Tips for restoring antique furniture
Furniture is no longer made as before, so before buying new furniture for the house, we can take a look at this restoring antique furniture. Not only will they give a touch of distinction and originality to our house, but the restoration of furniture can be a relaxing pastime, which makes us proud to have created something of ours with old wooden furniture.
To achieve this, we will give you the most useful tips to give a new life to this second-hand furniture.
Tips for restoring antique furniture
How to remove woodworm from antique furniture
Our first step in furniture restoration should always be to check their good health. That means, above all, that they have no woodworm and, if they do, kill it. If we do not, not only will our efforts be disregarded, but old furniture can spread the woodworm to the rest of the furniture and cause a disaster.
So, first of all, examine that old piece of furniture well, take out the drawers and use a flashlight for the recesses. If you see small circular holes, there is woodworm, or there has been. If you see white dust in them, the woodworm is there, eating the furniture inside.
Removing it is not difficult, but it takes a while. Buy angiosarcoma at any DIY store. They sell sprays, but it is better to take a syringe and flood every hole we see. Once we have overflowed everything, we impregnate all the furniture with the solution (by brush or using that spray) and wrap everything with plastic (in bags or kitchen food bags). That will prevent the passage of air. We leave it covered for 2 to 3 weeks and we will have eliminated the dreaded woodworm.
How to paint antique furniture
The simplest and most effective way to give new life to second-hand furniture is by painting it. The color will depend, of course, on our taste and the decoration of the room, but using bold colors will make that antique furniture stand out and be the main star of the room. It is one of the
For this, the most important thing is the following:
- Sand well to remove varnishes and protective films. Otherwise, the paint will not adhere well.
- Seal the damage with a special putty and cover the possible holes of the woodworm (after having removed it as we have explained to you).
- Decide if we want to preserve the antique look and texture of the furniture under the paint, or continue sanding thoroughly to make it smooth and uniform.
- Apply a coat of primer before the chosen color, so that it adheres well and stands out, instead of starting to paint directly.
With those four steps, your furniture painting will be excellent.
How to repair scratches on antique furniture
Scratches and notches can give identity to second-hand furniture, or we can repair them and leave them as new. Although there are home remedies, the truth is that they only serve some and only for small scratches. But, above all, using a wooden putty is very cheap and less messy.
The procedure is simple and consists of 3 steps:
- Apply the putty covering the damage and letting it dry.
- Polish the putty area well to match.
- Paint carefully to hide everything.
If we are going to paint as in the previous advice, there is no problem. If the wood is streaked and we want to preserve the tone, we will have to use several woody color tones. There are furniture repair kits, or even wooden floor, that we can use for this purpose, buying the most appropriate spectrum of tones in our case.
How to restore brightness to locks and hardware
An important part of furniture restoration is that of metal parts. Locks, handles or hinges should not be neglected. The first thing in these cases is to know the material they are made of and, if we can, disassemble the metal accessory to clean it better.
Iron and other metals do not get along with water, but bronze does. If this is our case, with a little soap and rubbing we can leave them as new. Sometimes we will have to use a brush, there are some to polish, but be careful with going hard, or we will leave streaks. If it is not bronze, we can use vinegar and a rag or toothbrush. In general, vinegar is a good homemade solution, although you can always find specialized products in your DIY store.
As you can see, by following these easy tips we can leave as new those old furniture that we have hunted on the trail or have been donated by family and friends, and give them and the room in which we place them a new life.
