Refinishing antique furniture

[woodpecker]

Antique furniture fascinates me; I inherited a few pieces recently. They look a bit shabby, and I do not know if I ought to refinish them or just give them a minimum of cleaning. I have read that refinishing antique furniture can drastically reduce its value as an antique. What would you suggest? How do I find out whether my furniture requires refinishing or not?

 

[heretoday]

The question here is...

I share your fascination with antique furniture. My husband had a Godmother who owned a little antique shop down near Palm Springs and he tells me that from what he learned from her you must ask yourself this question: is the value of the pieces to be determined by their sentimental value to you personally (you said you inherited them) or their market value if you intend to sell them? If sentimental and you plan to keep and use the pieces, I say refinish them however it suits your taste. But if you're thinking of selling the pieces get them appraised before you do anything else to them.

 

[alaine]

I suppose it would lower the value. However, if its looking shabby then you may want to refinish them just so you can enjoy them. There are ways to restore antique furniture and keep true to the way the originally looked with restoration. You could get some good suggestions from a local antique dealer. I'm sure they've had to restore pieces before.

 

[WoodChuck1]

Yes, if you start messing with them they definitely will lose their value. Not to mention if you enjoy antiques it will lose a lot of it's vintage appeal (at least in my opinion). I do a lot of furniture refinishing and have always never done more then what it takes to preserve a piece if I am working with something vintage or antique.

That is obviously you call though. You inherited it and if you have no intention of trying to sell it in the future then no worries and by all means do with it what you want.

 

[SageMother]

I would opt for a good cleaning.

Some of the beauty of older pieces is the type of wood used and the techniques used to create the piece.

Stripping and refinishing could remove much of that character.

 

[woodywoodpecker]

I'd just opt for the cleaning too. Part of the charm of antiques is that they don't look "new". Shabby chic is still "in" so just clean it well and make sure you use a product so that the furniture doesn't dry out. Big cracks are horrid in an antique piece, ruining not only the value but the look of the piece.

 

[Kitten]

Yeah, it really depends on what you're hoping for. If you just like the furniture and want to restore it to what it used to look like, then go ahead. If you appreciate it as an antique, hope to sell it in the future as an antique, want to keep that antique-y feel, then definitely just go with a good cleaning instead.

 

[Woodyoumind?]

I really like the shabby chic look of old furniture so I usually just leave it as is. It "feels" real to me that way and I don't want to destroy the value of the piece. Even if I want to "new" it up, what will happen if my children want to sell it when I pass away. Furniture usually lasts longer than we do-at least quality furniture does!

 

[heretoday]

I can appreciate what you mean about the "feel" of shabby chic. How do I explain it, it is almost a specific level of softness that the surface of the furniture has, along with a certain warmth. Very tactile.

 

[Woodyoumind?]

Yeah, that describes it really nicely. I don't like that brand new, straight out of the box look that new furniture has. I'd rather have something that has a little bit of history to it.