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May 2014 Moms
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Refinishing furniture for nursery

holtzmholtzm member
in May 2014 Moms
My mom is giving us an antique rocker and dresser to use for the nursery. Both are in rough shape and need lots of TLC. Rocker needs reupholstered, reglued and the wood refinished; dresser needs painted white and rollers added to the drawers.
We got quotes from two repair shops. Rocker: $700-$900. dresser: $800-$1,200. I was shocked at the prices. Anybody have experience in furniture repair to know whether these are normal quotes? (We are in Indiana so the cost of living isn't high.) I'm already leaning strongly toward just buying new, but at least the dresser is solid wood, not all the particle board stuff that's out there today.
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Re: Refinishing furniture for nursery

  • alphalyraealphalyrae member
    Gah. That makes my heart weep. We are in NY and I haven't gotten the price quote on the rocker being reupholstered and the springs being replaced (they are all rusted out). 

    In my opinion, for the dresser JUST to be painted white and rollers added to the drawers seems like an awful high estimate. But I know nothing about furniture repair.
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  • oscarwaooscarwao member
    Aside from days of sanding to get through the seal on the wood, most if this would actually be pretty darn easy to do yourself. Do you have a handy friend nearby? YouTube videos?

    If you want solid wood and don't want to pay a fortune there are usually stores that sell unfinished furniture for WAY cheaper than a typical furniture store. Though not all solid woods are good woods (pine is a nightmare in my opinion, too soft and scratches easy). Hope that helps!
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  • Divine0chaosDivine0chaos member
    Refinishing wood is actually pretty easy. I had to do with with our kitchen table, very old hand me down. It was getting to the point the wax would just not clean! You just sand it down and resand. Now here's where I see your point on the chairs. I haven't done mine either. You will either need a sand blaster or lots by hand. NOW I have heard of a chemical you can use and wipe it clean yourself and sand it that way. Maybe look into that? Reglueing shouldn't be too hard, and I know I've seen videos for upholstering. FYI for my table I hand sanded, and used a jitterbug all I needed. Maybe total cost of $50? Our chairs still aren't done however, and I don't think I am determined what's so ever to do them. We will probably go to ikea and get a new set haha.
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  • bcnoellebcnoelle member
    There are some beautiful refinished furniture pieces on etsy that cost this much total. Since you already own the furniture, I would definitely look into trying it on my own. Even if it's not perfect, it looks nice to be distressed (as long as sturdy). Also investing a little in new hardware really makes a difference.
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  • bsisso1bsisso1 member
    Chalkboard paint should work for the dresser. I've heard how easy it is to do, but have never tried myself. It requires no sanding at all.
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  • mrsbtobe20122mrsbtobe20122 member
    bsisso1 said:

    Chalkboard paint should work for the dresser. I've heard how easy it is to do, but have never tried myself. It requires no sanding at all.

    Look into Annie Sloan paint. That's what my friend is refinishing our dresser with.


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  • CamrynnsMommyCamrynnsMommy member
    I agree, dresser could be lightly sanded and painted with milk or chalk paint and maybe new drawer pulls. Sorry about the rocker.

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  • spinsoffresonancespinsoffresonance member
    edited January 2014
    I know nothing about what those prices should be, but it does seem really high. You could definitely buy brand new stuff for cheaper. Are we talking real antiques from the 1700-1800s that need special care, or just old stuff from the 1950s? If these are real valuable antiques maybe it's worth the cost of refinishing professionally. But anything from the 20th century I wouldn't bother putting money into. It won't be worth that much after refinishing. I bought an old 1953 dresser on Craigslist for $150. The finish had a lot of water damage but it's solid mahogany and has nice carvings. I sanded it (all by hand, didn't want to invest in a power sander) and painted it white. Also got new drawer pulls at Home Depot because I didn't like the ones it came with and spray painted them purple. It took a weekend, lots of sweat, and maybe $60 in supplies and looks pretty good, even though I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
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