6 Steps To Restore Your Old Furniture

I’m sure you have in your attic or in your garage some old furniture, maybe a table, an armchair or a wardrobe. They look so pathetic, so you think it’s time to throw them away. Don’t do it. You don’t have any idea how precious these can be if you know how to restore them.

In this article, we will give you some simple restoration techniques to revive your old wooden furniture.

For this job you need:

  • Belt/disks sander
  • Sandpaper
  • Solvent
  • Wood stain
  • Lacquer
  • Paintbrushes.

Let’s say you have an old wooden table.

First step is to disassemble it in its parts.

Second step is to clean out the old coat of finish that covers the wood.

To take off the old finish coat we will use sandpaper. Sandpaper or glasspaper, is a heavy paper with abrasive material bonded to its surface. On the flat surfaces you can use the sander and for the corners or edges sheets of sandpaper.

Try to take off as much as possible of the old finish that covers the wood. Use for this rough sandpaper. When you think you have brought the wood to its natural condition, check if there are faults as scratches or cracks. Then, with fine sandpaper try to smooth the surfaces. To be sure there are no old spots, use solvent to degrease the wood.

Third step is to apply a coat of stain. It will protect the wood against the weather action and against the mold. The wood must be dry, clean and degrease. The wood stain must be applied in tow coats. Its drying time depends by wood’s porosity, ambient temperature and humidity. It will highlight the natural beauty of the wood, it will give decorative finish and it will accentuate the texture of the wood.

After cleaning the old finish and applying the stain, the fourth step is to give the first coat of lacquer.

Some of you can use colored lacquer or transparent one.

Using a paintbrush, follow the wood fibers while applying the lacquer. Go on like this until you cover the entire surface. If you see that, after the drying, there are air bubbles, take fine sandpaper and smooth the surface. Apply another coat of lacquer following its instructions. When you think you have finished, check again if there are no scratches, cracks or air bubbles.

Now it’s time to put all togetherthe fifth step of our job.

When you do any kind of wood works, it’s better to do it in an open space because it’s a dusty work.

The wood job it’s done.

The last- the sixth step -is to restore the tabletop.

Making a mosaic onto it, it will highlight the whole piece of furniture.

For this job you need:

  • Tile cutting machine
  • Tiles
  • Pliers
  • Copy paper
  • Scissors
  • Adhesive
  • Grout
  • Fiberglass mesh
  • Pattern.

Let’s start with cleaning the surface.

Onto the work surface we will glue fiberglass mesh. We do this, and not working directly onto the wood surface, in order not to let the grout to crack at the end.

Choose your design. Make a photocopy of it as big as the mosaic platform.

Using copy paper, copy the pattern onto the fiberglass mesh.

Now, that you have drawn your pattern onto the working platform, use a pair of scissors to cut the design from the paper in pieces.

Choose the tiles for your mosaic project. Be sure they are all at the same measure.

With the tile cutting machine, cut the tiles in pieces as big as possible as the pieces from your pattern. Draw onto the tile the pattern piece that you have just cut. With a pair of pliers, cut out around the line.

Go on like this until you finish all your design. Now, check if the pieces match again as in your initial pattern. If it’s so, start gluing them onto the fiberglass mesh, where you have just did the drawing.

Put the same amount of adhesive onto each piece of your mosaic and push hard towards the working surface while fixing them. Go on like this until you finish with all your pieces.

Now, that your mosaic is finished, let the adhesive dry before starting grouting it.

With a float or even with gloved hands, spread the grout onto the mosaic from the centre towards the border. Let it rest for a couple of minutes, and with a wet sponge, try to clean it. Don’t worry if you dirt it. With some cloth you will easily take away all the grout dust.

In the end, if you are a demanding person, you can apply a coat of transparent lacquer onto the mosaic surface. It will revive the colors, it will equalize the surface and it will protect it against any kind of faults.

Great job.

Aren’t you amazed by the results?

There is nothing more rewarding that the feeling that you have when you know you did something by yourself.