Vintage, antique, restored and artisan furniture from the best stores of Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. We repair, refinish and restore antique and modern furniture. We also upholster, cane and rush chairs. Click the images for examples. Antique Corner & Good Wood Restoration Your one stop shop to buy, sell, and restore. Cane and Rush Replacement The pictures below show a restored 1920's walnut dining set. We refinish by hand. This is important because dipping can dissolve glue joints and loosen veneer. An important note on Refinishing Refinishing increases the value of almost all vintage and antique furniture. The exeptions are pieces dating back at least 150 years or with special finishes such as fumed oak which can be harmed by refinishing. We will tell you if your piece is one of these. We all want functional furniture that looks great, not too glossy and plastic. Veneered furniture is not necessarily inferior.
Veneer has been used for hundreds of years to showcase the grain of various woods--oak, walnut, mahogany, maple--all with distinctive grain patterns. If necessary we can duplicate or replace pulls, knobs, and handles Re-Glue chairs, tables, drawers, etc. We all want furniture that is sturdy and functions without hassle or problems. We can re-glue or if necessary dowel or replace broken parts. Repair, Repurpose and Rejoice! What are you needs? Refinish Wooden Doors and Mantels Leaded and Stained Glass Repair We pick up and deliver. Special or Unique Items If you need items with specialized dimensions or a specific style of furniture, 26058 Center Ridge Road We currently have 497 pieces in our store. In order to find your desired antiques, use our search engine in THE ONLINE CATALOG OF OUR ANTIQUE BAZAAR. Here you can find exactly what you are looking for – furniture, desks, bookcases, closets, periodic styles, classical pieces and much more.
When you want to refinish old wooden furniture, the best place to look is the family storeroom: Check the attic, basement, garage, or wherever unwanted furniture has collected. You may also discover a real antique or two -- pieces handed down through the family for generations. Other good sources are secondhand stores, household auctions, and garage sales. With furniture, as with anything else, one person's junk is another another's treasure. Antique stores are a good place to find furniture to refinish, but expect to pay for these pieces. If you're interested in antiques, recent or old, research before you buy anything. Real antiques and many reproductions are extremely valuable, but there are also many imitations. If you aren't sure an antique is really antique, pay for an expert opinion. Never buy an antique, or try to refinish it, until you know what you have. In this article, we'll discuss how to assess whether a piece of furniture is an antique and whether it is worth saving through the refinishing process.
There are many different styles of furniture, and each type has distinguishing features. For the most part, the furniture you'll encounter will probably be limited to traditional English and American Colonial styles; you aren't likely to find a Louis XV chair at a garage sale. The basic English and American styles run the gamut from ornate to severely functional, from massive to delicate. Just remember, if you like it, the style is right. Technically, an antique is a piece of furniture with special value because of its age, particularly those pieces embellished with fine artistry. The age factor is subjective: general antique stores label objects 50 years or older as antiques. Fine antique dealers consider objects 150 years and older to be antique. In the East, an antique is Queen Anne or earlier; in the West, it's any piece of furniture that came across the mountains in a wagon. A southern antique is a piece made before the Civil War. Wherever you look, it's a sure bet that you won't find a genuine antique from 1500 or 1600.
What you may find is a genuine reproduction, and these can be extremely valuable. There are several ways you can spot an antique. The first giveaway is the joinery; machine-cut furniture wasn't made until about 1860. If the piece has drawers, remove a drawer and look closely where the front and back of the drawer are fastened to the sides of the drawer. If a joint was dovetailed by hand, it has only a few dovetails, and they aren't exactly even; if it has closely spaced, precisely cut dovetails, it was machine-cut. Handmade dovetails almost always indicate a piece made before 1860. Look carefully at the bottom, sides, and back of the drawer; if the wood shows nicks or cuts, it was probably cut with a plane, a spokeshave, or a drawknife. Straight saw marks also indicate an old piece. If the wood shows circular or arc-shaped marks, it was cut by a circular saw, not in use until about 1860. Exact symmetry is another sign that the piece was machine-made. On handmade furniture, rungs, slats, spindles, rockers, and other small-diameter components are not uniform.
Examine these parts carefully; slight differences in size or shape are not always easy to spot. A real antique is not perfectly cut; a reproduction with the same components is, because it was cut by machine. The finish on the wood can also date the piece. Until Victorian times, shellac was the only clear surface finish; lacquer and varnish were not developed until the mid-1800s. The finish on a piece made before 1860 is usually shellac; if the piece is very old, it may be oil, wax, or milk paint. Fine old pieces are often French-polished, a variation of the shellac finish. A lacquer or varnish finish is a sure sign of later manufacture. Testing a finish isn't always possible in a dealer's showroom, but if you can manage it, identify the finish before you buy. Test the piece in an inconspicuous spot with denatured alcohol; if finish dissolves, it's shellac. If the piece is painted, test it with ammonia; very old pieces may be finished with milk paint, which can be removed only with ammonia.