Restoring our English antique furniture
It seems that the restoration process in America is typically very costly or that
affordable restorers are lacking in ability. We've found there are to be many improvised
restorers opting for easy shortcuts. Most pieces are hardly complete, with rustic, opaque
looks, and no sign of bringing back the original beauty of the wood grain using traditional
techniques. The waxy opacity of the finish is also implemented to hide defects of the wood
that would be too costly or time consuming to be dealt with. No great loss for low quality
woods, but it greatly devalues quality woods. Low end wax finish requires little to no experience,
nor technique to achieve, is often synthetic, it spreads chemicals in the air, although sometimes
odourless, needs frequent reapplying, is typically used only on low end furniture, and is rarely
part of true restoration. This is why the correct restoring of a piece is so important with quality
antiques, otherwise, you will find your piece to be devalued. This is widely evidenced with many
waxed pieces found readily in the US.
Oil is another finish option. Though over time, it is permanently absorbed by the wood to which
it's applied. This causes the wood to deepen, often to almost black, making the natural grain
and beauty of the wood unrecognizable. This technique was traditionally used in England prior to
the discovery of shellac. Today, furniture oil is used to nourish wood, and avoid excess drying.
This should not be used, of course, over today's commonly used, low quality, synthetic, polyurethane
finishes, because it won't be absorbed by the glass-like finish, and leave behind oily spots.
Our pieces have always been restored to their original beauty, keeping with the historical integrity
of the piece while adding value, using traditional hand rubbed shellac polish, as was typically
used after it's discovery in England in the late 1700s. This is a difficult, yet much more
sophisticated finish, that lasts for years with little maintenance. Shellac always allows woods
to breathe keeping their grains alive in colour, particularly in fine antiques made of quality
woods, such as rosewood, walnut, mahogany, satinwood, and oak, to name a few. The original hand
rubbed technique of shellac polishing is rarely used by many restorers, as they find these techniques
to be time consuming, difficult, and are betting on the fact that most consumers can be easily mislead
into believing that antiques should be left unrestored. This is not the case for us. We would rather
teach our clients the historical and monetary value of true and proper restoration, than make a quick
buck. We believe this gains the trust of our clients, and stands us out amongst the rest. We are lucky
to have qualified, experienced Italian restorers that have worked for us in Italy for almost 30 years,
and are able to pass this quality off to you, our clients.
Antiques should be restored and refinished, but only in the proper way, to make them a good long term investment
and a lifelong pleasure.
Our ultimate hope is that our pieces bring joy and comfort to your home everyday.
Based on almost 30 years of experience in the antiques' business and on commonly used materials.
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