Ultimate Guide to Furniture Restoration

August 1, 2011 6:43 AM

Furniture Restoration: Please give me your suggestions for books and web resources for furniture restoration.

I'm looking for a 'complete guide' to furniture restoration preferably in book form, preferably for beginners. I'm not necessarily looking for something on antiques (although that would be fine), more for something that will help me fix up old pieces. Any books or websites that you have found useful would be great. Also any suggestions for tools or supplies that you find indispensible are welcome.

posted by Busmick to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Best answer: These guys used to have a great show on WHYY in Philadelphia. I have a copy of their book and I found it very helpful. As you can see on the Amazon page, someone's selling a used copy of their book for less than a quarter! Well worth it.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:48 AM on August 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I went on a little furniture restoration kick about eight years ago, and the best books I found were Furniture Restoration Workshop and Furniture Restoration and Repair for Beginners by Kevin Jan Bonner. One was much more simple than the other, and I think, ironically, it was the one without "beginners" in the title. But between the two I felt I got a great understanding of basic techniques.

As for supplies, you don't need much. Stripper, a scraper and fine grade steel wool will take you far. I stripped the finish from a teak coffee table that had been in somebody's garage for years, then re-finished it with linseed oil. The result was pretty great. It's my understanding that finishes like french polish can be tricky, but if you can use a paintbrush, you can use linseed oil.
posted by Georgina at 7:27 AM on August 1, 2011

Best answer: I read all my furniture restoration tips online.

CentsationalGirl is a great resource. Her project gallery is a great place to start and her explanations are great with well written and photo instructions.

Design*Sponge is an awesome home design blog. They have a great before and after section where they showcase great diy projects that readers have submitted (great place for inspiration). A while ago they did a series on some basic restoration/modification tricks, see the links below:

before and after basics: dealing with veneer issues tutorial
before and after basics: masking tape designs tutorial
before and after basics: staining tips tutorial
before and after basics: polyurethane tutorial
before & after basics: stripping furniture tutorial
before & after basics: stencils tricks

Hope this helps. I know they have helped me!
posted by xicana63 at 11:29 AM on August 1, 2011 [3 favorites]