Image Courtesy: Interior Designer, Mamta Naik

Well, it all depends on the condition of your furniture. And that can only be determined by the experts. So don't give your furniture for refurbishing to any carpenter at all. You must find a professional who specialises in restoring antique furniture.

Also Read: Why Carpenters Ruin Style

Here is the step-by-step process of restoring antique furniture.

1. Scrape and Sand

The first thing that needs to be done is the scraping and sanding down of the piece. And this means every single part from the inside out. This ensures that the piece of furniture is thoroughly clean from all kinds of external dirt and dust. Also it helps smooth the surface completely.

Scraping and sanding needs to be done properly especially if someone has painted the furniture. The paint needs to be thoroughly removed from the furniture surface.

Also Read: Buffed and Beautiful

2. Repair

The next thing is to repair the piece. For instance, if an antique chair is left with only three legs, a fourth one needs to be made.

This can only be done by skilful carpenter. Moreover, only an experienced carpenter would know the exact kind of wood that the chair is made of. So if your chair has been made of Burma teak, the fourth leg will have to be carved out of the same Burma teak.

Another thing that needs to be done in this step is restoring the material. Very often wooden furniture that has been left exposed to sunlight and rain develops cracks. The cracks might be such that they cannot be filled up with wood. In this case a material known as wood hardener (janta paste) is used. Once this substance dries the wood is as good as new.