So, you've scored an amazing deal on a vintage lacquered cabinet or a pair of painted chairs, but the finish is faded and cracked. Do you have your furniture refinished or do you leave it alone and embrace its time-worn patina?
If you want to preserve the value of your antique, it's almost always best to leave the finish alone. If the finish is original to the piece, it's an intrinsic part of the furniture's worth. If the finish is not original, it probably won't affect the value.
Don't lacquer over the paint to keep it from peeling, don't touch it up with anything, and don't use oil on the surface. (Clear paste wax is OK for wood.) If you really want to fix the finish, you can take it to a professional restorer, but even having the finish restored carries the chance of a decrease in value.
If your furniture is a thrift store find and you don't care about its value, then the choice is yours. Leave it as-is, strip it, or repaint it, depending on the look you're going for. For stained wood pieces, you can try Restor-A-Finish or Feed-N-Wax. To paint a piece, follow these steps.
One thing we often find is that worn finishes can add some contrast and depth to a home, so we suggest living with vintage furniture as-is for a couple of weeks before altering it. You might warm up to the imperfections in the finish.
For more advice, see these links:
• Preserving the Finish (and Value) of Antique Furniture
• Great Products: Restor-A-Finish and Feed-N-Wax
• How To: Restore a Fiberglass Shell Chair
The Ultimate Used Furniture Cleaning Kit
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Just looked up the Restore-A-Finish MSDS sheet. It contains ethyl benzene, a known carcinogen. Don't think I want that absorbed in my furniture. The Feed-n-Wax, however, is non-toxic.
I have a hoosier-style cabinet with the original stenciled motif on the upper cabinet doors, but the flaking paint around the stenciling is hardly even attached anymore. Is it still best to leave it as is and just be very careful with those doors?
My mom and I got a $39, 6 person dining table from a thrift store in a beautiful dark cherry finish. It was really scratched up, which is why it was so cheap. And on the ride home, it got scratched up even more! At first it really bothered us. But now, I've come to love the visible travels that poor table has taken. And we certainly don't worry about that first scratch or ding that we would have had we bought new!
eemalee, if you're worried about lowering the value of your piece, you can read this article from the antiques roadshow for more specific advice for period furniture.
I know an artist who makes extra money on the side distressing furniture. That means that you can pay to get a new table banged up until it resembles the articles above. Whatever folks decide to do with the pieces above depends on their own preferences, but, if they leave them as is, they can take comfort in knowing that in some places, people spend money to transform a piece of furniture to that condition.
This post reminds me of what I saw at the Alameda Flea Market on Sunday. I saw several vendors that had repainted vintage furniture and most of it was done incorrectly it just looked really off and so phony it was obvious they just took a spray can of off white or blue paint then slightly distressed it. I thought ok this trend is starting to get tired.
I am not against repainting wood sometimes its a big improvement especially mass produced furniture that you picked up from a thrift store in bad condition why not.
Its starting to feel like too many people have jumped on this band wagon of paint everything white or blue some have pulled it off and others make it look down right tacky.
What is going to happen to all of these painted pieces when we get tired of them. Will they then end up in land fills with more toxins?
I experimented painting a salvage yard chair find white its been two months of sitting with it and I am already tired of looking at it.
Where my wood pieces of furniture that I have had for 20 years I would not trade for anything and they just keep getting better.
Just thinking out loud here, does anyone else agree?
I was in a showroom down in Brooklyn a few weeks ago and the beautiful mix of slick and worn finishes. It really made for an interesting space.
You can't have everything "as is" if "as is" is worn and shabby. But a mix of finishes is great.
If the item has substantial value, don't touch it. (If it's something major, like a cabinet missing a leg, you likely won't hurt the value by sending it to a skilled restoration shop to get a new leg.)
if it's just a thrift shop find, and is pretty to you, but not substantially valuable, you might as well do what you want.
but for true antiques, even something as simple as polishing a pair of antique brass candle sticks, devalues the items.