Easy Furniture Refresh - Bring Old and New Finishes Together
by Lorena Benchis
It's easy to do, too. All you need is a clear space to work in, and some store cupboard ingredients. A good item to try out your restoring skills on is a small occasional table or an old oak desk.
The main reason that second hand wooden furniture looks so lacklustre is because of the years of grease and grime that have built up on the surfaces. In order to bring it back to its former glory, you need to strip away all that dirt and replenish the wood's natural oils.
To do this, you simply need a cup of olive oil and a quarter cup of white vinegar.
Mix together in a spray bottle and then spray onto the piece of furniture you are working on. Rub the mixture in with a clean cotton rag. As you work, you'll see the cotton rag turn black with grease and dirt. The vinegar lifts out the dirt. While you are doing this, you're also nourishing the wood with the olive oil, helping to bring back its natural shine. Simply keep doing this until you get the look you want, replacing the rage for a clean one every now and then.
Pretty soon, you'll have a classic piece of furniture ready for pride of place in your home. Of course, you may not want to furnish the whole house like this, and it's perfectly possible to mix old wood with new pieces of furniture around your home. The two can complement each other really well.
For example, you could decide to buy an oak coffee table online and put it together with a restored oak sideboard in the same room. Restored wooden furniture can also look great next to contemporary metal or glass objects.
What's to stop you from having a go at restoring furniture? It's easy and if you don't like the results, then it's only a few hours of your time wasted. An "historic" choice...