Now this is Furniture baby..

So one of my last blogs I was pointing out how bad new furniture is. So today I thought I would pop a couple of examples of what a really nice antique piece can become with a little work.
So the picture on the left is a restored Victorian era Eastlake dresser.

On the lower right is how I found it. I picked this up at a house sale for something like 50 bucks. House sales are always a great way to pick old pieces up. Most people want or need to sell what they have so you can alway get something for cheap. I usually hit them on the last day to get a good price (or for free sometimes).

Anyway a couple of things to think about when looking at buying something like this. Make sure it has all the pieces, things like the molding, wooden drawer pulls etc. Metal pulls are easier to replace, but if your missing a wooden bit and you can't fabricate news one, you'll have to bring it to me then $$$.

This was a great score, because it had most of its pieces and its a good antique. The body is solid Walnut, not something you will find in anything new. Its an easy finish to remove so stripping is a brezze and the construction on these pieces is usually fantastic.

What I decided to do on this piece was a simple oil & wax finish, something you could do at home. Its a nice natural look and it only it takes minutes to do.

Instead of me rehashing the how to part, i suggest you go to one of my old blogs (the danish modren one) here is a link http://tinyurl.com/38ng69 it covers all the how to of an oil finish.

So I worked on this pieces for a total of 8 hrs over a couple of days. It cost 50-clams to buy and about 40 in supplies and now will sell in my shop for about 650.00. Its funny, so for about a 100 bucks and 8 to 12 hours of your timer you could have this. Or you could bring it to me and I will restore it for 850.00.

Or for 1800 bucks you could have this piece of pretty compressed paper! that will expand for you when you add a little water..

STOP don't buy that new furniture, get an antique !

Please stop buying new furniture. This will be a quick blog but i hope it makes you think.. I repair and restore furniture for a living right, so i see allot of things.

Here is quick look at a brand new "Lane" desk (1800.00 new). It was dropped off a moving truck landing on its leg. No the leg didn't break the side piece broke.

It cracked open like a pinyatta at a birthday, but instead of candy all that came out was paper.

Yes paper, its crazy but this brand new piece of "fine furniture" was nothing but mahogany veneer on Masonite or pressed paper.. Check out the picture, its sad.

So before you buy new consider buy a used piece of furniture and restoring it. Anything pre 1980 will be better then anything made today. Think about this; you will pay or can pay 2k and up for just a good quality dining room table. For 1000,00 you can buy a complete used dining room set you can restore it for less then a whole new dining room set and you will still have a better quality set for cheaper.

But If you do decide to buy new no worries the chairman can fix it..

tic toc here is the finished clock

It been so so long, I know you have been waiting to see what happened to that clock! Well here it is! Enjoy.. Goto my last blog to see the "before" pictures

At the end of the day we had a beautifully restored and perfectly working Victorian clock!

Antiques Guy Gone Wild

Happy 4th O’ July! Woo Hoo! Sorry for the false advert title.
I wanted to pop in for a bit and do a little writing, point out some changes to my blog., as well as, talk about a piece I picked up this week.

On the right I added some picture badges. These badges will feature pictures of pieces I have restored, I’m selling and some of the funky stuff around my shop. If you click on them, you can go to my flickr page and see every thing up close. The flickr page is probably the best place to see current pieces for sale as my web site doesn’t get updated to often… go figure.
Here is a great little piece for the week. It’s a sweet little Rosewood Empire Mantel clock. We will be doing the full Monty on this one. Right now I am in the process of chasing down an estimate for the clock repair. My old clock guy was a retired guy, that now has really retired.

It so funny how many of my sub contractors are retired folk that have found pleasure in odd furniture repair stuff. Bill P. the caner/rusher, Mr. Lynch the clock fixer and Mr. Lee the veneer repair/Carver-guy. Its really a cast of characters around the shop, not to mention the random folks that drop by to chew the fat. I really dig all the great old random stories.

So here are a few pictures of the clock to be restored. It should be a relatively easy job. All it needs is a minor veneer repair and then refinishing. Hopefully the clock isn’t to far gone and can be repaired.

On that last note, “The Cast Characters”, I was at a customers the other day, the custies were both telling me how I need my own antique restoration show. They said, they thought I would be perfect so please tell anyone you know the produces at the discovery channel or on one of those home improvement channels. It would be great to harass Martha Stewart every now & again. Come on, a 37 year old tattooed antique guy… It would be perfect. I even come with my own natural eccentricities. I don’t have to make anything up. I’ve even heard it’s pretty entertaining to watch me reprimand my poor little helper. So have your people contact my people, well I don’t have people, so contact me.

Happy 4th,
Chairman