How to restore old wooden furniture. Restoration of polished furniture. How long does it take to restore

Do-it-yourself furniture restoration is not only exciting. And not so much. One of the main principles of the ideology of the consumer society is expressed very simply: 1.7-2.5 warranty period, and landfill. Turnover, employment. Oh yes, ecology. That is, not a landfill, but recycling. With some more turnover and employment. And for the ordinary consumer, for whose sake everything seems to be spinning - buy, buy, buy! There is no money - credit, credit, credit! From 1/3 to 3/4, according to various estimates, the intellectual potential of developers in the world works tirelessly so that the thing, boss forbid, does not last too long. And this also applies to furniture.

The old master furniture makers worked knowing that a thing is bought for generations. Their aesthetics and artistic taste have been perfected for centuries and therefore organically absorb the trends of our time. Therefore, old furniture is rapidly growing in price. Updating old furniture is not only about saving a lot of money and adding sophistication to your home. The connection of times is firmly held in furniture, and in the relations of people surrounded by revived furniture, psychologists note an order of magnitude fewer problems than those who like to update regularly.

About the soul of the master

Each craftsman puts a piece of his soul into his products - this is not a metaphor. With the form, texture, relief, pattern of his products, an intelligent master says something, expresses something. He is not a bukka and not a rigorist; today he would find a worthy use for decoupage, and acrylic with silicone, and graffiti from a spray can. But, before you take on the renovation of furniture with decoration, ask yourself: how much do you understand this language? What did he want to say? Would your addition be appropriate?

Attention - time!

First of all, you need to figure out if you got antiques? Then - WE DO NOTHING BEFORE ITS EVALUATION. Museums and collectors entrust the restoration only to trusted masters, and any amateur activity of amateurs reduces the cost of things by tens, hundreds of times, down to zero.

How to determine without spoiling the subject, antique furniture or not? On three grounds: brand, angles, dimensions of fasteners. Very important: you need to remove the fasteners with a slotted screwdriver, not too narrow or wide, with a flat, but slightly licked-off corners. It additionally needs to be wrapped with aluminum foil so as not to scratch the patina on the metal, this also drastically reduces the value.

First of all, we take out all the boxes and inspect their corners. Roundness without scoring is a sign of antiquity. Now we are looking for stamps.

The stigma must be sought on the back wall, underside of the table top and bottom. Dust and cobwebs are carefully removed with a soft brush or vacuum cleaner. If at least a piece of the old brand is visible, we move on. We also check the boxes - there are stamps on their bottoms, and they coincide with the main one - lucky, you can already call the appraiser.

Fasteners - screws, screws, corners - carefully inspect. The thread is non-standard, the pitch and profile are floating - which means it is old; cut by hand or on a primitive machine with a foot or bow drive.

We also measure the diameters of the screw bodies and the thickness of the metal of the corners with a caliper. Machine-made fasteners will be one-on-one, and old, handmade fasteners are unlikely to be sustained with an accuracy higher than 0.2-0.25 mm.

Attention two!

Case from life - grandmother died; decided to get rid of her old furniture set. Obviously not antique, Soviet, from fiberboard. The owner thought: but there were no self-adhesives then? What then is this furniture veneered with? Cleaned the piece as described below. It turned out that the most valuable Karelian birch veneer was on the outside, and on the inside it was also very valuable “white Cuban cedar”, albinia, from which humidors and cigar boxes are made.

Then the furniture was dismantled into layers (shields), the varnish was removed with a SM-1 remover. Then, heating with a household hair dryer, with a wall-mounted wide spatula, without breathing, the veneer sheets were separated. The rest of the glue was perfectly removed by the same CM-1. After that, the veneer was sprayed with a spray bottle and dried under oppression, laying pure white thick toilet paper.

Then it took about three months to find a direct conscientious buyer: as it turned out, around old furniture resellers swarm like flies in the slaughterhouse. But! As a result, the amount received only for the veneer was more than enough for a complete new furnishing of the apartment.

Repair and restoration

Complete renovation of furniture with renovation and new decor includes the following steps:

• Acclimatization;
• Disassembly;
• cleaning and washing;
• Surface revision;
• Elimination of varnish defects or its washing, depending on its condition and further intentions;
• Elimination of wood defects;
• Bulkhead and reinforcement of fasteners;
• veneer;
• Painting and priming of wood;
• Painting and / or painting the surface of a tree;
• surface decoration;
• Aging;
• Protective varnish;
• polishing;
• Upholstery of seats, pillows, armrests, if upholstered furniture is being repaired;
• Assembly.

Note: upholstery and other upholstered furniture upholstery are surface decoration.

All of these jobs can be done at home. But before describing the work operations, we will give a summary of the tools and materials, so as not to scatter and not be distracted in the future.

What about the table?

The stumbling block in the restoration of the table is not the countertop at all, as it might seem: it is easily washed and cleaned with the compositions described below. the main problem- the bottom of the legs, they are dirty and beaten, and wet most of all. Here you will need to remove the veneer, treat the wood, restore the shape of the legs with liquid wood and reliably strengthen their fasteners, this is one of the most loaded furniture units.

At the same time, the bottom of the legs is not visible and minor flaws in the work will not catch your eye. Therefore, the restoration of the table is the most suitable start for an amateur furniture maker. Experienced craftsmen and give tables to work with students.

Tool

From the tool for working on furniture, you will need:

1. Drill with a set of drill bits for wood.
2. A set of chisels from 4 to 40 mm.
3. End planer (selector, sherhebel).
4. Several clamps.
5. Mallet.
6. Carpenter's hammer with a nail puller.
7. Chasing hammer (with a spherical butt).
8. Set of flat and Phillips screwdrivers.
9. Manual and electric jigsaws; you can do with one manual.
10. Bow saw or hacksaw - for clean hand cuts in wood.
11. Mounting knife.
12. Shoe knife-jamb.
13. Locksmith ruler and square.
14. Iron and household hair dryer.
15. Pliers, large or medium and small.
16. Round nose pliers.
17. Furniture stapler and staples 20-30 mm to it.
18. An even wooden block covered with felt or felt for sandpaper or an abrasive mesh.
19. Double layer kitchen sponge.
20. Bastard file and rasp.
21. Scissors and sewing accessories.
22. Polished - a piece of felt, cloth or rawhide.
23. Paste GOI.
24. Artistic brushes, round and flat. Kolinsky or squirrel - not necessarily, the simplest will go, from the bristles of a bull's ear.

Mixtures and formulations

Restoration of old furniture assumes that all work is done according to the original technology. However, for yourself, if the furniture is not antiques for sale, it is quite possible to use modern, fairly well-tested materials. In particular, wood glue is successfully replaced by PVA; he is praised even by such fussy as second-hand booksellers. For convinced retrogrades, we nevertheless give a diagram of a glue cooker, see Fig.:, brewed on gas, high quality is not different.

It is also better to do washing with dish detergents: they chemical reaction neutral. There is no doubt that acrylic lacquer is suitable for furniture, especially since it can be polished with any car polish. Difficult relief is washed with a soft toothbrush made of natural hair.

But with compounds containing organic solvents, you need to be careful. If they do not spoil the material, then they give a temporary effect: the glossy surface will soon fade again. Therefore, below we present recipes for various cases (which will be discussed below), tested by experience.

Note: if the composition contains ethyl alcohol, kerosene, vinegar, ammonia and other chemically active substances, then its action must first be checked on some insignificant area - the end of the plate and the inner corner.

Furniture wax (wax) of different colors can be made from melted white beeswax by pouring melted crushed colored pencil leads into it; colors can be mixed. In addition to the exact selection of tone, the method is also economical: the material is prepared in portions as needed. Another advantage is that using white lead as an additive, you can vary the consistency of the mixture over a wide range, while maintaining the tone.

Grout for cracked lacquer

Recipe 1- paraffin and colored furniture wax 1:1. The composition, matched by tone, is rubbed into the cracks with a polisher, until heated from friction. The remains are removed with a lint-free (old and well-stretched) rags moistened with kerosene or turpentine. Suitable for grouting small cracks in wood.

Recipe 2, for small scratches - linseed or burdock oil and ethyl alcohol 1: 1. Apply with a swab of white flannel or baize; after drying, polish with a clean dry cloth.

Stain removers and cleaners

For painted countertops - first wipe with a solution baking soda. After drying - cleaning from plaque with a dry rag. Then - rubbing with an aqueous solution of ammonia (2 tsp per liter of warm water).

Lacquering is cleaned with a swab dipped in dish detergent solution and then wiped with a swab dipped in clean water. For heavily soiled surfaces, after wiping with detergent, wait 1-2 hours, covering the surface with a slightly damp cloth. If after cleaning the surface turns out to be dull, it is rubbed with a swab, barely moistened with vegetable oil.

For surfaces caught and covered with kitchen fumes - rub with talcum powder, brush it off with a rag. Then wash with warm water ammonia, as mentioned above. The second way is to wipe with a coarse cloth soaked in hot beer. And a method that is completely safe for any polishing - wet, drunk tea wrapped in a clean cloth. Wipe the surface with a swab until clean, and then wipe it clean with a dry cloth.

For whitewash splashes and water-based paint- 2-3 drops of olive oil per glass of wine vinegar. Rinse off with light movements of the tampon soaked in the mixture.

For white spots from water - the stain is sprinkled with flour, and then wiped until it disappears with a swab barely moistened with olive, palm, corn or sunflower refined oil. Polished with velvet.

For white spots from hot - rub a 1: 1 mixture of paraffin with wax of the desired tone, cover with a blotter and iron. Polished with cloth or felt. If the varnish is not burned deeply, has not swelled, has not acquired a noticeable graininess, then the stain is sprinkled with table salt, 3-5 drops are dripped onto it vegetable oil and kept for 2-3 hours. Then the mixture is brushed off and rubbed with a cloth in a circular motion until the stain disappears. Finally, having dissolved a piece of colored wax in boiling beer, the hot mixture is rubbed with a cloth until the tone is restored.

Wood cleaners

The wood of most species from the surface is well cleaned with a mixture: olive or linseed oil, denatured alcohol (namely, denatured alcohol!), turpentine and clarified lemon juice in equal proportions. Oak is well cleaned with hot beer.

Notes:

1. There are many recipes for surface wood cleaners. It is important to know that any of them with vinegar immediately spoil the mahogany.
2. An effective tool for cleaning wood and masking minor defects - rubbing with green peel walnut. The resistance of wood to rot and pests also increases due to the saturation of the surface layer with tannin. But the peel strongly tints the wood, so that the processing of individual sections is almost never possible.

Wicker, cane and rattan furniture is washed and cleaned with warm water and ammonia. A flute brush made of second-hand natural hair is convenient for this, i.e. soft, or soft toothbrush, but also made of natural bristles.

polishes

The polish fills the microcracks in the varnish and the pores of the wood, thanks to which the surface of the furniture remains glossy and the solid wood is protected from damage. The most common polishes are based on wax and solvent: alcohol, turpentine, household (non-fuel) gasoline. Car polishes are suitable for lacquered furniture. Polishes have a limited shelf life, so here are two recipes for self cooking in small portions.

Recipe 3: beeswax (can be colored) - 40% by weight; gasoline or turpentine - 60%. Ingredients should be measured by weight, not by volume!

Recipe 4: ceresin (somewhat worse - paraffin, not stearin) - 55%; pine rosin - 5%; gasoline - 40%

Both compositions need to be rubbed into the furniture, and they require regular application: if you stop regular care, the furniture tarnishes within a few months. Therefore, here are two more recipes without organic solvents, suitable for both varnish and open wood. With these compositions, furniture can simply be sprayed with a spray bottle or applied with a clean rag without rubbing, and special regular care is not required. But the surface of the furniture must be clean, otherwise the dirt will eat into the depths.

Recipe 5, for old parched wood: a quarter cup of olive or palm oil and 2 tbsp. l. tablespoons of clarified lemon juice. For smell, you can add 2-10 drops essential oil(coniferous, citrus, etc.) or perfume fragrance.

Recipe 6 ,for fresh wood susceptible to dirt: a quarter cup of clarified lemon juice and 1 tsp. olive oil. It is undesirable to add fragrances, they can react with the active components of young wood.

Paints

Painting furniture with a dense layer is done with oil paints or acrylic enamels. Nitro-, glyphthalic and pentaphthalic paints are of little use for home furniture: they penetrate very deeply into wood, paint consumption is high, and its complete removal is impossible. But for the dacha and garden furniture this disadvantage may be an advantage. Under oil paint, the surface is primed with drying oil, and under acrylic - with a water-polymer emulsion.

For painting with emphasizing the texture of wood, stains and mordants are used. Mordants are produced in all colors of the rainbow and penetrate into the tree shallowly, by 0.3-0.5 mm, so that later the painted layer can be removed with sandpaper. But staining with stains looks somewhat unnatural; it appears to be dyed.

The mordants penetrate into the wood by several mm and give a natural appearance to the stained wood. coloring is achieved due to the interaction of the mordant with the tanning agents contained in the wood. Therefore, not every tree can be painted with mordants, but only those containing tangible amounts of tannin. From domestic breeds - oak perfectly perceives mordant, and it is better not to try with birch. With any others - a trial painting is needed small area, because the content of tanning agents depends on the exposure time of the tree.

Furniture fabrics

Facial

Do-it-yourself upholstery of furniture requires a particularly careful choice of fabric. It's not about her appearance, traditional jacquard, tapestry, velor, flock, courtesan and chinille will do; dress fabrics are absolutely unsuitable - they do not stretch well, they will quickly rub off. The point is in the drawing - only a small, not very contrasting one can be recommended to a novice furniture maker.

Firstly, the pattern on the seat and back must be coordinated - a strip that has gone to the side or shifted halves of a flower will immediately ruin the whole look. Expensive fabric will have to be bought with a margin of 15-20% to match the pattern, and there is no guarantee that, after completing the work, you will not have to understand that all the upholstery needs to be changed.

This difficulty can still be circumvented by using the method of complementary tissue. For example, if the upholstery of the back of the chair is green jacquard with large leaves, then on the seat you can put velor or a tapestry with a jet pattern similar in tone. Say, grass below, and above - leaves.

However, it is not for nothing that furniture upholstery is called so: you can’t do without pulling the fabric. And then the drawing will stretch, and in a large drawing, the distortion of the contours will be very noticeable. Covering furniture with pattern matching is a delicate art, and even famous masters did not succeed right away. Therefore, it is better to make the first furniture pancake with a small, dim pattern or completely plain.

Purl and lining

On the inside, the lining of the upholstery is linen canvas or jute burlap. Synthetics, sisal, etc. slippery fabrics are completely unsuitable: the upholstery will soon go on them, and to cover the sofa is not to repair the coat. Hemp is also not good: although it is rough, it quickly wears out and at the same time dusts.

About seams

You can do without sewing work only when upholstering a simple chair, and even here you may need to insert it into the seat or back. Chain stitches that give the most sewing machines, are not suitable for furniture: as soon as the abrasion of such a seam reaches a certain degree, it dissolves by itself.

Furniture sheathing is sewn with sailing seams, but the machines designed for them with a pneumatic or electric rapier thread transmission mechanism are expensive. However, the simplest sailing seam, the scheme of which is shown in the figure, is easy to carry out manually. If they are sewn with a harsh thread or thread, the loop is pulled out onto the face with a thin steel crochet hook. For hand sewing with fine thread, a needle is suitable for sewing machine in any suitable mandrel; then the loop is left on the wrong side. In any case, the second running end of the thread is threaded into a regular needle and threaded into the loop.

Each stitch is pulled up alternately from the face and from the inside so that the thread goes into the fabric, and the overlap is in its thickness. If the thread is over, its ends are tied from the inside with a straight knot, and the continuation of the seam is carried out with an interception of 2-3 stitches.

Note: the famous denim “figure eight” is the most complex and perfect of sailing seams. Levi Strauss, having decided to sew work pants from Genoese (Jenuis) canvas, which was at least heaps on the market in the era of the replacement of sailboats by steamships, borrowed a seam from sailors. So, if you have a car with a figure eight - good luck!

Foam rubber and synthetic winterizer

Stuffing furniture with horsehair is almost no longer done even for exclusives; batting and felt are also becoming obsolete - modern synthetic materials surpass them in all respects. If they are of good quality, of course.

Foam rubber is divided into grades by density (it is also - specific gravity in kg / cubic meter), indicated by two numbers: 20, 35, 45, etc. Elasticity also depends on the brand, which is important for stuffing. They check the quality of the foam rubber by squeezing it to the limit with your fingers: if you release it, it immediately shoots to a smooth one, and the bad one gradually straightens out, and a dent may remain. By the way, foam rubber unsuitable for furniture can be an excellent heater or filter.

Furniture synthetic winterizer should be pure white and solid, firstly. Patchwork colored, most likely made from waste; possibly toxic. Secondly, the synthetic winterizer mat must be strong enough, not spread when pulled by hands with a slight effort both along and across the fibers.

Getting Started

About plywood

Some alteration may be needed for the base of the chair seats, drawer bottoms and sides. Furniture makers have been using plywood for these parts since it appeared, and for good reason: for parts that are not decorative, but loaded, plywood is indispensable.

Old plywood often turns out to be delaminated, and then there is a temptation: for the sake of "realness" to replace it with a board. Bottoms are not needed. They are not visible, and modern plywood of the FB, FK, FSF or BS brands will withstand more and last longer than an array of the most durable wood species of the same thickness. Well, the sidewalls of the boxes are another matter. They are visible, slightly loaded, and for the sake of decorativeness they can be made plank.

liquid tree

To seal wide cracks and potholes, you will have to use liquid wood. The best is homemade acrylic: for 1 part of resin with a hardener, 3-4 parts of sawdust. Sifted and sorted sawdust of many shades and grades are sold in hardware stores.

Liquid wood on epoxy changes the tone of the wood and becomes very brittle over time. As for the very cheap and easy-to-use silicate (on liquid glass) liquid wood, it is only suitable if it is quickly patched up: liquid glass is a well-known silicate glue, fragile and not waterproof.

Acclimatization

Furniture delivered to the place of work must be kept in a new microclimate for 3-4 days, or better - a week, otherwise it may begin to crack and warp right during work. On the second day, you need to remove and fold all the boxes separately. The temperature in the room is 18-24 degrees; humidity - up to 75%. Furniture should not be exposed to direct sunlight or warm air currents.

Disassembly

Note: decorative upholstered furniture often turns out to be very valuable, especially if the original wallpaper nails are preserved. Therefore, it must be removed first of all and very carefully. It is highly advisable to consult with an antique furniture dealer about its future fate and methods of cleaning.

Screws and screws

Threaded connections are disassembled as usual: with screwdrivers, keys, pliers. The main condition is no emphasis on the tree. If the screwdriver tries to slip out or the screw turns, take a closer look at where and how to hold his body with pliers, platypuses or round nose pliers. If at all sat down - you need to let a drop or two spindles or watch oil, wait half an hour or an hour and try again. In general, patience and ingenuity.

If, along with the screw, a threaded socket under it has come out of the dried wood, it does not matter, then we will tell you how to put it in place later so that it is stronger than the new one. And do not rush to bite or saw the screw: drop brake fluid or kerosene, hold the head with small pliers, the socket with large ones, and with a sharp jerk of two hands in different directions, tear off the seized thread.

Nails

First of all, inspect the back of the connection. If the nail is bent, pry with a flat screwdriver, straighten it with pliers and tap on the point with a hammer so that the hat comes out. Got stuck - a spindle or machine oil. A hat appeared - carefully pull with pliers; the nail puller crushes the tree. When pulling out wallpaper nails, grab the rod under the hat, otherwise the decorative hat may break off.

If the nail is hammered in, then we try to shake and pull the parts fastened with it, so that, again, the hat comes out. Here again, oil will help. Suddenly the hat goes into the tree - attention, stop! We carefully drill it, remove the upper part from the rod, and with oil we pull out the rod itself.

Glue

All old carpentry adhesives are alcohol soluble. To separate the adhesive connection, we dig it along the contour with alcohol after 2-3 cm and cover or wrap it with a film or parchment paper. After 10-30 min. You can try to separate, or repeat the procedure. Be especially careful when removing wooden decor: it dries out the most.

To separate glued joints, a mounting knife with a segmented blade is very convenient: with too much pressure, the segment breaks off, but the tree remains intact, and a very thin blade can be inserted into almost any slot. The bottoms glued into the grooves are gradually, from the end, hooked with a narrow chisel.

Bosses

Secret connections on deaf wooden bosses - pins, in a marine way - are simple, wedged or glued. Simple and easy to take apart. Glued is dipped in alcohol, and the details are slowly pulled apart. If the pin is wedged, the parts will at first disperse a little, but will not go further. Then the dowel just needs to be cut with an electric jigsaw or cut with the same mounting knife. How to plant new pins will be described later.

Mustache and spikes

Joints with a mustache and a spike, if they are not completely dried out, it is better to leave them as they are, smearing the grooves with liquid wood. If you need to disassemble the connection by a mustache, first we look to see if it is backed up with a nail or dowel. The nail is pulled out, the dowel is drilled or sawn. The dovetail-type spike connection is separated by unfolding the parts like a book. Glued joints are soaked in alcohol as described.

cleaning

We remove cobwebs and dust with a vacuum cleaner; brush off the rest with a soft brush. We vacuum the fabric upholstery and go over it with a new shoe brush wrapped in cotton fabric. You don’t need to tear and throw away: we need a template for a new upholstery. In addition, after washing with dry cleaning, the old one can still return to its place and last for a long time, and new furniture fabrics are expensive. If we restore furniture, then, you see, its upholstery will turn out to be valuable: with hand embroidery, tapestry, etc.

Wash the doors, plates and internal parts with a swab dipped in dish detergent solution, laying them in a horizontal position. Then we also wipe it with a swab with warm water and wipe it dry with a paper towel or toilet paper. Old dirt will not come off immediately, so the detergent should not be washed off immediately, but after 5-20 minutes, and the procedure should be repeated until a clean varnish or wood.

Revision, cleaning, washing

The next step is surface inspection. It may well turn out that after removing minor defects (stains, cracks) and cleaning the wood with the compositions described above, new polishing and varnishing will not be needed: traditional technologies were designed for centuries. This will facilitate the work, reduce costs, but the value of furniture, on the contrary, will add. But in this case, you will have to be especially careful in the subsequent stages so as not to spoil the original coating.

Advice: if the furniture is not varnished and after all the cleaning procedures the wood seems dirty, try waxing it in beer, like oak.

If the varnish is no good and needs to be washed off, then it is better to do this with non-toxic surface-active (surfactant) washes such as CM-1 or CM-2. The best way- liquid wash in a horizontal position: a grid is scratched on the coating with a step of 20-30 mm and a wash is applied. Ordinary varnishes are removed in layers immediately, for acrylic, you need to give an exposure of half an hour, covering the part with a film. Remove the varnish with a spatula with blunt smooth corners so as not to scratch the wood. The procedure can be repeated. Gel washes are suitable for use in vertical position surface, but more expensive and do not act so evenly.

Note: cleaning the tree with sandpaper on a wooden block should be postponed as a last resort - and the tree is eaten, and there will be no mirror-smooth surface.

Wood defects

Most of the wood defects found on a clean surface can be eliminated with your own hands:

• Small cracks are rubbed with colored wax after steaming.
• Chips and potholes are filled with liquid wood.
• Traces of rot and pest activity are scraped out with a chisel, and filled with liquid wood.

The purpose of steaming is to soften and warm up the wood, then the grout will saturate it properly; small cracks can come together and stick together by themselves. For steaming, a household steam generator like Vaporone is ideal, but it costs a lot and is not suitable for anything else, no matter how it is advertised.

At home, it’s good to steam with an ordinary kettle with a tight lid on an electric stove. A little water is poured into it so that it does not close the drain holes inside, and a hose made of heat-resistant rubber or medical silicone, also heat-resistant, is pulled over the spout. After steaming, the treated area is dried with a household hair dryer and, while it has not cooled down, rubbed with wax. The remains of wax are removed with a swab moistened with turpentine.

"Grass" based on blue vitriol, biocides from the old days, are toxic and damage wood. Now on sale there is a wide selection of biological products against rot, mold, bug and complex. Most of them are used once, but first you should check the degree of damage to the wood with an awl: several holes the size of a pinhead on the surface can lead to a whole labyrinth of woodworm moves, because of which the board can be pierced with a finger.

About old veneer

Before taking on fasteners, you need to determine whether the old veneer has value and, if so, remove it. The removal and alignment procedure is described at the beginning of the article.

Mounts

Reinforcement of fasteners comes down most often to drilling existing sockets or holes from old fasteners, and then installing new dowels made of hard resistant wood (oak, boxwood, dogwood, acacia, mountain ash) in them on PVA glue - it is first buried in the hole - and wedges , see fig. Such a dowel will sit tightly for many decades, it is only necessary that the wedge be oriented across the warp fibers, see fig. on right.

Note: if the nest at the end of the face is broken, and the board is split, the chips are smeared with PVA, the face is squeezed with a clamp through plywood gaskets, and only after complete drying they put the dowel.

If the dowel is a boss, then it is left protruding, and a reciprocal wedge is baited before assembly; wedges are also made of hard wood or fiberglass 0.5-1 mm. If the dowel goes under a self-tapping screw or a screw socket, then it is cut flush and passed with a sherhebel.

Holes for self-tapping screws and nests are best drilled immediately. Under the nests - according to the diameter of their bodies and depth in height. For self-tapping screws - with a diameter of 2/3 of the body of a self-tapping screw without thread and a depth of 2/3 of the length of its threaded part.

Note: this method of reinforcing the fasteners is also suitable for Viennese chairs and other openwork structures, but without wedging - the dowels will have to be taken very small.

Completely dry mustaches and spikes (except for the dovetail) are glued with thin plywood or veneer pads on PVA. Gluing technology - common for wood:

1. The parts are impregnated with a water-polymer emulsion and dried with a hair dryer for 10-20 minutes.
2. Both surfaces are lubricated with PVA and allowed to dry for a day or two, until completely dry.
3. PVA is applied to one of the surfaces, dried to a dense tack (usually 10-25 minutes).
4. Surfaces are folded and compressed with a clamp or oppression; wedges are driven into the grooves of the spikes and whiskers, laying polyethylene so that they do not stick.
5. Dry overnight and you're done.

veneer

High-quality veneer is made in two layers: the underside is made of cut veneer of industrial wood and the face is made of sliced ​​veneer of valuable species. Unfortunately, when the veneer is peeled, both layers most often come together, and they have to be separated, and for this it is necessary to remove the veneer from the entire face and veneer it again.

The old glue is removed with a surfactant remover, but gluing has features:

• Having applied a sheet of bottom for final gluing, p. 4 in the previous. list, they immediately smooth out the bubbles with a hot chasing hammer: large and elongated with a striker, and small round ones with a butt.
• Smoothed at 45 degrees relative to the herringbone veneer fibers, i.e. alternately in different directions.
• As soon as the bubbles subside, the entire surface is ironed with a hot iron.
• The surface is covered with polyethylene, a sheet of thick, even plywood is applied and dried for at least 3-4 days under heavy oppression.
• If bubbles are found after drying, inject PVA emulsion into them with a syringe and repeat smoothing.
• The front sheet is glued in the same way.

Note: ironing in a cold way is pointless - the essence of ironing is not to speed up the drying of the glue, but to soften the wood.

Primer and paint

Under oil paints and varnishes primed with drying oil, heated to 60-70 degrees in a water bath. Under other paint and varnish coatings - with it or with a water-polymer emulsion at room temperature. Under waxing (see below) no primer is required; primer for Khokhloma painting is described in acc. section.

Painting to emphasize the texture of wood is done with stain or mordant; both - according to the manufacturer's instructions. Aniline stains are diluted in water at 70-80 degrees. For brightness, a few drops of alcohol are introduced into the ready-to-use solution.

Video: washing and painting an old chair

Painting and painting

Painting and artistic painting of furniture is carried out with oil, gouache or aniline paints according to the appropriate technology and on the ground described above. It should be noted that gouache and aniline will not give a dense layer on the tree, like wood stain; they are most often applied to a background of oil or glue paint.

Any of the traditional Russian techniques is suitable for furniture: Khokhloma, Gorodets, Polkhov-Maidan. Of course, it is not at all necessary to take primordial mythological plots; these techniques give a long-lasting painting suitable for varnishing. However, Khokhloma, the most perfect and refined (see fig.), is written in a special way:

• The layer is covered with very liquid mixed oily clay.
• Abundantly primed with hot drying oil.
• Rub the background - bronze, aluminum powder or white.
• Painted with oil or egg paints
• The dried painting is covered with drying oil.
• The painting is baked at 110-120 degrees, until the drying oil has a golden tone.

Decor and aging

Surface decoration of furniture, in addition to artistic painting, includes the following main varieties:

1. Waxing.
2. Decorative upholstery.
3. Wooden inlay.
4. Woodcarving.
5. Applications.

We will not talk about carving, this is a separate and complex subject. Let's analyze what is possible for a beginner at home.

Waxing

Regular waxing of bare wood gives it a very refined look. Wax mastics for furniture are produced in a wide range; suitable for this purpose and any polish with wax from those described above. But you need to wax regularly, otherwise the furniture will soon fade, and it will be difficult to restore the softness and warmth of the surface tone.

decorative upholstery

Nowadays, furniture is not upholstered with damask or tapestries: they gather dust, get dirty, and require careful maintenance. But now there is such a wonderful material as linkrusta, invented by the author of linoleum, Frederick Walton.

Linkrusta is a soft, lightweight linoleum, not suitable for flooring, but holding on vertical surfaces. Linkrusta is produced in rolls white color with an embossed pattern, up to multi-figured artistic scenes. Linkrusta sits firmly on the glue, and the paint fits perfectly on it. Using the technique of patinating furniture (see below), you can get a finish that would not be rejected even in the Versailles of the times Louis XIV, see fig.

Inlay

Real wood inlay - intarsia - is not available for independent execution. But it can be successfully replaced by a wooden mosaic - marquetry. Make marquetry like this:

• On a sheet of paper on PVA, pieces of veneer, possibly tinted with stain, are collected in a MIRROR REFLECTION pattern.
• After the glue dries, the drawing is turned upside down with paper and glued onto the surface, like veneer.
• Paper with a layer of glue is removed with a small, 220-240 number, sandpaper on a bar.
• All marquetry is covered with a protective varnish.

Applications

The simplest and most accessible of wood applications is decoupage. There are many ready-made kits for sale, and the technique is simple: fragments of colored paper are glued onto a PVA or acrylic base and then varnished.

Aging

Many people want to age their furniture. There are two main ways: craquelure and patination. Furniture patination is not at all the creation of an artificial patina on metal; it is used not only for aging, but also for surface decoration in the Provencal style, see fig. on right. You need to know that craquelure on patinated furniture is hardly ever appropriate: they are most often patinated under metal, and who, where, when saw bronze or silver in a grid of small cracks? But let's move on to technology.

Craquelure

Craquelure on furniture is done with the same crack varnish as on painting or Venetian plaster. Krake is applied to the paint that has set, but is still wet, giving a slight tack. When it hardens, the crack shrinks, pulling the still soft paint along with it, and a network of small cracks forms on it. Craquelure can be coated with a protective varnish.

Furniture patina

Patination of furniture is the sequential application of ever-shrinking layers of ever-lighter paint on it, so oxidized worn metal is imitated. Each layer is shaded. For bronze patination, gold metallic acrylic paint is first applied, and bronze is applied over it or bronze powder is rubbed. Silver patination, as in the linkrusta illustration, can be done with aluminum and then zinc powder.

The basic principle is that they patinate from depressions to bulges, because in reality the relief is erased along the peaks. The technique is this:

• On the corner of a flat brush, take a drop of paint from the first layer, insert it into the cavity and shade it in black with the same brush.
• After setting with a polisher, velvet or cloth, shade completely towards the convexity, gradually reducing the tone to the background.
• The second, and, if necessary, subsequent layers are also applied.

Despite the outward simplicity, the furniture patination technique requires a serious skill and a firm hand, so you need to master it gradually, practicing on various kinds of debris and waste.

Video: antique wood coloring

Lacquering and polishing

For protective varnishing of furniture use any furniture varnishes. Aged furniture for the sake of appearance is better to cover with oil varnish, but it dries for a long time and requires regular maintenance with a polish with vegetable oil or wax with turpentine. Still, the best furniture varnish should be recognized as transparent or tinted acrylic: it is suitable for any surface, extremely durable and resistant and requires virtually no maintenance.

Polishing varnishes of the "old" types is done with cloth, velvet or felt, but they do not rub acrylic well, because of its strength. The acrylic coating is polished with a leather polish (it's faster, but only smooth surfaces) or felt with GOI paste. Kerosene is dripped onto the polisher until it is noticeably moistened, rubbed with GOI and then the furniture is polished. The paste does not go much: if the polishing has gone sluggishly, but the greenery of the GOI is still visible on the polish, just drip more kerosene. Traces of GOI on furniture are easily erased with a rag slightly moistened with the same kerosene.

Upholstery

Upholstering furniture again, even with templates in the form of old upholstery, is very, very difficult.. Therefore, we leave the upholstery in the end, after all the woodwork. The second reason is that paint, polish and varnish can get on the skin. You also need to start upholstery work from the simplest - from an upholstered chair.

Chairs

The upholstery of the seat and back of the chair rests on a plywood board - the base. They are attached to the frame either with screws through the upholstery from the rear, or they are inserted into sockets on it. Chair repairs often involve replacing worn upholstery, and this is a great opportunity to get your hands on the upholstery business. The sequence of work is as follows:

• We remove, prying the brackets with a screwdriver, the old upholstery.
• We remove the batting and the old foam rubber; the canvas lining on the base is most likely still quite suitable, except that it has been soaked with grease, then it can be removed and washed.
• We cut along the contour of the base with a release of 5-10% pieces of foam rubber grade 35-40 (harder) 40 mm thick and grade 20-25 (softer) 20 mm thick.
• We cover the base with canvas, fixing it on the underside with a stapler; We straighten the folds in the corners with a fan in one direction.
• We lay hard foam rubber on the canvas, and soft foam rubber on it; can be fixed with a few drops of PVA.
• On the old upholstery we cut out a new one with an allowance of 10-15%.
• We fix the new upholstery on the sides on the underside with a stapler, 3-4 staples per side. On the sides, the upholstery is fixed crosswise with the hood, you need to make sure that the pattern does not float. Suddenly skewed - we tear out the brackets with a screwdriver and tighten it.
• With a fabric hood, we form corners, as shown in the figures, we fix it with a stapler - you're done!

The back is pulled in the same way, but the foam rubber needs one layer of 20 mm and medium hardness, grade 25-30.

Video: an example of the upholstery of an old chair

Armchair

Pulling the chair is already a more serious matter, you will need to work with the spring block and, if it is folding, with the mechanism. In addition to the backrest, the armrests will also need to be covered.

But what if the upholstered surface borders on the polished one? It is from this border that you need to start the front upholstery: lay it inside out, fasten it with a stapler and turn it back to the face so that the fold comes out. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Disassembly and mechanism

Disassembly of the chair begins with the removal of pillows; V folding chair after that, the mechanism will be visible, it needs to be photographed in order to properly assemble it later. Then we remove the sidewalls, they can be separated tightly. It is impossible to “tear apart” the sidewalls: the slider pins of the mechanism may break; can be easily pry off with a nail puller, pry bar or crowbar.

spring block

After removing the old upholstery, you need to straighten the frame of the block; the sight of him, taken out of an armchair in which one can still sit, is sometimes simply amazing. Straighten with two pliers on weight in a few pressures, avoiding unnecessary bending of the wire. Then the springs rule in the same way - their tops must form a single plane and not be skewed; most often require editing medium springs. Editing is easier to do without removing the block from the base; its bottom is deformed very rarely.

Note: you will definitely have to remove the block completely if the felt lining under it is beaten by moths: this is her favorite nesting ground. In this case, a new lining is made of synthetic felt or overcoat cloth in two layers.

Then make the strapping and shrinkage of the block. At the factory, a new block is tied with net or criss-cross straps, but at home, jute twine is best for this, see fig. Its branches along the centers of the springs are connected with straight knots and the block is seated at 1/5 of the height of the springs.

Uniform shrinkage of the old block can be achieved by using wallpaper nails or push pins-fungi: they are not hammered to the end, but 2-3 turns of twine are thrown onto the rod. Pulling-loosening its branches and the block is seated until it is even. But do not drive nails / buttons into the end or underside - this will quickly wipe the entire upholstery! Only at the top of the base!

Having finished the shrinkage, nails / buttons are hammered until the edges of the hats are sunk into the tree, and the twine tails are cut off.

sheathing

We start the upholstery from the seat. Having finished it (see below), put it in place and mark its outline with a marker on the back and sides. For what? In order not to bring the soft lining under the front upholstery of the backrest and armrests to this line by 30-40 mm, otherwise you won’t push the seat into place later, and the chair will not unfold / assemble.

We put a cover on the block, canvas or burlap. Vertical corners will have to be cut from the inside out and stitched - fabric hood is no longer enough. Sew with a sail seam - the skin works together with the block, and the whole chair will warp from the blooming seam.

The next layer is a synthetic winterizer 10-20 mm thick along the contour of the seat with a release of 10%. They also make a twine harness along it, but pull it weakly, if only the twine crashes into the corners of the mat. Next - two layers of foam rubber, the same as on the chair, and the front trim with trimming and stitching the corners from the inside; face cutting is done in the old way with a margin of 10-15% for the hood.

The face is applied in two stages: first, without trimming and stitching the corners, they are tightened in place, temporarily fixed with buttons. Having achieved the correct fit, the lines of the corners are marked with tailor's chalk. Next, the cover is removed, cut and the corners are stitched from the inside, turned inside out, put on and fixed with a stapler.

This is the most painful part of the work for a beginner: he leads and leads a cracked rag from the stitching of the corners, so trimming the corners must be done with a margin. It is even better to work in three stages: stitch the corners without trimming, fasten temporarily and trim completely, only having achieved the correct fit.

The armrests are sheathed like the back of a chair; soft foam rubber can be added to the top. But the back is sheathed in two ways: if it is spring, then like a chair seat, and if not, like a chair seat, with double foam rubber.

Video: a full cycle of repairing an old chair

Sofa

A sofa is an armchair with a drawer stretched wide, so repairing a sofa has only two features:

1. The spring blocks of the pillows are first seated individually by 1/10 of the height, and then all together by another 1/10; Accordingly, two strappings will be needed.
2. It is better to additionally reinforce the box from the underside with two diagonal bars or metal corners.

Note- joke or seriously, who knows: suddenly it turns out that the old bindings of blocks and internal covers are made of whalebone (like from strips of flexible plastic) - consider that you have hit the jackpot in the lottery or found a treasure. Whale hunting has long been completely banned, and the smooth whales, from which this very whisker was mined, seem to have been completely knocked out. Therefore, incredible amounts are given for whalebone, unless, of course, the buyer is a swindler.

Assembly

Assembling furniture, if you have already dismantled it without turning it into firewood, will not present any difficulties, especially if you guessed to photograph the disassembly in stages. Here are just four tips:

• Save and reuse the old fasteners or completely replace them with new ones: the furniture on the fasteners does not hold well then.
• Instead of screws, take phosphated (black) self-tapping screws, they hold well in wood without landing on glue.
• Replace silumin threaded sockets for screws with modern brass or propylene sockets with a metal insert.
• Do not worry if the chair or sofa is laid out / folded tight with a new upholstery. "Pump" several times - it will go like a pretty one.

Outcome

Restoring furniture with your own hands is a difficult and painstaking task, but rewarding. Old furniture after restoration can last for a very long time. It creates comfort, cordial, friendly atmosphere in the house and acquires great value. Restoration of old furniture is feasible at home.

Video: furniture repair, hauling, do-it-yourself upholstery

Each piece of old furniture was made in individually which makes it unique. Basically, antique products are works of art made from expensive wood and have served for several generations. But only a few items have survived to this day, most of them were destroyed by people and time. Such a process as self-restoration of antique furniture allows you to restore them and return them to our everyday life.

It is important to have certain knowledge and skills to perform restoration work, and it is necessary:

• be able to work with wood;
• know how to work with fabrics;
• use the glass cutter correctly;
• have the skills of forging, working with metal.

If you do not have such skills, then you should not immediately start restoring antique furniture, it is better to practice with inexpensive copies, otherwise you may spoil the surface of ancient structures, after which repair will become impossible.

For such work, tools will be required:

• drill with drills for wood of different diameters;
• chisels 4-40 mm wide;
• plane;
• mallet;
• a set of clamps;
• hammer with a round butt.
• a set of various screwdrivers;
• electric and manual jigsaw;
• hacksaw for metal;
• square;
• pliers;
• furniture stapler;
• bastard file;
• polished (a piece of leather, cloth or felt);
• art brushes of different shapes.

Tools

Preparatory work

Furniture must be kept in the room where it will be restored for 3-4 days. On the second day, it is necessary to get out of it and put all the boxes aside. In the room you need to maintain a constant temperature of 18-24 degrees, humidity should not exceed 75%.

It is necessary to find out in what conditions the furniture was previously. If it was in a damp room, then it will have to be kept at room temperature for 30 days, it is impossible to repair such items earlier, otherwise the shrinkage of the material will cause the destruction of the wood structure.

Disassembly

Furniture is carefully disassembled into separate parts, this is necessary for disinfection if it is damaged by insects and fungal bacteria, and to recreate the previous finish. First of all, furniture elements that are not rigidly connected to the frame are separated - they remove overhead metal decorations, locks, handles, doors, remove shelves, drawers. In cabinets fastened with wedge ties, the back wall, side parts, cornice are disconnected, after which everything is removed decorative elements.

It is not necessary to disassemble cabinet furniture, if there is no great need for it, when assembling the product after the repair is completed, distortion and distortion of the object may occur.

Sofas, armchairs, chairs, most often have weak spike joints, often they are completely destroyed, for this reason the structure is divided into separate elements, having previously separated the soft parts and everything that interferes with disassembly. Furniture units with strong connections are not dismantled.

Large parts of furniture and complex connections are dismantled on the floor, small parts, assemblies - on a workbench, where soft bedding is laid out. In no case should any knots be separated by force; you need to make sure that there are no parts fastening them. Maybe you didn’t notice the screws or nails, or there was glue left, it can be removed if you drop a little alcohol into the seam and try to separate the connection again after a minute. If it fails, you need to treat the adhesive seam with alcohol again.

Upholstered furniture can be very valuable, especially if you have the original wallpaper nails. For this reason, it must be dismantled first of all and very carefully.

The old upholstery of upholstered furniture should be dismantled very carefully.

Connections on threads and nails

When disassembling threaded connections furniture, it is important not to focus on wood. If the screw turns or the screwdriver tries to slip, see if you can grab his body with pliers or platypuses. If it sits firmly in the tree, it is necessary to drop spindle oil 2 times, wait 0.5-1 hour and try to turn it out again.

If a bent nail is found, the back of the connection must be inspected. Try to pry it with a flat screwdriver, align with pliers, hit with a hammer so that its hat comes out of the wood a little. Then carefully pull it out with pliers, you can’t use a nail puller, it will crush the original tree. It is necessary to remove the wallpaper nails by grabbing the rod, otherwise its decorative cap may come off. A strongly driven nail must be shaken or pulled on the parts connected by it so that the hat comes off. If it begins to sink into the wood - the repair should be stopped! You will have to carefully drill it, separate the parts, and then remove the nail shaft.

To pull out a bent nail, you must first straighten it.

Work must be done very carefully.

Adhesive connections

All joinery adhesives that were previously used in the manufacture of furniture can be dissolved with alcohol. To separate the connection on the glue, alcohol is dripped along the contour of the part with an interval of 2-3 cm, after which it is wrapped with parchment paper or film. Soak for 10-30 minutes, after which you need to try to separate the part, if it does not work, you should repeat the procedure. It is necessary to carefully separate the wooden decor - small elements dry out a lot. It is convenient to separate the joints on the glue with a clerical knife, with excessive pressure, the segment will simply break off, and the wood will remain intact, the thin blade fits well into almost any gap.

Hidden connections of parts on wooden bosses can be ordinary, glued or wedged. It is not difficult to disassemble the usual one, the adhesive connection on the bosses is disassembled with alcohol, dripped onto the parts and carefully separated. If the connection is wedged, then you will need to cut it with a knife or jigsaw.

If decorative elements are pasted on the furniture, they can be removed with alcohol.

cleaning

Dust and cobwebs are easiest to remove with a vacuum cleaner, small residues are removed with a soft brush. Old upholstery after dry cleaning can last a long time (if it has not rotted), new fabrics for furniture are expensive. The material on old furniture can be very expensive - with tapestry or hand embroidery and so on.

The internal cavities of furniture and doors are cleaned with a swab with dish detergent. Old contaminants will not be cleaned immediately, for this reason detergent no need to quickly wash off, you must wait up to 5-20 minutes and repeat this procedure.

After that, a final inspection of the surface is carried out. It would be strange if furniture surfaces, after eliminating minor flaws (cracks, chips and stains), do not have to be varnished and polished - old technologies were calculated for a long service life. This will reduce labor, reduce repair costs, and add value to the product at the same time. But in the future you will have to take this into account so as not to damage the genuine coating of the product. If the pieces of furniture have not been varnished and after a thorough cleaning the wood will look dirty, wax it like oak products with beer wax.

If necessary, you can polish the surface of the furniture

The old coating is peeled off

Restoration methods

Antique furniture is restored in different ways, the main goal of this work is to eliminate the damage that appeared during operation, restore the original appearance and preserve it.

There are museum and commercial restorations, in the first case the most important thing is to preserve the current state of the object for a long time, in the second - the main thing is to restore its functionality. With the museum method of restoring furniture with your own hands, the most important thing is to preserve the product, intervention in its structure is performed only in extreme cases.

To strengthen and disinfect wood, restorers traditionally use natural resins - mastic, shellac, rosin - they are diluted with organic solvents, after which they impregnate the wood. As a result, the material can resist pests, acquires strength.

The holes made by insects are covered with putty, which is obtained by mixing 0.2 parts of gypsum, 1 part of rosin, 2 parts of beeswax with the addition of the required dose of a suitable color pigment. The putty is diluted in turpentine or melted, after which the defects are carefully repaired and, after drying, the excess is removed. Not all antiques need serious restoration. Most often, it is only necessary to eliminate small defects or fit furniture into a new interior.

Special putty will help to defeat pests

Partial item update

Restoring old furniture often consists of repairing a damaged part, for example, if the lacquer coating has worn out. It is necessary to remove a layer of old varnish, first you need to degrease the surface, then remove the varnish with a metal sponge. Then wipe the products well with a cloth and varnish again.

Removing old varnish

Lacquering

Film restoration

This is the easiest way, which is used when there is not enough time for painstaking work. The scheme here consists of only three steps:

• remove paint or varnish from the surface;
• remove fat from it;
• stick a pre-purchased film.

Film restoration

Laminating is a common way to restore antique furniture. It consists in removing the worn coating and applying a new varnish. Furniture is disassembled into separate elements, contaminated paint and varnish are removed. After that, the broken parts of the structure are replaced, chips and scratches are repaired. If the furniture elements have significant damage, then they must be further strengthened, and only then can the product be assembled. At the end of the assembly, the furniture is varnished.

Coloring

If the product has handles, overhead elements, and so on, they must be removed in advance. Shelves and drawers are removed from the cabinet, mirrors and handles are removed, after which it is installed on bars to raise the bottom of the product. The surface is cleaned, dust is removed and treated with turpentine, after which the cabinet is primed with an oil composition. After drying, the surface is treated with sandpaper and wiped with a rag with turpentine. Before application, the paint is diluted to a liquid consistency, so it will better cover the surface.

Wood defects

The bulk of the detected shortcomings of the material is easy to eliminate:

• small cracks are filled with colored wax;
• potholes and chips are sealed with liquid wood;
• traces of insect activity and rot are cleaned with a chisel, impregnated with biocide compounds and masked with liquid wood.

Steaming wood is necessary to warm up the material and make it softer, in which case the grout can penetrate into its structure. It is hoped that, after steaming, small cracks will converge and become invisible. For steaming, it is best to use a household steam generator.

You can use a kettle with a tight-fitting lid for steaming. Pour a little water, put a heat-resistant hose on the spout. After steam treatment, this piece of furniture is dried with a hairdryer and the heated wood is immediately rubbed with wax.

liquid tree

Scratches can be removed with colored wax

Assembly

Assembling restored furniture will not create difficulties, especially if you photographed all the parts in their original form before starting work. There are only a few recommendations:

• keep the old furniture fasteners intact;
• use black self-tapping screws instead of screws, they are better held in wood without the use of glue;
• don't worry if the newly upholstered furniture folds or unfolds tightly, after a short time the parts will run in.

Common mistakes

There are a number of mistakes that are most often made when restoring furniture with your own hands:

• the most important commandment - do not harm the furniture and make your work as invisible as possible;
• try to replace fewer pieces of furniture, if this is not possible, then make duplicates from the same quality material;
• if necessary, renew the veneer, try to remove the veneer from inconspicuous areas of the restored furniture;
• if we restore upholstered furniture, then you need to try to keep the original coating on the product.

Before starting work, it is advisable to view a master class on how to restore various pieces of furniture.

The new is the long-forgotten old. And this is not surprising, since a new thing does not have to be bought. You can give something old the new kind, having restored it, and this thing will look completely different. This can be applied to old furniture. Often people are chasing new products, designer models, but they stop appreciating and noticing the true beauty of old furniture. Most people just throw away old furniture in order to buy something new. But is it rational? It's no secret that old furniture differs from new in quality. Such products were often made from solid wood and environmentally friendly materials were selected. Moreover, they are very reliable and strong. Therefore, it is worth considering not to buy new furniture and bring back the life of the old. It is within the power of anyone - both a beginner and an experienced person. Let's look at how do-it-yourself restoration of old furniture takes place .

Before starting work, you should decide how you will restore the furniture. For this purpose, there are several ways, some of which we will consider in the course of the article. In order to restore wooden or chipboard surfaces, the following methods are used:

• decoupage;
• adhesive tape;
• painting with paints;
• craquelure;
• processing with varnish and stain;
• lamination or veneering.

One or more techniques can be used in the work. It all depends on skills and desire. For example, craquelure goes well with decoupage, and they can be supplemented with painting with paints.

Let's take a look at what each technology is:

1. Decoupage is gluing applications on furniture. To mask defects in furniture that arose during operation, this method is often used. To work, you need napkins with a pattern that you can buy at the store, glue and varnish. A pattern is cut out of a napkin, fixed with PVA glue, and after drying, varnished.
2. Adhesive tape. Everything is simple here - this tape with a different texture and pattern, which covers the surface of the furniture. Thus, old furniture acquires new life.
3. Painting with paints. Such technology requires artistic skills and imagination. Work requires paints and brushes. The finished drawing is opened with varnish.
4. Craquelure. This is a special technique for which a special composition is used. You can buy it in the store. After applying such a composition to the surface, it dries, imitating the texture of an old cracked tree.
5. Treatment with varnish and stain. It's no secret that wood stain is ideal for staining wood. With it, you can restore the color of old furniture. All you need is paint, a brush and varnish.
6. Lamination or veneering. A method that requires veneer, iron and special glue. The entire surface is covered with glue in two layers. After that, a veneer is applied to it, which is ironed through the paper. You need to iron from the center to the edges.

Such restoration will give you the opportunity to realize your creativity and imagination. Special skills are not required, and good mood you will be provided.

Before starting work, you should prepare the furniture for restoration work. There is no need to hurry in this matter. All details, parts and surfaces should be prepared very delicately. To begin with, they must be cleaned with a sponge previously moistened with soapy water. Treat all surfaces and joints. The water should be warm, but not hot. And it is better to use vegetable soap, without the presence of active chemistry.

In the case when the product is decorated with decorative elements, whether it be carving or fittings, you use toothbrush and the same soap solution. And to get dirt from hard-to-reach places, an awl or an ordinary toothpick will do.

For the most stubborn plaque, buy sandpaper - zero. Remove dirt with it, gently, without pressing on the surface. After such manipulations, everything is ready for restoration work.

After the cleaning work is completed, you can begin to repair and replace parts. Finding exactly the same legs or accessories will be problematic, but still possible. Contact a specialized furniture store or just look for it on the market. If you couldn’t find something suitable there, you can make the part yourself. If it's a broken leg, door, or other element, just make it yourself. Fittings and other accessories can be replaced by others. The entire structure should be checked for strength and, if the bolts are loose somewhere, tighten them. Corroded ones should be replaced with new ones. If there are faults, they need to be connected with special glue, and cracks with wood putty.

If the old trim layer is in very poor condition, or if you just plan to replace it, then it should be removed. This can be done thanks to chemical solvents and sandpaper.

When working with aggressive chemicals, use respiratory protection - a respirator is suitable for this purpose.

Such a process can be called the dirtiest and most painstaking, but the result is worth it. When using a spatula and sandpaper, be especially careful so that your efforts do not come to naught. Thus, your rare furniture is prepared, and further actions will depend on your choice of restoration technology.

Let's take a look at some options for specific example. Almost every house has an old grandmother's sideboard. This is an integral part of the old apartments. But after restoration, it can become the main element of your home.

The simplest and at the same time beautiful way- painting and varnishing. You can use both stain and other ordinary paint. It is important to choose a color that would fit into the interior. Designers advise using bright, contrasting colors that blend well and do not differ from the overall interior.

Since the surface has been cleaned and all defects removed, you can immediately start painting. Make sure to have tassels of various widths. A roller will also be useful, then you can cover the entire surface with high quality and even paint over hard-to-reach places. The process itself is simple: apply paint to the surface with a brush or roller. Make sure there are no leaks or bubbles. After finishing work, be sure to open all windows and doors so that the paint erodes and dries faster. That's all, you can enjoy the updated sideboard, which will serve you for many years. To open with varnish or not is purely your decision.

The next option to bring old furniture to nobility is patination. The word itself comes from Italy and indicates a specific plaque that formed on bronze and copper products after its oxidation. Now there are several colors used for the effect of worn wooden furniture: gold, silver, copper.

To achieve such an antique result, you need to buy ordinary wood paints: two different colors that you have in mind for the palette. One shade will be basic, and the other - additional, brilliant. Further, the work is divided into three stages:

1. Cleaning the surface from old finishes, grease and dirt.
2. Applying a base coat of paint to the surface until completely dry.
3. Application of the second layer, auxiliary, which will imitate attrition and antiquity. This stage is the most creative and requires attention. Using a dry brush, carefully apply the second paint to individual areas of the furniture. It is not worth dipping heavily into the paint so that the base paint protrudes through the painted layer. Then a textured paint layer will be created on the surface. Pay special attention to relief formations, bends and depressions. Excess paint can be removed with a simple sponge. Some areas can be shaded.

After that, we let the paint dry, and our furniture has turned into an “updated” rarity.

For the restoration of old furniture, the following technique is perfect - craquelure. The roots of this word are from France. The word itself means "crack" and refers to a cracked upper layer paint or varnish on something. This style is very popular and will endow your interior with the spirit of a certain aristocracy.

Despite the complexity of the above, achieving the effect of cracks is easier than you think. To begin with, the first layer of acrylic paint of the desired color must be applied to the cleaned surface. After waiting for the paint to dry completely, apply a special craquelure varnish or regular PVA glue. Apply the product quickly and evenly. The thicker the layer, the larger the cracks. Without waiting for complete drying, cover everything with a second coat of paint (the shade may be different). After that, the necessary cracks are formed on the surface, which we have been waiting for.

Decoupage and DIY drawings

Decoupage is a French word meaning "cut". The technique itself lies in the fact that cut paper napkins are glued to furniture. You can buy such applications in the store, and most importantly, there are a lot of varieties and types of them. You can pick up such drawings that you like and will be in harmony with your interior. Apply a layer of PVA glue to the workpiece and fix it in the desired area. You can choose large patterns and small ones. It all depends on your imagination. The resulting result must be opened with varnish.

If you don't want to use ready-made ideas, paint and brushes will help you to realize your fantasies. You can decorate your furniture the way you see it. You can also involve other family members, for example, children, who will also contribute to the overall design.

An inexpensive and easy way to restore a product is to stick a film on the facade. With the help of such a film, your furniture can become modern and look like new.

The color and texture of this material is very diverse. The choice is yours. All you need is to buy a self-adhesive film and stick it on a cleaned base. The main thing is to correctly calculate the required amount. The advantage of this type of restoration is that the coating will serve for a long time, will not fade, and the surface itself can be washed with water.

Such an update is applicable not only to your old sideboards, but also to old sofas, armchairs and the rest. kitchen furniture. These are not all options for updating old pieces of furniture, but they will help you do everything yourself without much effort.

Video

In these videos, you can see how to restore old furniture with your own hands:

Photo

Below you can see examples of the restoration of old furniture with your own hands:

Did your grandmother leave you antique Soviet furniture from the 1930s? Did your parents reward you with an old closet from the 60s? Do not rush to get rid of them! In this article, you will learn how to do the restoration of Soviet furniture with your own hands, or rather, how to update old furniture so that it becomes pleasing to your eye again. Photos of successful experiments are attached. So…

Stage 1: replacement of furniture fittings

Most of all, in old furniture, poorly closing doors are annoying. If you are going to take on such a thing as reworking Soviet furniture with your own hands, then first you will have to buy new fittings, find material for sealing loose holes (you can use putty, dowels or corks), get a screwdriver and a screwdriver, and then work hard on fixing doors.

We advise you to also take a closer look at the rest of the fittings. Sometimes simply replacing old-fashioned handles can be enough to make a big difference in furniture. As for the staggering legs of chairs and tables, they can be put in order in any workshop.

Stage 2: furniture cleaning

Before proceeding to the alteration of Soviet furniture, it should be thoroughly cleaned. Do-it-yourself restoration of Soviet furniture begins with the removal of dirt and soot, which is recommended to be done with an ordinary sponge, soap made from any vegetable oil, and warm water. To clean the most problematic places - corners and cracks - use a soft toothbrush, for narrow gaps - a wooden dowel, pointed at one end.

Stage 3: Renovation of old furniture

Worn and upholstered surfaces of Soviet furniture must be put in order. For sanding, use sandpaper or a special grinding tool(who has what). Any cracks can be carefully repaired with putty, after which this place has dried, this place will need to be sanded again.

Advice: before puttying and painting, the surface should be treated with a primer - then the adhesion will be better, and the applied paint or putty will lie more evenly.

Stage 4: decorating furniture with your own hands

The fourth stage of the restoration of Soviet furniture with your own hands is decorative trim. Coloring, varnishing, painting, decoupage of furniture, decoration with stickers - here you will have to dream up and choose the most suitable option. You may be inspired by the ideas in this article.

How to update old furniture - furniture painting

Let's start with the most popular and easy way update old furniture. Here you will learn how to paint Soviet-era furniture.

Painting furniture should only be done if it is made of cheap wood (pine, etc.). If your Soviet furniture is made, for example, of oak, then painting it is highly discouraged, as this will permanently reduce its value.

Do-it-yourself restoration of Soviet furniture is usually carried out with oil paint. How to paint furniture correctly:

1. Apply the paint with light strokes in a thin layer along the wood fibers.
2. Let dry for about 12 hours.
3. Clean the surface with sandpaper, wipe off dust and apply a second coat.

If you are restoring Soviet furniture of the 50s-70s, which was made in a minimalist style, then black and pastel colors are perfect for painting it. bright hues. With this finish, it will be a great accessory for a modern interior.

If you want to be more creative in painting furniture, but you don’t own hand-painted, then use templates. They are sold in stores, they can also be printed from the Internet and cut out on thick paper. Before applying the pattern to the furniture, the stencil must be fixed with adhesive tape.

Painting furniture - photos of old furniture before and after:

Do-it-yourself chest of drawers restoration:

Also read:

How to update an old wardrobe:

How to remake old bedside table and chairs:

It has become very fashionable to paint furniture with thin lace. Just fix the lace fabric on the surface of the Soviet furniture, then apply the paint. The result is amazing!

Alteration of old furniture through varnishing

If Soviet furniture is made of precious woods, then, as we said above, it is better to cover it with a fresh layer of varnish than paint over it. How to update old furniture through varnishing?

Firstly, when reworking or restoring Soviet furniture with your own hands, it is best to use oil varnishes. They are suitable for all types of wood and form very durable, shiny and moisture resistant coatings. The only negative is the long drying period (up to 12 hours). For comparison: shellac varnish dries in 1-2 hours, and nitro-varnishes in 30-40 minutes.

General rules for reworking old furniture:

1. Varnish can be applied with a brush or a piece of dense, lint-free cloth folded 2-3 times;
2. The varnish is applied in 3-5 layers, and after applying each new layer, the drying time should be increased;
3. Excess varnish should be squeezed out on the edges of the jar, the brush can sometimes be washed in an alcohol solution.

How to update old furniture with craquelure varnish

We also want to give you an example of a special varnishing method, which is performed using a special varnish - craquelure.

To remake old furniture today, there are many varieties of craquelure varnish: with the effect of patina, gilding, etc. The most common one is applied in a thick layer on top of the main layer of paint, after which it is covered with a different color to highlight cracks. Also, craquelure varnish can consist of two components: the first is applied to age the treated surface, the second to create decorative cracks.

Restoration of Soviet furniture with the help of craquelure is perfect for lovers of antiquity and country style. As, however, our next method is decoupage.

Mastering the decoupage technique will help you turn old Soviet furniture into a real design masterpiece. Decoupage of old furniture is performed using the following tools:

• Sandpaper fine grit;
• Alcohol;
• Primer;
• Brush and glue for decoupage;
• Roller or sponge;
• Decoupage material - newspaper clippings, old postcards, letters, drawings, book pages, etc.

In search of inspirational ideas and materials for decoupage, the Internet will help you. For example, we especially like these 2 examples of how to update an old chest of drawers with the decoupage method:

1. Surface preparation with sandpaper;
2. Cleaning with a cloth soaked in alcohol;
3. After the surface dries - applying a primer (3-4 layers);
4. If decoupage materials will be used only in places, then the furniture must first be painted to make the background;
5. If the furniture will be glued completely (for example, with newspapers), then immediately after the primer dries, you can start applying glue;
6. Thin paper can be immediately applied to the glue, while thicker paper should first be thinned with sandpaper and soaked in water;
7. Wet paper is blotted with a towel on both sides and applied to the glue;
8. After gluing all materials, you should walk on the surface with a roller or sponge to remove glue residue;
9. The last step is to apply varnish to the dried surface.

Original furniture in Provence or vintage styles is ready!

Photos of old furniture before and after decoupage:

How to update an old wall

Those who are interested in reworking furniture with their own hands - here are ideas for you on how to update an old Soviet wall with decoupage and new paint:

Liked? Then read: !

Do-it-yourself Soviet furniture restoration updated: October 27, 2015 by: Margarita Glushko

Any furniture for the home, like everything else, can be subject to wear, deterioration of its original appearance, and even collapse. In order to keep its functionality and attractive appearance, requires constant care, and in other cases, timely repair. Qualitatively restored furniture can always be found in various museums and exhibitions.

This once again confirms that such furniture can be repaired, and it will look like new. Of course, if the furniture is seriously damaged enough, then special equipment for restoration will be required.

But in some cases, it is also possible to restore furniture with your own hands.

Surely, each of us will always have some furniture that has long outlived its due date, but it's a pity to throw it away. But, if you use the old headset for a long time, you can make a very effective decorative object that will stand out for its originality and exclusivity.

Furniture restoration tools

In order to put your old furniture in order with your own hands, you need special tools.

You should know that the restorer needs not only ordinary carpentry tools, but also turning, metalworking and drilling fixtures. An experienced restorer, he always has a convenient workshop where all the necessary conditions for repair.

Also, do not forget about measuring tools. It can be a tape measure, a joiner's meter, a compass, a caliper, a thickness gauge, as well as metal and wooden squares.

For high-quality restoration of any wooden surfaces, you need to purchase a special abrasive wheel. It will be necessary for processing and grinding surfaces.

Thanks to this tool, you can effectively remove the paintwork and align the edges of the processed pieces of furniture. In addition, it is desirable to get an abrasive wheel for processing metal surfaces.

For example, it will be needed when you need to cut or remove old handles.

Using planing tools, you can prepare the desired piece for furniture if the previous one has become unusable. If you are going to do the restoration thoroughly, then you will need to drill and process all the gaps in the wood. Then you can not do without a brace, hand and electric drills, drills and countersinks. In addition, you will need a hacksaw, a bow saw, knives, as well as files for opening veneer.

To clean all the required surfaces, it is desirable to have a set of flat and semicircular chisels, carpentry chisels.

In addition to all of the above, you will also need various auxiliary tools: spanners, files, hammers, screwdrivers, rasps, protractor, nail puller and electric drill.

In order to fix all the surfaces to be treated, wedges, rope devices, clamps will definitely come in handy.

For reliable fixation of the restored elements, you should install a vice for chopping and cutting metal, as well as purchase metalwork hammers and metal shears.

Means for furniture restoration

Varnishes for furniture

As a rule, furniture made from expensive types of wood will definitely need special protection.

All surfaces of such a headset can be protected with the help of special furniture varnishes, which are polished after application. Furniture varnish is necessary in order to reliably protect furniture from all kinds of external influences.

Lacquering a wooden surface is a process that requires extreme care. Each varnish may have its own method of application, however, most often a sprayer is used.

There are varnishes that can be applied with a swab or brush, by pouring. In addition, this varnish can be preheated. Remember that each varnish has its own characteristic viscosity.

In most cases, furniture varnish dries completely in 2 hours, at a temperature of about 20 degrees. It can form a heat-resistant, light-resistant or water-resistant coating.

When choosing a varnish, you need to decide in advance for what tasks it will be intended.

For example, the entire surface of a chair or table should be covered with a sufficiently durable varnish, as it is constantly exposed to external influences. For children's furniture it is necessary to choose a varnish with special care. The varnish should not contain harsh chemical compounds, any odors and harmful substances.

Oil for furniture

However, varnish is not the only way to protect wood floors. A good option is a special oil, which is subsequently coated with wax.

On sale there is, as usual, oil, and oils with hard wax. Oil is applied to the surface much easier and faster than varnish, and the surface itself can acquire increased wear resistance.

In addition, the surface can be subjected to frequent wet cleaning without problems.

The oil can penetrate into all the pores of the wood, and only the smallest amount will remain on the surface. Thereby, wooden surface will be sufficiently wear-resistant and durable. When the surface is treated with oil, a protective film is not formed.

Shellac

Quite often, for the restoration of furniture with their own hands, they use a coating such as shellac.

Shellac is a natural finish that can give absolutely any furniture a bright and soft surface. Shellac can be ideal for restoring very old or antique furniture.

The composition has a natural amber color and can give the product a special warmth and depth.

Today, shellac is produced from the secretions of insects, the so-called lac worms, which live in India and Pakistan. Lacquer insects sit on the branches of shrubs or trees and feed on their sap.

During digestion, the juice is processed into a unique resinous substance that is excreted.

The color of shellac is usually orange (amber) and it is the best option in order to enhance the natural warmth of wood coloring.

It is with this composition that most of the antique furniture is processed. If it is necessary to preserve the whiteness of the wood, then in this case a special bleached shellac is used.

Furniture restoration

It should be immediately recalled that only high-quality furniture can be restored.

If this is Chinese chipboard, then it is not restored, but boldly thrown away. It is necessary to restore something that has served for a very long time and is able to please its owners for many more years. If the furniture is made with high quality, there is no need to “bury” it. If possible, be sure to extend her life.

If you have restored old furniture, then it will certainly ennoble your home. Eg, Vacation home with such furniture has always been considered the standard of classics, where a leisurely and measured life is led.

Remember that an old chair or table, wardrobe or chest of drawers will always require only a respectful attitude. Such furniture needs space in a small room, it will be very cramped. Give old furniture more space and new life.

As a rule, restoration can be of three levels of complexity, and we will consider them in order.

First degree of difficulty

1. The furniture has small defects, scuffs and scratches.

If the "damage" is not too serious, then they can be painted over. For this, any artistic paint with a carefully selected color will do. The surface can be covered with a small layer of varnish or transparent color nail polish. Of course, no one can promise durability, but enough for a couple of decades.

2. Deep cracks and scratches. For such troubles, you can use a special furniture wax. Wax can be both soft and colored.

In addition, the wax is divided into a transparent composition and with a color tint. If transparent wax is used, then before that, the entire surface must be treated with enamel or colored varnish. In general, transparent wax is quite practical.

It is very cheap in cost and much more profitable.

3. A deep hole from any blow or chipped surface. Such a defect can be attributed to cosmetic, but already quite serious. In these cases, wood putty will be required. It is necessary to choose the desired shade and level the damaged surface with a very thin layer.

Let the layer dry well, and then process it with sandpaper. After that, the surface is varnished.

Paint layer damaged. On furniture, from various blows, quite serious damage can form. It is necessary to fill this place with a transparent varnish and let it dry.

Second degree of difficulty

1. It is necessary to change the old hinges, fasteners, and replace the nails with self-tapping screws. Everything should be as reliable and durable as possible.

2. Removal of old paint.

With a wide flute, you need to very carefully cover the entire surface with a paint remover. After about an hour, we remove all this “art” with a spatula. If small rusty fragments appear, then they need to be treated with a special solution.

If dead wood tissue has formed on the furniture, then cleaning with a metal brush will be required. After that, the treated surfaces are thoroughly washed under running water.

Remember, water should not penetrate deep inside, just rinse and no more.

Furniture or its elements, it is best to dry on outdoors(in the sun.). This may take approximately 2-3 days. Only after that, it is worth using wood putty. If you need to preserve the natural effect of antiquity, then we do not touch these places. If you need to close holes and openings from nails, then we use a rubber spatula. It is necessary to align in two layers and each layer must be allowed to dry. After the second layer has dried, we process the surface with sandpaper.

Then wipe with a damp cloth. And after that, your furniture will be completely ready for painting.

3. Paint. It is advisable to choose the paint in advance so as not to leave the furniture in this state. If the furniture is classic, then you can use some bed shades. It can be cream, peach or coffee color. Also, the color of ivory looks original.

You can also use black. Then, your furniture will look very impressive.

For painting very old furniture, popular acrylic is an excellent option. Acrylic, in addition to its practicality, will effectively save the tree from possible destruction.

If you choose enamel, then alkyd is best. Of course, it dries longer, but this is a sign of quality. The paint itself can be used in a spray or spray. You can use a sponge, thanks to which the paint penetrates much deeper.

Of course, you can use a regular brush, but make sure that all the strokes fall evenly. For example, a cabinet or shelving can be painted with a roller. However, if there are any protruding parts, then a sponge is indispensable.

Do 2-3 layers and each layer must dry well.

Let's move on to varnish. The varnish can be matte, silky or glossy. To each his own. To cover the surface, it is best to use a spray, as it will be able to lay down in an even, thin and durable layer.

If you use painting, then you need to decide on the style. Do you want Provence? then use a floral theme. If you want a country style, then use a variety of stripes and squares. If you prefer ethnicity, then take Australian or African symbols.

To introduce plant themes, use the double stroke technique. Draw large flowers and only then, move on to smaller flowers. Refresh your brush with paint as often as possible. It should not be completely dry, otherwise the effect of smoothing and smooth transition will disappear.

Be sure to keep it even.

For country style, you will need paper tape. It will greatly speed up and simplify your work. Remember that you do not need to press the tape into the surface. Make the desired stencil out of adhesive tape and place it very carefully on the surface of the furniture. Keep an even coverage. For ethnic style, all kinds of mosaic elements and contours are useful.

If you are modest and timid in your artistic endeavors, then you should resort to decoupage.

Purchase special three-layer napkins with original patterns and use them to apply the pattern. Also, you will need a small jar of glue. Cut out the elements and remove the two bottom layers from the napkin. Cover the intended place with glue and attach the drawing. After it all dries, use the same composition (varnish). And if you carefully outline the outline of the picture, then everyone will take the word that it is handmade. After all the manipulations, the surface must be varnished.

Third degree of difficulty

In principle, there is not much to say here.

Restoring furniture with your own hands will be quite difficult. If you need to replace the door, back or leg, then use the services of professionals. If you need to glue the parts, use epoxy glue.

Prepare glue only according to the instructions. Thoroughly prepared surfaces are carefully lubricated with the prepared composition, then we maintain a short pause and strongly (tightly) squeeze.

We restore old furniture with our own hands

We are waiting for a day, and it will be possible to use.

Outcome

If restoration on your own does not save the situation, contact the real masters. Perhaps they will make a new part, and it will be much better than trying to "reanimate" the old one. But in any case, antique (antique) furniture will still be useful to you, and your grandchildren will use it, remembering you kind word. After all, everything that we create with our own hands must live forever.

Furniture made from chipboard is one of the most common among consumers in this area.

We restore furniture with our own hands

It is inexpensive and has good strength characteristics. For the production of furniture, the ennobled laminated chipboard is most often used. This gives the furniture a finished look. However, as, indeed, furniture made from other materials, chipboard products lose their attractive appearance over time.

Furniture items can be damaged in an hour of transportation, they could be improperly cared for. If there are children or animals in the house, then there is a high probability that damage will also appear on the surface of the laminated chipboard.

Scratches and chips, scuffs and dents may appear on chipboard furniture, cracks and deformations on kitchen furniture. It is possible to restore the lost attractiveness. To do this, we will consider how to repair or update old chipboard furniture with improvised means with our own hands.

Basic materials

To repair old chipboard furniture, you will need:

• felt-tip pen for retouching (sometimes they use a regular one, in the color of the product);
• solid colored wax and a device for melting it;
• spatula, chisel;
• felt-based fabric;
• spray varnish for fixing.

How to fix chips

To a greater extent, chips are formed at the corners.

To restore such furniture, you must:

• process the corners with a chisel;
• melt the wax and seal the treated area;
• after drying, cut off the excess and again walk with a chisel to level the surface;
• sand the corners with a soft cloth;
• retouching is applied with a felt-tip pen and immediately treated with a napkin to smooth out the shade;
• waxed place, open with varnish.

Scratched furniture repair

The greatest number of scratches is found on furniture in children's rooms.

In this case, we proceed as follows:

• melted wax is carefully applied to the scratch and allowed to dry a little;
• cover a scratch with a retouched felt-tip pen to update the texture;
• The final step is varnishing with a fixing varnish.

Worn furniture repair

Restoration of scuffs most often occurs on kitchen furniture, where moisture is increased. And also often wiping stains and crumbs leads to the formation of scuffs.

It is not difficult to update such old furniture with your own hands, for this:

• take a microfiber cloth and apply a felt-tip pen of a suitable color to it;
• further, with this napkin, go through the worn places and this should be done along the structural surface of the product;
• after that, a fixing varnish is applied to the treated area.

Crack repair

The appearance of cracks often occurs on old furniture, due to improper handling (sudden opening of doors in cabinets and claps), as well as if a chipboard product is used in a room with high humidity and is saturated with moisture, and then dries.

Restoration of such products occurs as follows:

• PVA glue is drawn into a syringe, after which a needle is put on it;
• further, glue is “driven” into the entire volume of the crack;
• in order for the glue to “grab”, it is necessary to use a clamp or other clamps that need to be wrapped around the place with a crack to tighten it;
• blot the protruding glue with a napkin very carefully so that it does not spread over the surface;
• the clamps are removed no earlier than a day later.

Using these simple tricks, you can easily update the furniture with your own hands at home.

It will be cheaper than restoration in workshops or buying new products. The main thing is to prepare all the constituent materials and follow the step-by-step processes - let the adhesive components dry and securely fix the damage sites with special means.

Do-it-yourself restoration of old antique furniture - video

Short description: You should not throw away dilapidated furniture, perhaps it can still be given a second life.

Especially if the furniture available is old. Using the example of a nineteenth century chair, the master will show and comment step by step how furniture is restored.
Nowadays, when there are many various devices and special tools, and especially a gel that can remove material that has blackened from time to time, making furniture repairs is not so difficult.

It is very important at the beginning of the work itself to thoroughly polish the surface of the chair, and sand it after puttying.

Furniture restoration: giving new life to old objects

Particular attention is paid to the soft upholstery of the chair.

Added: 2014-05-29

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Remember how at school every fall you had to write an essay on the topic “How I spent my summer”?

How to restore old furniture at home

God only knows who was interested in our trips to the sea, weeding in the grandmother's garden and ball games in the company of their own kind of blockheads.

I don’t know if my report will interest you, however, following an old school habit, I decided to write a short essay about how I spent the summer, or rather, the most pleasant part of it - vacation.

I already wrote about one of my summer activities - decoupage of a bag with Parisian motifs.

And now I want to tell you about an equally useful and creative activity.

Restoration of old furniture using decoupage technique

I have one cabinet in my kitchen, an old, old one, from the 60s or even 50s. Solid, durable and very roomy. This is what this “fragment of socialism” looked like 13 years ago, when we got it from the previous owners:

In an attempt to modernize the "rare" furniture, this cabinet had to be repainted several times.

And a few years ago, my husband and I made a radical change in its design, removing the top wall and cutting obliquely protruding corners of the sides.

And here is my locker on the eve of the next update: with the self-adhesive wallpaper removed and the surface sanded in places.

And, of course, washed as thoroughly as possible at his advanced age.

To begin with, I had to arm myself with a paint roller and paint and freshen up the surface of the cabinet. By the way, in addition to the post about improvised materials for decoupage: for tinting white paint, I used the “Snowball” color.

And when choosing a color in the store, I stocked up on several jars of different colors at once to use instead of artistic ones. acrylic paints to create a background when decoupage bottles and other utensils, the surface of which has a fairly large area.

This results in significant savings.

Next, I pasted over the cabinet with self-adhesive wallpaper. A ten-meter roll was enough for the entire outer and most of the inner surface. The self-adhesive was initially selected light and not too colorful, so that the pasted decoupage motifs would not be lost and were clearly visible.

You may not believe it, but difficult part work on the restoration of an old kitchen cabinet turned out to be the selection of napkins for decoupage. I really wanted to decorate the closet with the image of berries.

After all, all kinds of fruits are associated with prosperity. And prosperity in the kitchen is a vital thing. But there were no “fruit” napkins of suitable size. But there was a napkin with autumn maple leaves.

Oh, how sad it becomes in summer at the thought that hot days will soon be replaced by autumn leaf fall! But suddenly I remembered the song that Nikolai Karachentsov sang so sincerely:

It's time for the birds to go,
Birds dream of the south
Yellow maple leaf yesterday
Sat in my palm.
There is nothing like this here
Yellow leaf like a bird yesterday
Sat in my palm.

maple leaf, maple leaf,
You dream of me in the middle of winter
Shakes snow outside the window.
At the moment when everything is frozen
And my soul is white-white,

Touch my tired century,
Giving a quiet dream
Return as a lost bird
In the cold of January.
Let someone tell me in response -
There is nothing like this here
Reckless bird come back
In the cold of January.

maple leaf, maple leaf,
You dream of me in the middle of winter
At that moment, dream when a blizzard
Shakes snow outside the window.
At the moment when everything is frozen
And my soul is white-white,
I dream about you, red maple leaf,
Dream, dream, red maple leaf.

The birds dream of the sea and the south,
In a haze of gold.
Yellow leaf trust me
Suddenly sat in my palm
Let someone tell me in response
There is nothing like this here
Jumping from a branch of a yellow leaf,
Suddenly sat in my palm.

maple leaf, maple leaf,
You dream of me in the middle of winter
At that moment, dream when a blizzard
Shakes snow outside the window.
At the moment when everything is frozen
And my soul is white-white,
I dream about you, red maple leaf,
Dream, dream, red maple leaf.
Dream, dream, red maple leaf.

And I thought: but someday winter will come.

And then the bright yellow-purple maple leaves will surely warm the soul with gentle warmth. early autumn. And with this thought, I cut out all the leaves from the napkin along the contour, stratified them and glued the top colorful layer with decoupage glue.

To fix the glued motifs, I covered the entire outer surface of the cabinet with glossy acrylic varnish in three layers.

So the cabinet will be much easier to clean. In addition, the varnish took quite a bit, since the self-adhesive prevented its absorption.

It is quite difficult to capture the general view of the restored cabinet, photographing it in a not too spacious kitchen, and even from behind the corner of the refrigerator.

But, I think, even individual fragments show a striking difference between the renovated furniture and its original state.

And although some of the inhabitants of the apartment pretend that the renovation of the kitchen furniture did not make any impression on them,

The cabinet looks much better now than it did before the restoration.

So thanks to the decoupage technique: it helped me out and allowed me to give old furniture a new look, and with it a new life at minimal material cost.

As you can see, sometimes even renovations can be a creative, exciting and rewarding process.

And, I think, the logical conclusion of my summer report on the restoration of an old decoupage kitchen cabinet with autumn motifs will be a poetic video by Petr Linev with a wonderful song from the movie "A Little Favor":

Enjoy restoring old furniture with HobbyMama!