Jessica writes with a question we all likely ask at one time or another in our collecting (and dumpster-diving) lives:
Hi there! It goes without saying that I love your blog or I wouldn’t be reaching out.
So, I have this little set. It’s a Heywood Wakefield table — missing its leaves — and two chairs. One with arms and one without. We found it free on the side of the road. The original labels and paperwork are still stapled under one of the chairs. Anyway, the poor set has been badly abused. The Champagne finish has seen better days, and obviously parts of the set have been lost along the way — the other chairs as well as the leaves. The table top has some spreading between the pieces of wood likely because it was left in the rain or somewhere moist. And lots of rings. *sigh*
So, my question is this. Do I pay to have this refinished in the right stain, and see if they can do anything about the spreading and stains. OR, do I have it done in something fun like a black lacquer? Its role is likely going to be an art table for the kids in their super cool retro playroom. At most, it could end up being my desk in my office.
The chairs are cat eye style. I’m not sure on the table. Trying to look that up now.
Any thoughts?
Jessica
Hi there back, Jessica! Thank you, and good girl, dumpster diver! Excellent question — and a great one for our team of smarty readers weigh in on.
What do you think, readers?
Is it righteous to restore wrecked vintage furniture back to its original finish?
Or, can we get creative?
I definitely have an opinion, but family hold back.
Jenny A. says
What an awesome find!!! I agree with Annie B. Try refinishing it yourself and if it doesn’t turn-out well, you can always paint it. When I bought some Heywood Wakefield chairs, I found all sorts of stain for them on ebay, specifically for the Hey-Wake stuff.
Annie B. says
I’d refinish it myself. What would you have to lose other than a few bucks, which you could consider as invested in a learning experience.
If your DIY refinishing doesn’t work, paint it. You’re going to win either way.
Congrats on a terrific find.
Elaine says
I would rather have natural myself, but if you are going to give it to the kids to paint and draw on, it will get mucked up again anyway, so painting it seems harmless, especially since there are issues with the wood.
If you decide to go natural, Formby’s refinisher or something like that would do a good job of just making it look better for not too much money, then you could decide to spend more and get it restored all the way. AS BBIll said, it is not going to be as valuable as original either way.
Story: I spend $10 on a dresser at a garage sale way back when. It was a heavy thing, black with little decals on the drawers. Several years later, I decided to strip the paint off. I used something by Formby’s to get just the top layer off, and it was a solid OAK dresser, from the 30s, just the kind of thing that people were snapping up like crazy around then. I used Formby’s refinisher to pretty up the finish and it looked original. Well, it was, really, all I did was take off the paint and pretty up the finish. A few years later, I put an ad in the paper offering it for $50. I had one lady there about an hour after the paper came out, she gave me the $50 and was about to grab the dresser to take out when another lady came up. I told her it was sold and she said, “Wait, I’ll give you $100. Sell it to me!” I told it wasn’t mine any more, so she started negotiating with the other lady on the way down the sidewalk. I’m not sure who ended up with it, but Formby’s gets the credit!
Puddletown Cheryl says
It is usually true that refinishing devalues a piece, but that isn’t so with Hay-Wake because the original finish has a tendency to flake and not hold up well, so it is OK to refinish it. You can get stain kits, champagne or wheat, specifically for Heywood on eBay. You should be able to correct the separating with wood glue and clamps.
Lynda Bourgeois says
Good advice on refinishing Heywood Wakefield pieces. If it was just a generic piece that is more forgiving regarding a painted finish. You can use a black desk top cover and accessories to give you a nice contrast with the champagne or wheat finish.
Just another Pam says
Hi Jessica,
Aren’t you a lucky girl? Finding it in your jammies is sort of like Christmas morning ;o)
I used to work in a small reproduction furniture shop and wouldn’t even try to restore the top. If it’s special you could pay someone with lots of experience in doing this particular brand but to take it on yourself will be prohibitive unless you already have an out of the house very well ventilated dry work space, bar clamps, sanding tools, and the patience of a saint. With the joints of the table panel blown open due to lots of water to get it perfect you should probably take those joints apart, scrape them or run them through the jointer, sand them and reclamp before you even really get started. (Be very sure to get to be vigilant with glue removal as you clamp, it will not take stain) Extra special fun if there’s any warping at all, if it’s bad you can have it commercially planned once it’s together before you put the skirt back on. You can make a summer project out of it as you probably have a life as well or do you really just drive around town in your jammies? ;o)
As it is I’d sand it, fill all the cracks with filler, sand again and paint the top. If the legs and chairs only need refinishing you could do those, or just the chairs which in the big world of vintage/antique furniture tend to be rarer and more valuable. Win win.
For the water damage, if you paint, you want a white-pigmentated shellac primer, drys fast, works beautifully, but the fumes!, take it outside to do the work.
Maybe frame the paperwork….a little collage maybe…or sell it on eBay?
You done did good, girl!
Lisa Coleman says
I have nothing against paint, but the woodwork is gorgeous in this piece.
John aka AtomicHipster says
Natural wood whenever possible so the true beauty of wood grain can shine through. Howard’s restore-a-finish and Howard’s beeswax conditioner will go a long way to making this piece shine in its formal glory again!!
Ultimately do what makes you happy.
BungalowBILL says
Paint and enjoy it! If you buy for investment, you always buy original finish. The value is always in the original surface. No matter what you do to the table it will always be restored and its value will be low. For pieces like tables and desks, items that I use daily, I choose refinished. I don’t want to worry about what I put on them.Unless your table and chairs turn out to be a super rare prototype, its loss of surface will always hurt the resale price.
You can always seal the table before you paint it, which would make removal of the paint easier down the road if you choose, but maple is so dense the paint probably wouldn’t get into the pores anyway.
Have fun with your find. Congratulations.
Cathleen says
Refinished still fetches a pretty penny. Checking out nicely refinished pieces on eBay (such as the JL Moller chairs) a set of six will generally get 3500 on average. I bought a set of 6 Moller #77s for $600 at a Chicago liquidator. All they need is a little scuff-sand and teak oil to the wood plus new upholstery.
Plan to recover in black leather. Total investment (my husband gets the leather comp as he works in the auto industry) will be about $900 for 6. Brand new through DWR would be about $6000 if you *could* get them in teak with leather. They only offer walnut/leather.
SO….for $900 and the going rate on eBay at 6qty. for $3500+, I would say the whole “it loses value if refurbished” does not really hold true. The market will pay for something in demand and something rare with a name.
BungalowBILL says
I don’t understand why you are comparing 70’s Danish Modern teak to 50’s HW but teak has very little finish, it’s mostly oil. Looking at past prices a similar HW set sold at auction in original finish with a table and one leaf, 6 chairs, a china and a buffet for $600. http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/5902048
The damage described on these pieces is pretty extensive. The cupped wood and chunks missing make it a tough job, especially if Jessica needs to pay someone to do the work. Whether it is cost effective to pay for that work to 2 chairs and a table when a whole 10 piece suite could be had for $600 is up to her. I surely wouldn’t feel bad about painting it.
Cathleen says
Wow, hey sorry – I was not trying to offend you in any way. REALLY 🙂
I was merely trying to point out that if it was in reasonable-enough condition, refinishing does not always kill resale. I did not know about some of the issues in her particular set from looking at the pictures and until her later post giving those details.
While comparing JL Moller Danish Modern furniture designed in the 1950s (http://www.jlm.dk/produkter/produkt_info_tekster/engelsk/stol_71.htm)
to the Heywood Wakefield may be off in price comparison, in general the rule of refinishing is not always a bad thing. I’d still rather have the solid wood look than painted, which needs repainting much sooner than hard finishes do when you have kids (and I have two active boys ages 3 & 7!) Solid wood is good no matter what, especially in the era of cheap IKEA and laminant stuff from China from local box stores! LOL 🙂 ~Cheers!
ChrisH says
As Chris above says, you rescued it from the dump. I’d paint it and have a nice table and 2 chairs for almost nothing.
chris says
Jessica — ohmigosh — were you just SO excited when you found your table and chairs? I found a bookcase on the side of the road just yesterday and got out of the van in my pj’s to rescue it! (Doing the infamous “drop kids off at school in your pajamas” move.)
My thoughts are this… if your treasure was in pristine condition when you found it, it would seem “wrong” to paint it. (To me, anyway.)
But your set needs some lovin’! It just depends on what you like. Those pieces of furniture are so gorgeous when the transparent finishes reveal the wood below! It would be very pretty to do it in the original manner…. you certainly could do that.
But you have rescued the piece from the dump! If you want to resurrect it with a super sturdy coat of paint and let it be an art table, I say go for it! The nice thing about that kind of furniture is its good bones. Either way, it will look great!
vintigchik says
I am all for original finishes, but your case is different. The nice thing about wood furniture is you can always redo it. If you need to use the set now and don’t have a lot to spend at this moment, I would paint, especially if you do not have experience refinishing furniture in a natural finish. I feel it is more difficult and can look bad if not done very well. So you can paint it now for the kids, and when they grow out f the art table, you can redo it professionally. Having 3 kids of my own, I would not spend a lot of money refinishing something that small children will use as an art table as it will likely get scratched and drawn on. Then you will fell badly about the money issue.
STEPHANIE says
NO PAINT on mid century furniture!!! Unless it was just a painted piece to begin with. The MCM treasures are the LAST good furniture made in this country. It would be sacrilege to destroy it with paint. Refinishing is EASY. Strip with Homer Formbys in the green can, EASY. Apply with brush wait a bit and scrape it off. It peels off like tape. Most midcentury furniture does not need staining, they are made from Teak, Walnut and Mahogany, no need for stains just wax or oil. Maple is a little different but I see a kit for Heywood Wakefield mentioned. As well most maple does not need staining either. Strip and use a clear lacquer or wax. EASY to refinish. BTW, You do not need use stain on these these pieces it is just not necessary.
vintage_vantage says
Restore it back to original. Its’s the law of 99. Every ten years they say 99% of things are destroyed. If that really hold true, then take what you have and restore it back to original condition. It’ll be worth more and it’s the way it was intended to be!
Search on eBay and you’ll find ways to restore Heywood pretty easily. Good luck!
reid says
I agree, I would refinish it and search for 4 more chairs to complete the set.
Gary Plotch says
I’ve used one of the kits on eBay for a Heywood Wakefield coffee table that was damaged, and it came out great.