Tag: Furniture repair in Surrey

Furniture repair Surrrey, key and lock replacement!

Keys, keys, keys – what a nuisance they can be!  They get lost so easily and then, all of a sudden, you find that the doors to your favourite display cabinet swing ajar or you are unable to lock the drawers of your desk or a cabinet containing your most delicate crystal (a worry, if any youngsters are around!). Equally, over time, locks can cease to work, particularly on antique furniture.  Then, even if you have the right key, it can become impossible to secure doors or drawers.  This is a pain but, if you are a perfectionist, it will drive you to mild distraction – after all, the entire unit is not completely right!  I know that this is just the type of thing that constantly irritates me, until corrected! Can anything be done? Well, it can, thankfully! In fact, you will be surprised how often our furniture repair…

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Furniture repair in Surrey, tables and chairs

Most of the furniture repair in Surrey that we undertake relates to tables and chairs.  This, of course, should come as no surprise as tables and chairs get constant use throughout their existence, irrespective of whether they are relatively new or genuine antiques. Repair of tables and chairs tends to centre on two distinct areas: construction problems and surfaces Construction problems are often where a table or chair has become unstable.  Over time glues can lose their adhesion and sometimes woodworm can eat into joints and the legs of tables and chairs.  The latter problem can be particularly awkward to resolve as new turnings frequently have to be made and fixed to the sound part of the table or chair concerned by using dowels and hidden screws.  This involves very skilful work – if the furniture repair, once completed, is to be invisible! Needless to say, the surfaces of tables…

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Furniture repair in Surrey, how much will it cost?

Of course, the concern of anyone who needs furniture repair in Surrey (or elsewhere!) is: how much will the work cost? Well, unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this question – as so much depends upon the objects needing repair and the extent of any damage.  Equally, antique restoration can sometimes be more expensive than a simple chair repair, for example, or the repair of an item that does not have delicate filigree or require the specialist turning of some ornate spindle. Certainly, no-one skilled in antique furniture restoration would ever be able to give a standard list of prices for his work.  Usually that can only be done by seeing an individual item, assessing the work required and then providing a  cost for the repair or restoration.  Certainly, there are few occasions when a skilled artisan cannot give a fixed price – but this really is reliant upon…

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Furniture repair in Surrey, French polishing

French polishing is an almost daily part of our furniture repair in Surrey and it is, of course, an essential skill for anyone involved in antique restoration in Surrey – or elsewhere! French polishing is a ‘dying’ art and a skill that is particularly difficult to master.  It became popular in the 19th Century together with mahogany furniture and was used extensively for a long time.  However, it is very labour intensive and requires extensive training to achieve a satisfactory finish.  This meant that French polishing became uneconomic as furniture making moved into the mass production age. Certainly, by the 1930s French polishing was being replaced by all the major furniture manufacturers by sprays and lacquers.  These were much quicker to apply, required less skill and, generally, were more robust. However, few people would deny that wood that has been sprayed or lacquered looks as beautiful as a piece that…

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