Anyone have a furniture refinishing hobby?

[abond0017]

My DH and I just started getting old beat up furniture and refinishing it to redecorate our home. I am having a lot of fun with it..despite all the work involved. Just wondering if anyone else has this hobby? We have only completed one project so far, but have a few more in the waits. We just keep coming across awesome finds.

Here is a link to some photos of our projects. I'd like to see anyone else's if you got pics.

Pics

[kwhile0599]

I LOVE your China Cabinet turned Wine Cabinet!!! $10 what a find!!

I finish/refinish all the time!! My hands are always a lovely shade of dye, stain or paint!! Gloves are for sissies!!

Our DD is an artist - so my DH makes all of her frames & I finish them. And we've been given some antique furniture & picked some up in thrift stores in horrible condition & made them "new" again. You'd think that we'd take some before pictures but I usually think of that AFTER I've torn stuff apart!! It's so exciting to get started!! I'm currently reupholstering an old wingback chair (had to put it on hold for a few months due to DH needing the air compressor to put in our hardwood floors - no complaints here )

I can't say that I love doing it - I love finding the piece & I love the finish product - it's just that middle part that can get tedious some times!! And more hours in a day would be most helpful!!

Congrats to you & your DH!! Great Job!!!

[Smee]

Nice! I don't so much do refinishing as much as I build from scratch and finish the way I like. I don't have any recent pictures of my own work, but I've made some pieces from plans here.

[3timesoccermom]

abond - great stuff!!! I can NOT believe those chairs were just thrown out. There isn't much that's more satisfying than knowing you did it yourself. Being flexible and open to new uses for things is good too.

[JulieDB]

I did a coffee table once. Wish I had kept it! My parents neighbors were getting rid of some stuff and they had this beautiful small coffee table that the husband had made in high school shop class. He used several kinds of wood so that it had a striped effect to the top. It was very sturdy. Only problem was he used a thick coat of varnish on it so there were some unsightly drips down the legs.

I took my time sanding it all down, then rubbed it with tung oil and added a thin coating of something...can't remember now what it was. Gave it a slight sheen instead of the glossy coating it had before. But it looked really good.

Then my brother bought me a cheap (IMO) set of end tables with a coffee table. I didn't have room for everything so I got rid of the little coffee table and also a step table that I had gotten from the same neighbor. Mistake! Those things were good, solid wood and had I kept them I would likely still have them today. My husband stood on the coffee table my brother bought me and broke it right away. The movers broke the end table. So I still have one end table. It managed to survive.

I have bought several unfinished pieces and those came out well.

[abond0017]

kwhile - I definitely know what you mean! I bout threw in the towel on the cabinet a couple times when we were trying to figure out what paint/primer/brushes/rollers to use to get the finish perfect. But it definitely is worth it to see the finished product.

smee - I wish we had the tools or space to build from scratch. One day we will. DH already has his heart set on having a work shop in the house we plan on retiring in.

3time - I know! I was walking the dogs and was so excited to see those chairs just sitting there. I immediately drug them home from around the corner one by one. I knew they wouldn't still be there when DH got home.

julie - Oh man. You should have definitely kept the table! I don't plan on ever getting rid of these pieces. Especially after the effort that will go into them. They are all solid and should last for a long while.

[3timesoccermom]

We've never done refinishing but about 20 years ago we bought the following oak pieces, unfinished, and stained, etc., them ourselves.

a headboard, 2 large bookshelves, 2 chests of drawers and a big lingerie chest (not sure why it's called that - it's taller than the matching chests of drawers we bought it with but narrower).

Every one of them is still in use in our house.

[Gertie2u]

Great work! Those look just lovely.

I have both refinished furniture and built from scratch over the years. First, I recovered a sofa after the original 'stain resistant' fabric began to look dirty in an amazingly short time. Then I got brave and refinished the top of an old table that was in some pretty bad shape. It was a huge amount of work, not the least because I am sure I went at everything the hard way. Live and learn, eh? Recently DH built a beautiful hardwood cabinet five foot wide by 2 foot deep by 8 feet tall for my stockpile and I finished it. It took a lot more work than I expected sanding it, but it sure was worth it. That cabinet of yours looks lovely! My next project will be re-painting the beautiful iron table and chairs my sister-in-law gave me after I caught her throwing them away. They aren't even rusty! Mostly, the comfortable cushioned seats have been ruined by moisture. They weren't hard to re-cover at all! Be thrilled to talk projects and methods with you any time.

[abond0017]

Great work! Those look just lovely.

I have both refinished furniture and built from scratch over the years. First, I recovered a sofa after the original 'stain resistant' fabric began to look dirty in an amazingly short time. Then I got brave and refinished the top of an old table that was in some pretty bad shape. It was a huge amount of work, not the least because I am sure I went at everything the hard way. Live and learn, eh? Recently DH built a beautiful hardwood cabinet five foot wide by 2 foot deep by 8 feet tall for my stockpile and I finished it. It took a lot more work than I expected sanding it, but it sure was worth it. That cabinet of yours looks lovely! My next project will be re-painting the beautiful iron table and chairs my sister-in-law gave me after I caught her throwing them away. They aren't even rusty! Mostly, the comfortable cushioned seats have been ruined by moisture. They weren't hard to re-cover at all! Be thrilled to talk projects and methods with you any time.

Wow. Just throwing the table and chairs away? Well, I guess that's why people like us always have good stuff to grab up and make new again. It amazes me how many people don't realize how easy it is to recover chair seats. That was the first thing I learned how to do.

It also amazes me how some people just can't be convinced that something can even be fixed or made new-like. I saw a really really nice wooden headboard/footboard bed frame...like mission style and solid wood...just sitting on the side of someone's house outside in the elements. I couldn't resist so I knocked on the door and asked them if they were going to throw it away. They said yes but they were waiting or the bulk collection trash pickup they requested to come by and get it. I asked if I could take it instead and they told me no that it wasn't safe cause one of the corners where the side rails fit into the headboard was broken. The phalanges that stuck out of the side rail to fit into slots on the headboard had broken and sheared off. I was about to argue that all that takes is screwing some support pieces into the side rail and headboard to hold it together...but he didn't seem like the type of person you could reason with. The thing looked otherwise brand new too...no scratches or dents...nothing. I was baffled.