Furniture Repair Techniques

Yet another old idea is coming back into vogue—the concept of repairing things, imagine that! There is more to this new/old philosophy than merely saving money. Many people are getting sick of the blatant waste in our society. If something useful can be repaired, why throw it out? If you buy good things in the first place, it is worth keeping them in repair. Why buy a new item when the ‘old’ one works just fine, but only needs a doohickey replaced? There is something else, too, something that has to do with satisfaction. Many of us work in jobs that require endless paperwork or button-pushing or key-stroking or any of a million meaningless tasks, the results of which don’t seem to make much difference one way or another. When we make or repair something we have used our human ingenuity and our hands and we have accomplished something useful and tangible.

Imagine the satisfaction of someone who’s never done any wiring and, using a how-to book and some very basic tools, rewires a lamp that would otherwise have been thrown away. When that person goes on to repair the chandelier in the kitchen, they can be justifiably proud.

There are many baby steps we can take toward any necessary furniture repair. The simplest is a wood crayon in a color close to your furniture. Sometimes you can buy them singly; often they come in sets. Ask your friends if they have one in your color. Or buy one and tell all your friends you have it. After all, how many scratches are you going to need it for? They last forever. The wood crayon is just a colored ‘grease pencil’. You simply color over the damage and rub it with a soft cloth. This is only for small, relatively unobtrusive damage, of course.

Replacing feet, legs, or hardware is pretty self-evident unless the spot where you are going to seat the replacement is chewed up. If you have a good hardware store in your area, you may be able to find replacement feet for chair legs, drawer pulls, cabinet latches, any number of things to keep your furniture useable. If you can’t find a perfect match, you may decide to replace all the drawer pulls, but that’s still better than buying a whole new piece. Besides, the new hardware can change the whole character of a piece and it can seem new.

One easy way to make a piece of furniture more versatile is to install wheels or rolling casters. Wobbles can sometimes be corrected simply with wood glue and strapping the item tightly until the glue dries. If a chair run is loose, you can stick toothpicks into the hole with the rung, and break the toothpicks off where they stick out and show. Who’s going to know? Or care? Sometimes a wobble can be fixed using a metal corner brace that is screwed on the inside. Of course, you don’t do any of these things to a valuable antique!

If you have some basic sewing skills and a machine you can re-cover cushions and make slipcovers. If you have a real sense of adventure and nothing to lose you can try your hand at staple-gunning new fabric over old, and sewing or gluing some kind of braid over the ‘seams’ to disguise the staples. Attempting to reupholster furniture is something you should probably only try after you’ve read the books, watched the videos, and perhaps taken a class.

It is possible to repair wicker, cane, and woven rush seats but they all involve some manual dexterity and practice. It can be very satisfying, though, to rehabilitate a derelict chair from your great-aunt’s attic.

Of course, if you acquire well-made pieces to begin with, any necessary repair will be easier. If a piece is actual solid wood, it will hold a screw. If it is formed out of sawdust and glue, it is probably not worth the trouble. It is never cost-effective to buy cheesy furniture. You can get something better at a thrift store or a yard sale. It will probably cost less, too.

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