A vintage item several decades old is likely
Certain types of furniture are especially valuable and worth the effort to restore. These include wooden antique furniture, caned and wicker furniture, veneer pieces, upholstered items, bent plywood, mid-century modern furniture, and painted pieces. Each type has its own unique characteristics and restoration needs.
If the furniture is a unique designer antique or a valuable antique, don't refinish it. You might end up destroying the value of the furniture.
Evaluate the original quality of the piece. High-quality leather furniture, made from full-grain or top-grain leather, is typically more worth restoring than lower-quality alternatives. Determine if the furniture is a valuable designer or vintage piece. Such items often have greater resale and sentimental value.
If you have the time and talent, refinishing is much cheaper for a high quality piece, assuming you are doing the work (not paying to have it done). Having the piece stripped professionally can be expensive, but if the piece is good quality, this can still be cheaper than buying new.
“What piece of furniture sells the most?” Side tables with storage, side tables without storage, chairs and sofas, Bookcases, and chests that can be used as entertainment stands, and pretty much in that order.
If you've done a really nice job of refinishing your piece of furniture, you can easily mark up your price to 200% of your total costs or more. As mentioned earlier, take a look at what other similar pieces of furniture are selling for or have sold for to guide you.
But with age and wear, these cherished pieces may be in need of some tender loving care from professional heirloom furniture restoration or refinishing services. Refinishing involves removing the original finish with chemicals, while restoration focuses on maintaining the original finish through gentle cleaning.
The national average price for refinishing furnishings is $400 to $1,200, depending on the item you're refinishing. It's a cost-effective method of making a piece look new and updated without having to spend a big amount of money on buying a new one.
Varnishes and oils offer a natural-looking wood finish. Varnish, shellac, and lacquer are not easy to apply, but they do offer a deep and rich look. They will also deepen and darken over time. Varnishes are the best choice for high-gloss surfaces.
Still, you should be careful with really old pieces, mostly those made before 1850, because refinishing them yourself can hurt their value. If you have any questions at all about the value of your piece, consult an expert before you get started.
Floors with extreme movement between boards are not good candidates for refinishing because "the movement will affect the sanding and finish," Lupresto says. Substantial structural problems — those that require the flooring to be removed so the subfloor can be fixed.
The most expensive piece of furniture ever sold at auction is The Badminton Chest, a huge, lavishly decorated piece of Italian craftsmanship, which sold for a whopping £19m at Christie's London in 2004. The monumental cabinet was commissioned by Henry Somerset, 3rd Duke of Beaufort in 1726.
The cost of furniture refinishing is $628 on average, but you can expect to pay between $337 to $921, depending on the type, size, and condition of the furniture piece. A minor refinishing project may cost as low as $150, while a large, complex service may cost up to $1,500.
Refinishing a bed frame can range from $300 to $2,100, while a large dining table can cost as much as $500 to $2,400. In contrast, smaller items like an end table average $200 to $700, while most chairs cost between $100 to $400 to refinish.
“Reglazing” refers to the application of protective coating, while “refinishing” describes the whole process from start to finish. Another term you might come across is “resurfacing.”
Age is a crucial factor in analyzing your wood furniture for refinishing. In the old days, stripping the old finish with chemicals and sealing the wood with varnish was the authentic way to deal with antique furniture. But refinishing old pieces of solid wood made before 1850 can hurt their antique value.
Vintage items are much younger than antiques. These pieces are typically defined as being at least 20 years old but less than 100 years old. The term "true vintage" is a sub-category for items that are at least 50 years old.
Simple wax finishes have been used for many years, especially on rustic or country pine furnishings because of its soft and satiny look. Wax is easily restored or brightened with a new application, damaged or dull spots are easy to blend.
A common worry amongst antique furniture collectors is that refinishing a piece could reduce its value and appeal. While this may be true of extremely old, precious museum antiques, it is rarely the case for less rare furniture.
You'll want to find quality furniture reasonably priced that you can flip. People commonly look for a coffee table, end table, chair, couch, shelving unit, or dresser. Flippable furniture can often be found at a thrift store, garage sale, Craigslist, OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, or on the side of the road.
If the piece is painted or not
Most people don't paint solid wood furniture unless the wood has structural or cosmetic issues they are covering up. Refinishing wood furniture that is damaged or unsightly in some way is almost never worth the effort.