Q: There’s a wooden chair in the shed that I was thinking might be good to fix up and use again. Seems environmental! Is it difficult to do?
A: The whole idea of “hunting out old furniture or rescuing what you have” is a brilliant one, says self-proclaimed “furniture nerd” Nessa Doran O’Reilly, Furniture Programme Manager at the Rediscovery Centre in Dublin and co-owner of Sam Agus Nessa, an award-winning furniture design company. I touched base with her for a few tips and tricks on bringing old pieces back to life.
As we move away from the linear model of “take, make, and dispose,” toward the circular, furniture is an ideal start. “It’s so rewarding to take something bound for landfill and redesign and recreate something that can be loved all over again,” Nessa says.
Older pieces are, in general, better made and often made with higher quality material. All of that old-fashioned “brown furniture,” from mahogany to teak, the tropical hardwoods, now illegal to cut down, are “beautiful, gorgeous timbers, with the most exquisite grain and very hard-wearing.” Older pieces are often designed and made when space was a big a commodity, she says, like drop-leaf tables or small armchairs, all on a better scale for our smaller living spaces.
“The problem is that they’re not always very aesthetically appealing to people now,” but that doesn’t mean they can’t be. Nessa admits, “it used to make me cry inside when I saw people repaint wood furniture,” but she’s come around and encourages people to redesign in whatever way they’ll use it.
TREATMENT
The first step in your restoration is to “look out for infestation,” she says, woodworm being the top offender and not something you want to bring into your home – you can buy it, just make sure to treat it.
“If you turn the piece upside down, and look around the joints, if there are tiny little pinholes underneath or behind the cabinet,” that’s your clue. “It means a little beetle has got inside, would love to be in the forest, but is stuck with what they’ve got.” The beetles lay eggs in crack or joints, she explains, and the larvae eat their way out, living in furniture for up to five years.
If you spot the holes, first vacuum them out (there will be sawdust). If pieces are small enough, or if you have a very large icebox, putting wood in the freezer also kills it off. “In one of those big freezers, you can stick a chair in there,” she says. They love glue, Nessa adds, so you might find them in the drawers of old Singer sewing machines.
You can then treat the wood with Rustins or any other woodworm treatment; Nessa uses a syringe but it can be painted on with a brush. They put a piece of white paper underneath to make sure nothing can get out.
The other first thing they always do with a new-old item: “no matter how old or new, we give it a good conservation clean” – in other words, a thorough washing. All furniture can benefit from a wash, as long as you don’t let it stay wet, she says. You can use Fairy liquid, a scouring pad or dishwashing sponge, and hot water, washing with one hand, drying with the other. “It’s unbelievable what that can do to a piece of furniture,” she adds, recalling how a customer brought in a beautiful walnut bedside cabinet, unsure if she wanted it stripped and waxed or repolished. They gave it a good clean and the customer returned, saying it was the perfect finish. “But we hadn’t gone near it yet!”
A good wash can also reveal other details, like fractures, splits, or woodworm you hadn’t noticed before, a great way to get a visual inspection of the piece.
WATER-BASED PAINTS
As for painting, which will protect the timber, it won’t work if the paint goes directly on a shiny surface, so she suggests first using the finest of sandpaper to “key” or scuff the surface, creating a slight roughness.
“Always use a primer then very thin coats,” she advises, layering it on thick being one of the most common mistakes people make, leaving the wood “messy and full of streaks and dribbles.” You can also use a water-based sealer at the end. She recommends water-based paints, which are “brilliant” now, having improved in the last several years, oil-based being “shockingly bad for the environment.”
Short of painting, if the surface is scratched, you can restore a wax finish using fine wire wool like 0000, and paint plastic table tops, malamute presses, which are “bomb proof,” or even laminate chipboards, she says, or re-veneer table tops. She also suggests decoupage, which kids love and can be sealed over. And stencilling: “you can get the most beautiful geometric patterns now.”
PREP, PREP, PREP
As for some of those staid, worn, cushioned dining chairs, “fresh fabric completely transforms a piece of furniture,” she says. It’s easier than you think, and all about keeping track of how the original upholstery comes off: “if you are taking off the seat you have the template to put it back. Whatever way you take it off, work in the reverse to put it back on again. In a way you can teach yourself.” Keep a notebook and photos of how it went on in the first place, the old cover becoming the pattern.
Taking off upholstery too hastily and that gloppy paint point to the importance of patience and prep work. “Preparation is always the longest and worst bit,” Nessa admits, and where people get demotivated. But if the prep is done right, the process goes that much more smoothly.
Another rookie mistake is using the wrong tools, like a too-cumbersome staple gun or reaching for the brush in the press instead of getting the right ones for the job. “Don’t come at a small stool with a four-inch brush,” she says, “you need to control the paint.” And go to the local hardware store, “because they know; use the knowledge of the people.”
The restoration process also lets you “make it personal, do something creative, and have something functional at the end.” These are tricks you can use for more than just furniture. Nessa suggests snooping around the house, a beautiful but broken cup becoming a bird feeder or candle holder.
“Once you start, you see the possibility of fixing and mending everything, it’s a whole way of living. The more you get involved with it, the more rewarding it is.
