Comments on: Discretion and Valor: Knowing when to ‘Just Say No’ to Furniture Repair

By: Dana Caffrey

Dana Caffrey — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:32:02 +0000

This is something I really should know. I have this very old rocking chair given by my grandma, I want to restore it but my mom said it’s time to let it go. I think she’s right. I will dispose it tomorrow.

By: Steven Green

Steven Green — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:56:21 +0000

Exactly. When to say it can be done and it should be done are two different things. So basically, we say it can be done, but if it depreciates the value, then should you do it? Furniture repair needs a lot of thinking whether to do or not to do.

By: Furniture Fix

Furniture Fix — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:36:10 +0000

From what you said, depending on the extent of the damage, it may be a good idea to examine it to see if it’s fixable. Good read.

By: Marshall Stuteville

Marshall Stuteville — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:41:20 +0000

After 40 years in the antique furniture restoration business, I’ve come to conclude that all of questions about whether to restore or not restore usually can be sorted out on the economic or sentimental level. None of the problems listed above are truly impossible, they are just impractical when the pieces concerned don’t either have the monetary or sentimental value to justify the work. If someone has a family set of eight 18th c. Chippendale chairs and one of them is broken at the seatrail/backstile junction, it may even be practical to replace the entire leg and backstile. If the set is 1950′s Leavitz I would recommend just dropping the set off at Goodwill and driving away quickly.