While it’s common for your furniture to get damaged due to changing weather conditions and exposure to extreme heat or cold, pets too can do considerable damage to your cherished antique or that sofa which you simply adore. If you live in Austin and have been at a loss about how to repair that table’s corner or your couch hand rest, which your dog has happily chewed away, it’s time to quit worrying. You don’t need to replace your damaged furniture or spend a fortune repairing them. All you need to do is identify a reliable furniture restoration company in Austin, Texas to get the furniture restored to their lost glory. If that’s too tough a task, you may even follow some simple DIY techniques to complete small furniture repair tasks on your own. Here’s how you can do it.

Step 1

Place the damaged portion of your furniture in a position where you can work with comfort. If it is antique furniture, you may have to take extra care while handling it. The first stage of any wood furniture restoration is cleaning. This involves removing all the splintered pieces using a scratch awl or similar tool. You may also use a utility knife to remove the frayed edges and make the surface even.

Step 2

Once you have removed the protruding pieces, you may now use good quality 120 or 150 grit sandpaper and rub over the surface. This would smoothen the rough surface, making it ready to absorb the wax or paint or polish that you would apply on it to have a clean finish and good appeal. Be careful not to hurt your hand. You could use gloves while working to protect your hands.

Step 3

Filling the tiny holes and dents would be the next step. Use good quality fill stick wax crayons over the sanded surface, as a portion of crayons would fill into the holes. Use a business card or a thick piece of cardboard to rub over the wax, thus removing any excess quantity and making the surface even. You may run your fingertips over the surface to check the smoothness. You may also use wood filler along with appropriate activator available in a squeeze tube. In this case, you ought to make sure to read instructions carefully and not let the filler harden with extended exposure before use. It would take about 20 minutes for the filler to dry out completely.

Step 4

The next step is to choose the right wood polish or wood paint, based on your furniture’s type and texture. Refinishing furniture is an art, as the restored part must blend with the other parts of the furniture. Make sure to choose a paint/polish that’s one shade lighter than the exact shade of your furniture, as paint/polish tend to darken once they dry out, thus giving a natural look to the furniture, without any patched appearance. There is always a choice for you to apply one more coat if you feel the color is not matched. It is ideal that you wait and decide about the second coat.

Step 5

If you are using acrylic paint, you may mix a little white with the brown-tone paint in order to give your furniture a lighter shade. You may use black if you require a darker shade. If you have a good color sense, you may also use other colors such as orange, yellow, or red too to achieve the exact tone for your wooden furniture. Take your time to decide the color mix, as the blends might trick you by appearing different when they dry.

Step 6

Once the paint is completely dry, you can spray a few layers of clear lacquer to give it the required shine. In case it gets too glossy, you can use OOO steel wool and rub the patch to tone it down. You ought to be careful not to rub it too much or else, it could damage the color coat that you have just finished.

If you are not confident handling these steps, the best option would be to seek professional help from a reputed furniture restoration company in Austin, Texas to have your wooden furniture repaired safely.