Start Restoring Old Wood Furniture

Get started restoring old wood furniture for some extra cash. Read on to find more information about the best tools for furniture restoration, how to prepare and how to sell your furniture.

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by AdobeStock/t.sableaux

Get started restoring old wood furniture for some extra cash. Read on to find more information about the best tools for furniture restoration, how to prepare and how to sell your furniture.

Heading for an auction or thrift shop? While you’re there, take a second look at those old tables, chests, and whatever shoved back in odd corners . . . and don’t be overly turned off by ugly paint or varnish. What’s under the surface may be a quality piece of furniture that will make a fine addition to your own home or which can be a welcome source of extra cash.

Often, the difference between junk store dust catcher and collector’s item is just one simple step: refinishing. I’ve put some time into learning this skill and find it very useful and profitable. My house is full of old furniture which I bought for next to nothing and made beautiful at low cost . . . and down in the basement right now is a piece which set me back $90.00 and should sell easily for over $300 when I’ve finished with it. The work isn’t exactly fun, I’ll admit, but now that I’ve perfected my methods I do find this home business to be truly absorbing and rewarding.

How To Restore Old Wooden Furniture

My first and most important piece of advice to anyone who wants to copy my success is, “Forget all the refinishing guides you may have read.” Most such directions make impossible demands on your time and money. A perfect high-gloss finish, for instance, is difficult to apply and a waste of effort. The same goes for the majority of “grain fillers” and sealers. Ditto for oil finishes, which are fragile. Forget all that and let me tell you about my favorite method of how to restore old wooden furniture . . . a quicker, less expensive technique that lets beautiful old wood look like beautiful old wood.

  • Updated on Aug 31, 2022
  • Originally Published on Sep 1, 1975
Tagged with: Antique Furniture, furniture, furniture projects, paint, woodworking
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