overcome by tinting the French polish and slightly toning down the outer leaves

This mahogany card table was in pretty good condition and just needed some cleaning up. The top swivells and opens up to expose a green baize surface. Dating from around the early 1900`s this is a pretty example of a useful table.

Bringing back the beauty of old furniture

Hi, and thank you for visiting this blog. I have decided that I would like to share with you some of what I have learnt over the past 35 years dealing with the restoration and re polishing of antique furniture. Over the following weeks I hope to share with you many aspects of the furniture restoration industry including buying, fixing and polishing old furniture. For a more in depth view of what we do at riverside restorations  please visit our main site at  Cornwall Furniture Restoration

Cleaning and re baizing a rosewood card table

This early nineteenth century rosewood card table was purchased in very good condition, except for some minor blemishes around the base. Unfortunately the baize was the worse for wear and needed to be replaced. Deep blue baize goes well with rosewood. After minor repairs the table was then lightly cleaned and re polished and finally waxed

Restoration of antique Windsor chair

An old chair repair

This early nineteenth century Windsor chair had suffered much damage to the extent that the back arm joint had been severely weakened ,resulting in this somewhat basic repair probably carried out about 50 years ago.After dismantling the old repair ans cleaning, the joint was repaired by sandwiching the horizontal wooden rail between two metal plates. The repair was then filled and coloured in as you can see in the image.

The chair after restoration

Restoring a country chair

This late nineteenth century elm and beech chair is one of a set of eight, and although it is not one of my favourite styles, this chair is very comfortable to sit in. It has had a very rough life and has been restored quite severely. The loose joints had been fixed with nails which caused problems when dissassembling the frame. There is also some signs of worm. After taking the joints apart the old glue was cleaned off before reassembling and gluing cramping. The chair was then treated for worm and cleaned down using some mild solvent. The chair areas was then stained and  given a thin coat of french polish. Finally the chair was rubbed down and waxed.