Refurbishing Vintage Furniture?

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I have a love for all things mid-century when it comes to furniture. Heywood Wakefield, aqua, chartreuse, fiberglass lampshades, and all that kitschy delight.

I was lucky enough to buy an apartment-ful of this type of stuff for about $75. Some of it is in very bad condition, in particular an aqua vinyl convertible couch. Was wondering if anyone has any before/after pictures of refurbished furniture, and if anyone in Southern California has recommendations for someone who can re-do the couch for me, that would be great too!

 

[dhermann1]

I think Pink Dahlia had a gorgeous 50's sofa that she had entirely reupholstered a year or two ago. You might give her a yell. Haven't seen her here in a while.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The most difficult part of any refurb job is re-tying the springs -- depending on the condition of your pieces you might not need to do that, but most vintage furniture tends to have spring troubles, and as long as you're going to have the fabric off, it's worth fixing them.

I'm in the process of re-springing my own hand-me-down Victorian couch -- springs is springs, regardless of the era -- and found a very helpful tutorial here.

If you do tackle the springs, it helps to have two people -- one to hold the springs in place while you tack or tie.

 

[KittyT]

springs is springs, regardless of the era

Unless they are zigzag/S springs. Those are dangerous to replace yourself and it is not recommended.

Bella, I'm totally jealous of your find! But not jealous of the refurbishing job. It's a pain in the ass, and expensive - it will probably cost you as much to have that couch reupholstered as you could buy a "new" one for.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Yeah. The springs are fine, and I got lots of stuff for almost nothing. It's not in bad shape physically, but cosmetically it is. I figure getting it reupholstered will cost around $400. In the meantime I'll live with it as-is, unless I can do it more cheaply.

 

[MikeBravo]

You make me feel so young,

You make me feel so "Spring has sprung"

Sorry, somebody had to do it

 

[TM]

I'm presently cleaning up some wood furniture of the 1950's/1960's vintage. I find that using Formby's Deep Cleaning Build-up remover, with 0000 steel wool is really good for removing surface wax and crud. Here's the link:

http://www.formbys.com/products/buildup_remover.cfm

But after I clean, and do some sanding (as some pieces are rather scratched), I'm not sure what to follow up with. Lemon Oil? Tung Oil? Wax? Varnish?

Too many choices and too many contradictory opinions.

Lately I've been attracted to Walnut Oil (boiled, not raw as a food product). It is supposed to sink in and moisturize while also forming a hard, water resistant surface. Supposed to be really good for wooden kitchen implements.

Any opinions out there?

Thanks!

Tony

 

[fashion frank]

This Thread Needs A Kick in The Pants

Over the summer I restored some very nice items for my new vintage home.

I found the serpentine table in the trash and it has the " tiger saw cut " to the oak and it has serpentine wings on each side of the lower level.


My wife has turned it into a liquor table for our dining room table .






Then my pal next door gave me this victorian hat ,mirror ,umbrella stand for my front foyer .





The end result!

It was made by a Boston furniture maker around 1865 1880 untill he went out of business .
It was actually broken in half and I took it to work (I work in a carpenter shop ) and joined it and then had the glazers cut me a mirror for it and the rest is history.
I have a few more chairs that are both over a hundred years old that are next to be done in the spring.

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[Shangas]

Frank, I love that hall stand (Yes, that is their actual name) very much! I always wish I could have one.

 

[John Galt]

Great job at bringing these back to life for the next century!

 

[fashion frank]

Thanks for the Input

Frank, I love that hall stand (Yes, that is their actual name) very much! I always wish I could have one.

Hey thanks pal for informing me on that ,as I didn't know what you would call it .
It also has a metal rain catch pan that goes in the bottom of it .

The pan is cast iron and was so rusty it took a while to clean it up and repaint it .
Thats how I found out the maker, his name was diecast in the pan " C. Blake - Boston Mass".

I did a google search and found him listed in a Boston business directory that was scanned and put up on the internet circa 1800's and it told about him an Irishman who came over and made it rich.

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[Foxer55]

Man I just love people who make things nice again. Cheers and hats off to you Frank!

 

[Foxer55]

Fashion Frank,

I would like to know a bit more about how you made those finishes. Obviously you busted your tail getting the old finish off with sandpaper, steel wool, paint remover, whatever, sweat and work. Then you laid down a stain followed by polyurethane(?). Did you do that with brush or spray?

I have an old dresser I'm getting ready to redo. It has a commercial finish on it, one of those finishes that don't take well to repair. Its good solid wood but will need to be taken down all the way first.

 

[fashion frank]

Fashion Frank,

I would like to know a bit more about how you made those finishes. Obviously you busted your tail getting the old finish off with sandpaper, steel wool, paint remover, whatever, sweat and work. Then you laid down a stain followed by polyurethane(?). Did you do that with brush or spray?

I have an old dresser I'm getting ready to redo. It has a commercial finish on it, one of those finishes that don't take well to repair. Its good solid wood but will need to be taken down all the way first.

Hello Foxer ,nice to meet you first and foremost.
Depending on the furniture that you might be working on ,then it might follow the few different methods that I use.

For example if the furniture is in pretty good shape otherwise then I might just take some 220 grit sandpaper, lightly sand it and then just poly it .

Also with the above stated if I want it to match a color of another item then I just stain it to that color like what I did with the sperentine table ,it would have looked better with a light color like Pecan to bring out the " tiger stripes " of the bias saw cut , but my wife wanted it the dining room so I stained it mahogany to match.

Now for example the hall stand as I informed it is called, I had to put this "goop" on it ,you let it sit then scrape it off with a putty knife, then " wash " it with a afterwash and steel wool.

Then I sand it down with lighter and lighter grades of paper.
Then when its down to the bare wood I stain it , poly it, BUT in between coats of poly I sand it with like 320 grit ,wipe it with a tack cloth and do it several times more ,then the finish comes out like glass.

Also after staining I make the first coat a coat of wood sealer ,its like poly but locks the poors of the wood shut so it wont "drink" up the poly.
Thats about it , feel free to ask me any questions and again nice to meet you.

All the Best , Fashion Frank

P.S. I almost forgot I always use a good camel hair brush no spray .

 

[Shangas]

Hey thanks pal for informing me on that ,as I didn't know what you would call it .
It also has a metal rain catch pan that goes in the bottom of it .

The pan is cast iron and was so rusty it took a while to clean it up and repaint it .
Thats how I found out the maker, his name was diecast in the pan " C. Blake - Boston Mass".

I did a google search and found him listed in a Boston business directory that was scanned and put up on the internet circa 1800's and it told about him an Irishman who came over and made it rich.

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

It's a beautiful restoration. I would like to see what the whole stand looks like, sans 'ornaments' to see it in its entire beuaty.

 

[fashion frank]

It's a beautiful restoration. I would like to see what the whole stand looks like, sans 'ornaments' to see it in its entire beuaty.

Im on my way to work some overtime but when I get home after my kids birthday party I'll take a few shots of it naked.
Thanks for the kodos and intrest!

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[vitanola]

I'm presently cleaning up some wood furniture of the 1950's/1960's vintage. I find that using Formby's Deep Cleaning Build-up remover, with 0000 steel wool is really good for removing surface wax and crud. Here's the link:

http://www.formbys.com/products/buildup_remover.cfm

But after I clean, and do some sanding (as some pieces are rather scratched), I'm not sure what to follow up with. Lemon Oil? Tung Oil? Wax? Varnish?

Too many choices and too many contradictory opinions.

Lately I've been attracted to Walnut Oil (boiled, not raw as a food product). It is supposed to sink in and moisturize while also forming a hard, water resistant surface. Supposed to be really good for wooden kitchen implements.

Any opinions out there?

Thanks!
Tony

Well, 1950's and 1960's furniture was generally finished with nitrocellulose lacquer, a sprit varnish which formed a hard coating. These lacquers e often tinted or toned. Any oil applied over the surface will tend to further damage the surface over the long term.

For minor scratches one can take a lint free cloth just dampened with a 50/50 mixture of lacquer thinner and Naptha (or Paint Thinner, or Turps) and gently rub the piece, first across and then with the grain. This will soften the original lacquer and re-distribute it, filling the scrtches. Be careful not to fully dissolve the lacquer or you will end up with a gummy mess.

More heavily damaged surfaces require more extreme treatment. Clean the surface with Mineral Spirits and then brush over the surface with Lacquer Thinner. Brush with the grain, using a good quality natural bristle brush. Allow the thinner to elaborate and the finish to harden. Repeat if necessary to fully fill the scratches. Finish with a final coat of new lacquer, either aerosol or brushing, which is then wet sanded with 600 and then 2000 grit paper before waxing.

The above process will become very quick with practice, and will allow a careful worker to do virtually umdetectiable repairs to most mid-century commercial finishes, in fact to most commercial finishes applied to furniture sold between 1925 and 1980.

 

[fashion frank]

Im on my way to work some overtime but when I get home after my kids birthday party I'll take a few shots of it naked.
Thanks for the kodos and intrest!

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

This is for Shangas ,sorry it took so long for me to postthis as I told you about two weeks ago that i would but have been very busy.
Here are some shots of the Hall stand "naked" .





In this last shot I took a closeup of the rain catch basin ,if you look closely you can see the words "C Blake " on the left side of the pan and on the right "Boston Mass." in the basin ,thats how I found out who made it .

At first there was so much rust you didnt even know that the words were there .
The original paint, after I got down thru the rust was a ulgy "public school green" so I painted it with rust proof black paint.



All the Best,Fashion Frank

 

[Shangas]

That is beautiful. Compact, but beautiful. You must be very proud to have restored such a fine piece.