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Furniture refinishing NYC: wood pieces at different stages in the workshop

The original finish only exists once.

Furniture refinishing NYC for homes. Stripping cannot be undone, so the first question is whether your piece needs it at all.

Get a free estimate Call (347) 310-7483

Before you strip anything

Furniture refinishing starts here

Patina is built by decades of use. Nothing puts it back.

Close view of an old finish with depth and patina on a chest — Patina

The same chest stripped back to bare pale wood — Stripped

A tired finish cleaned and revived rather than stripped — Revived

An antique bureau with its original surface intact — Left Alone

The first two are one chest. On an antique the original surface often carries the value, so we say when the honest answer is to leave it alone.

For a business room the calculation differs — see commercial wood restoration.

The ladder

Five rungs, least invasive first

Furniture refinishing NYC work starts at the bottom rung and stops when the problem is solved.

A sideboard being cleaned and waxed, nothing removed — One — Clean And Wax

A dining table finish being revived in place — Two — Revive In Place

One damaged area of a table being worked, rest untouched — Three — Spot Repair

A chest with only its top recoated, drawer fronts still original — Four — Recoat One Surface

A credenza fully stripped and being recoated in the workshop — Five — Full Strip

Damage confined to one panel of a sideboard — Why It Matters

Rung four is the one most shops skip. Recoating a single damaged surface and leaving the rest original keeps the piece honest and costs less than stripping it whole.

What we check

Three things decide the answer

Every furniture refinishing NYC quote is checked on the piece, in your room.

Table edge showing veneer over a core rather than solid timber — Veneer Or Solid

A small test spot on the underside of a table — A Test Spot

A worn edge whose patina adds to the piece — Patina Worth Keeping

Veneer is thin, so sanding it is a one-way street. The test spot goes somewhere nobody sees. Patina is judged last, because it is the part you cannot buy back.

Pieces we take

Six kinds of piece

Wood work sits beside our upholstery, often on the same piece.

A refinished walnut dining table in a New York apartment — Dining Tables

A refinished dresser in a bedroom — Dressers

A refinished wooden desk in a home office — Desks

A refinished sideboard in a dining room — Sideboards

Refinished wooden dining chairs around a table — Chair Frames

A refinished antique bureau cabinet in a living room — Antiques

Before and after

Three pieces, photographed twice

Same piece, same angle, same light.

A dining table with the finish worn through where people sit — Table, Worn

A dresser top with water rings and heat damage — Dresser, Marked

A wooden chair frame with a dull worn finish — Chair, Tired

The same dining table after refinishing — Table, Refinished

The same dresser after refinishing — Dresser, Refinished

The same chair after refinishing — Chair, Refinished

Top row before, bottom row after. More on the before and after page.

How it runs

Two photographs, then a visit

Nothing is stripped before you have seen the options in writing.

Send two photos

The whole piece, and the damage close up with light from one side.

We check the piece

Veneer or solid, what the finish is, and whether the patina is worth keeping.

You pick the rung

We quote the lowest one that works, and the full strip if you want it.

Finished work

What a good finish looks like

Craft standards kept by bodies like The Furniture Society.

A refinished table top under raking light with even sheen — Even Sheen

A refinished table edge, crisp with no build-up — Crisp Edges

A refinished surface where the grain still reads through — Grain Still Reads

Where we work

Across the five boroughs and out

Furniture refinishing NYC is quoted on the piece.

Manhattan · Brooklyn · Queens · Bronx · Staten Island · Long Island · Nassau · Suffolk · New Jersey · Bergen

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Questions

Furniture refinishing questions

Will refinishing ruin the value of my antique?

It can. On a piece whose worth rests on its original surface, stripping removes the thing being valued.

We tell you when that is the case, and what reviving the finish instead would look like.

Can you refinish veneer?

Carefully, and not always. Veneer is thin, so there is very little to sand before you go through it. We check the edge first and say plainly if the risk is too high.

Can you refinish just the table top?

Yes, and it is often the right call. The top takes the wear while the base stays sound. Matching the new surface to the old base is the skill in that job.

Do you work at my home or take the piece away?

Cleaning, reviving and small repairs happen in your room. A strip and recoat needs the workshop, because of the dust and the drying.

Can you match the colour of the rest of my set?

We bring samples and judge them against your piece in its own light. Where an exact match is impossible we say so before any work starts.

A New York dining room in the evening with a refinished table

Free estimate

Ask before you strip it.

Send the whole piece and the damage close up. We tell you which rung it needs, and whether it needs one at all.

Call (347) 310-7483 if it is easier to describe out loud.

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