refinishing furniture

SO has a gorgeous dining room table that was his dad's grandparent's. The chairs look outdated, but if he refinishes the table and buys some new chairs, I think he should keep it. It's a piece of history and I think it would be a shame to just get rid of.

Anyone know where I can get it professionally refinished, or how much it might be?

Re: refinishing furniture

There are businesses that do this -- strip the old finish and you can refinish or they will. I'm sure you could find it in the phonebook.

Instead of ditching the chairs, could you re-upholster them? Or change what looks outdated? If they are that old, he might be able to sell them.

Re: refinishing furniture

True about the selling them...

The chairs are just not very modern- they have a round back. They look like they'd be more fitting in a country style kitchen. Maybe I can post a picture. They don't have upholstery. I'd like to buy some more streamlined, modern looking chairs to match the table. The table is just square with thick, beautifully carved legs.

Hopefully it's not too expensive, I'm going to call tomorrow.

It's my dream to refinish it to a beautiful mahogany. Transporting it to the store will be a challenge though.

Re: refinishing furniture

I've looked for a few pieces of older furniture on ebay and I'm always surprised what people will pay for. Maybe that would help pay for the new chairs.

Sounds like a fun project! Please post some before and after photos. Do you know what kind of wood it is?

Re: refinishing furniture

Nellie you are brilliant! You're full of so many good ideas.

Hopefully they sell though.

And hopefully my SO will agree to it! My understanding is that he was going to get ride of it anyway because it's so old, but it has hidden beauty that I see in it. Plus it's special.

I'm not sure what type of wood it is, but it's like a golden chestnut color now (if that's an actual color...I don't know).

I will post pictures, I'll try to take some tomorrow.

Re: refinishing furniture

I've just been looking at furniture on ebay otherwise I wouldn't have a clue.

My friend is letting me borrow her grandparents dining room table and chairs and buffet. After they passed away, she couldn't bear to sell the table and no one else in the family needed it. She has been storing it in her mom's basement for the last 5 years or so. Her mom is moving and we moved into a bigger house so she let us borrow it. I'm pretty sure she will sell it to us. I've been looking at similar pieces on ebay to get a feel for a fair price. And my grandmother recently gave me two of her chairs that I love. I've tried looking for those to determine the era. My grandmother thinks she still has receipt in a binder....somewhere. Her basement scares me.

I hope it works out for you! It can be a overused phrase -- but they don't make things like they used to.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: refinishing furniture

Our dining room set is a hand me down, we stripped it and refinished it shortly after we moved here. It was A LOT of work and two of the chairs are still sitting in the garage partially stripped. But the table was a piece of cake to do ourselves, the chairs were hard b/c of all of the detail on them.

Re: refinishing furniture

Oh my gosh, I tried to refinish an entryway table myself. It's really small and I thought if I just sprayed the stripper on, I'd wipe away the varnish like in the TV commercial. It was the most tedious, difficult thing I ever got into- so much sanding, scraping, more sanding, even more sanding, wiping, then attempting to get the stain on evenly. What a nightmare. After 8 hours of work, we realized the stain was the wrong color and we really wanted to paint the table black to match the mirror. All that work for nothing.

Point being, I will never try to refinish anything myself, it was a nightmare.

But that's cool that you were able to do your own table Cheri!

Re: refinishing furniture

So it will cost me about $600 to refinish the dining room table, and if I refinished the chairs, they would cost $150 a piece. Most places have free pickup and delivery. And everyone comments on how much better quality old furniture is than the stuff they make these days. One lady called antique wood furniture "gold."

I think I will invest in this piece.... I better start saving!

[moonlight]

Re: refinishing furniture

I'm so glad you are going to hang onto the table and have it professionally refinished! It's so nice to go into someone's home and have a piece that is passed down several generations. You won't be sorry you invested the time and money into it!!

My MIL about 15 years ago (way before I was around) had a dinning room table, China cabinet, chairs, and buffet table (matching set) from her grandmother. I so HOPE someday we end up with the set. Anyways, she had the whole set professionally refinished. Unfortunately there was a miscommunication between her and the company. When she first got the furniture back it was not the color she was expecting and had to send it back to have them re do it. I guess my advice would be very specific on what you want once you decide on the exact finish.

Re: refinishing furniture

Are you doing the chairs too?

I think that $600 will be money well spent. There is no way you can find a table that nice for the same price.