Kenneth Lewis Blog

Today, antique furniture makes for beautiful art. But antiques are also beautiful and very popular as home furnishings and décor. Many families have antique pieces that have been passed down as heirlooms. If you have a piece of genuine antique furniture or a family heirloom in your home, here are some interesting and successful ways to clean, care for, and preserve your prized possessions.

Dust your antique furniture along the wood grain with a very soft cloth. If the furniture surface is dirty, a mild soap and water solution is perfect for cleaning. After the furniture has dried, dab some solvent-based cleaning wax in a cloth and clean your antique furniture with it. Follow this step by wiping it with a dry cloth later.

Have you wondered what you can do with spoiled milk? Milk, even if it is spoiled, can be used to remove dirt from wooden furniture. Just dip a cloth in the milk, and then wipe the surface of furniture. Finally, clean again with water.

Wrap a bundle of moist tea leaves in a soft cloth to wipe down the furniture, or you can use plain, cooled tea. This makes furniture more smooth and bright.

If you have an old wood desk or table that has ink stains, you can clean it off with white vinegar. Use a soft cloth with a 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar and rub it on the furniture surface. This is particularly good on mahogany and solid wood furniture.

Clean rough and uneven surfaces or carvings with a brush or a vacuum.  Lemon oil helps to preserve antique pieces, but it is not suitable to clean furniture, as it will dry and darken the wood.

Kenneth C Lewis specializes in furniture and wood repair for antiques. Whether it is enhancement, refinishing or restoration,  we offer dramatic results, performing most repairs utilizing advanced products and processes.

We all have that family heirloom, or antique table that needs to be enhanced, refinished or repaired. A beautiful dresser that needs the laminate replaced or a gorgeous end table with a damaged pedestal leg; but who can you trust to care for and restore your prized furniture? These pieces of furniture are special to you because they are either sentimental, sturdy, or in some way irreplaceable. They need to be returned to you in as new condition, with no sign of where the repair was made.

Our furniture repair and restoration services have established a reputation amongst our customers for excellence that is unmatched in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island areas. We specialize in furniture and wood repair and furniture structural repair, precision repair of wood and laminate surfaces, refinishing and polishing, and color matching for antiques, specialty items, offices, libraries and entertainment centers.

The craftsmen at Kenneth C. Lewis can restore and enhance wood’s natural beauty and strength virtually erasing scuffs, gouges, water rings, and dents. Trust Cabinet Refinishing by Kenneth C Lewis to care for your family’s heirlooms, your costly office furnishings, or the furniture you love.  Our expertise is unsurpassed and our workmanship is guaranteed.  Contact us today.

Instead of tossing out old and worn furniture, restore it to bring new life, and cut down on waste and further resource use. In this time of budget-conscious and green living, people are curious about having their existing furniture restored, instead of replaced.  But, does restoring always make sense?

If your furniture piece is of high quality, it is almost always worth restoring. The quality of a piece is only as good as the foundation it rests on. Quality frames are constructed of solid hardwood which are assembled with corner blocks, dowels, glue and screws and have heavy gauge coil or zigzag springs. If your furniture piece has sentimental value, or is a precious antique, it is always worth restoring the piece.  These types of pieces cannot be replaced, so the costs are easily outweighed by the sentiment and memories attached to the piece.

If your existing furniture fits just perfectly in your space, it makes sense to simply restore the piece, rather than try to find something new.  If you have been furniture shopping recently, you have noticed that furniture has gotten really large overall.  Overstuffed sofas, chairs-and-a-half and ottomans are all huge, and often not scaled to most family homes.  If you have a small-scale sofa that fits perfectly under your living room window, you may not be able to replace it easily with a new sofa that fits as well.  So, even pieces of less quality may be worth restoring, rather than going crazy trying to find an equally perfect piece for your room! Contact us today should you need any furniture restoration or even refinishing! Don't forget we do cabinets and countertops as well.

The restoring or refinishing of antique oak furniture can be a real challenging task if you're not equipped with some vital information. The first thing you should know that before you start changing the original appearance of an antique that it may diminish its value from the point of view of a collector. Collectors place a higher value on an antique if its appearance is completely unchanged. This is not to say that the piece can't be "cleaned up" but they are concerned with its originality.

Keep in mind that when you decide to restore a piece of antique furniture, you're going to be putting a considerable amount of time and effort into it. Another thing to consider is that this process will not necessarily be inexpensive. Many people have started a project like this only to find that the cost and the amount of time it took wasn't really worth it.

In the case where you have a piece of antique oak furniture that has been badly damaged due to being exposed to the elements, it might be the perfect project to restore anyway. Restoring this particular piece could greatly improve its appearance and add a thing of beauty to your home.

Keep in mind that if your piece has a large amount of ornate or carved surfaces that this will add a lot of extra time to complete the project. Realize that the project could take up to several months because of the intricacy of the detail. We suggest that when in doubt, or if you have any questions to leave the task up to the professionals. While restoration of furniture is possible on your own, why not have us complete the task for you with our years of experienced staff. Factoring in the time and cost of doing it yourself is far more expensive than actually hiring someone to do it for you, not only is it less expensive but the result will be satisfactory on every level. So contact us today should you need any furniture restoration or refinishing needs.