In times such as these, many homeowners and consumers turn to a process known as wood refinishing to give their furniture the face lift it needs. But are there any situations when wood furniture that has lost its life and luster should not be refinished? Experts such as Dean Camenares, an expert woodwork restoration specialist who has more than 20 years experience, agree that if the furniture is an antique, refinishing the piece could remove some of the furniture's worth.
"If you look at a car and consider the car an antique, people strive to restore a car to its original condition," says Camenares, who is the owner of East End Wood Strippers in Holbrook, N.Y., a family-owned business since 1959. "They want to make it look brand spanking new. If you look at furniture, some schools of thought are that you want to keep it old and beat up with all its nicks and dings, all that evidence of its lifetime to retain its original existence."
According to Camenares, many experts also debate whether or not antique furniture should be refinished. Some believe that if the work done to the piece is fixing a broken leg or damaged carvings, the value could go up.
"There is some controversy about it," Camenares said. "There is no easy answer. Again, if you are talking about exceptionally expensive antiques, you would tend to not strip them unless the finish is totally shot and you really cannot do anything else for them."
One tip that experts advise people to take before stripping their antique furniture is to attempt to clean it first. Sometimes, the finish can be restored by using a little elbow grease. If that's not the case, consider if your piece is really an antique or just an old piece of furniture.
"First of all, you have to define what an antique is," Camenares said. "Just because something is old, does not make it an antique. Usually, it has to be something that has a distinctive style from a certain period. It does have to be a certain age. If you are talking about some kind of furniture from 1820 that is designed by a famous furniture maker and it has its original finish on it, many collectors would prefer to have that original finish, regardless of its condition. So in some cases, stripping your old finish could harm the value of a very expensive piece."
"But if you have common furniture from the 1930s, which people consider antiques now, that does not make a difference," he added. "It is personal preference, and you are really not affecting the value."
