Quality antique furniture refinishing (Huntsville, Decatur: school, cabinet, living in)

[Katsmeeyow]

My DH bought an antique china cabinet from a "friend". The guy was supposed to refinish it for my birthday - TWO YEARS AGO - but decided to take the money and do nothing. *sigh*. We finally, at least, have the cabinet, but it is halfway sanded down. I have all the pieces and it is really a beautifully made piece of furniture. Does anyone know where I might go to have this restored? It is very ornate and has so many tiny details. Any ideas on who might do this type of work? Thanks!

[Southlander]

Do NOT take it to Barrett Upholstery in Decatur.
They took a hardrock maple endtable I had from the late 1940s and broke the top. True, I had forgotten about it for 2 years, but still. I went by one day and asked where my table was....about 15 minutes later they came back out and said they found it, would finish it up and call me.
The only reason I found out that they had broken it was that they often had my father-in-law fix furniture for them. He told me they had broken it, and told them that he had let me know.

I got finally got the piece back, fixed, but with a butt-ugly staining and sealing job. They charged me nothing.
Valley Upholstery (in Flint) re-did some antique furniture (nothing really fancy, though) for some Decatur friends who were living in New Orleans when Katrina came through. They had water in their up about 2 or 3 feet up the wall of the first floor. Valley did a really good job and charge a reasonable amount.

If it's a really detailed piece, you might want to visit several places and take a couple of photographs with you.

[Katsmeeyow]

Thanks for the info, and the idea of taking pictures and getting quotes! I hadn't thought of that.

[Reactionary]

Richard Davis at Woodpride, 1209 Meridian Street (Meridian at ~Oakwood ~across from Lincoln School), Huntsville

They have repaired / restored / refinished several pieces of furniture for me over the years - always done a fantastic job (at times performing near miracles), fairly quickly, reasonably priced (but not cheap). For example I just (Friday) picked up an old mahogany secretary desk they restored (repair / refinish / new old hardware) - it took them less than 2 weeks - cost $325 - looks better than ever.

[Katsmeeyow]

Thanks Reactionary! I will definitely get a quote from them!

[Keim]

You could try doing it yourself. Not all that hard to do. I can recommend "The Furniture Doctor" by George Grotz if you go this route. Good book.

[Katsmeeyow]

Thanks Keim, but this piece of furniture is very ornate, and I would need all sorts of dremel tools and bits to be able to sand all the tiny places. It would take me years, probably! LOL I am interested in looking at that book though! Thanks!

[Keim]

Originally Posted by Katsmeeyow

Thanks Keim, but this piece of furniture is very ornate, and I would need all sorts of dremel tools and bits to be able to sand all the tiny places. It would take me years, probably! LOL I am interested in looking at that book though! Thanks!

My pleasure. The book opened the door to an enjoyable hobby for me.

You might be surprised how easy it is to refinish furniture. Many old finishes come off easily when attacked with the right combination of thinners, etc. I'll bet you could do a good job with the right removing agents, some steel wool and a good toothbrush-probably cost less than $50 to do the entire piece. The book describes what to use for different finishes. I stripped and finished a fairly simple walnut bed in an easy weekend. A somewhat detailed walnut dresser that required some re-gluing took a few weekends.

You'd want to be very careful with sanding, and rarely or never use a power tool, as you risk damaging the patina.

Anyhow, you certainly know what is best for your needs. The book is highly informative, and entertainingly written. I've used it a lot. Hope you enjoy it.

[Katsmeeyow]

See? I didn't know that about using a power tool. LOL I think on this one, I better have a pro - I really want it Perfect! Maybe I could start on an easier piece first!

[juliet108]

Final Finish
(256) 883-7776
200 Kohler Rd SE, Huntsville, AL 35803


He did an entire antique dining room suite of mine. Everything looks great and I'm really happy with the results. I don't know anything about the price because my Dad handled the details. The only complaint is that one of the dining room chairs only had one arm (the other was broken and missing). We asked him to make a new arm. He had finished and returned the rest of the dining suite, but it took a LONG time and lots of calls before that last chair was finished. He even picked up and delivered the furniture for us, which was a nice plus.