How to restore the old table with your own hands?

There are not rare cases when a favorite piece of interior loses its original appearance, and there is simply no financial means for buying a new one. In such cases, the restoration of furniture can help. We will take a closer look at how to restore the table at home, what is important to consider and which stages should not be missed.

There are quite a few ways to restore furniture, ranging from light “cosmetic” décor to a major rework of the product. It is not so difficult to restore the old table with your own hands, if it does not have any serious damage.In this case, it will be enough to process the sandpaper and paint the old piece of furniture so that it will shine in a completely new light.

Repairing glass tables at home may be more time consuming., as well as a very costly process. In case there is a breakage of the glass surface, it may be necessary not just to repair it, but also to buy a new one, since not all deformation of the glass can be eliminated by gluing and grinding.

The greatest scope for creativity opens with the restoration of a wooden table. After all, various techniques of painting and drawing patterns, including the decoupage technique, are perfectly applied to pieces of furniture made of solid wood. It should be noted that the painting and various decorative techniques are most applicable to the tables of small sizes. So it can be finished, for example, a small desk or a compact coffee table. But for the restoration of the oak folding model may need additional resources. Since the table has a large continuous surface, it is quite acceptable to finish its parts with materials such as MDF and chipboard.Reliably fixed and carefully processed, they will give the table not only a new life, but also give a completely different look.

The plastic table can be restored with the help of the same painting, but this can be done only if the piece of furniture does not have serious cracks. Plastic is a rather capricious material, and when exposed to high temperatures, the glued joint can not withstand, which will lead to a new breakdown.

Computer tables made of chipboard and laminated chipboard are often ripped off, which is why their appearance becomes sloppy and careless. For the repair of such models, special adhesive tapes and films imitating a wooden surface are suitable.

The kitchen table-book should be reconstructed as carefully as possible, using only environmentally friendly and hypoallergenic materials. Since the tabletop quite often comes into contact with food, it is necessary to take care that the materials for finishing its surface are not toxic and harmful to health. The same applies to the children's table.

Restoration of the polished dining table can be done by grinding the surface and applyingon it is a new layer of decorative varnish. So the surface of the furniture attribute will again acquire a glossy shine.

Sometimes it may be necessary to increase the height, for example, of the dressing table, in case of breakage of its legs. In this case, special allowances or new legs of the required size are made of wood material. To update any model, you can use classic hand-painted. This technique is also suitable for sliding tables that do not have any critical surface damage.

The restoration process may require various materials and tools.

Let's take a closer look at their list and purpose:

• To restore the tables with a wooden surface, you will definitely need a grinding machine or coarse sandpaper. With these tools you can make the surface smooth, removing all roughness;
• To make the surface look fresher and different in color, a completely ordinary paint is needed. It is quite easy to find out which kind of paint you can paint on the table, since the scope is almost always described on the packaging of any manufacturer;
• It is best to apply various patterns and ornaments with acrylic paint, since it is very resistant and will stay on the furniture for a long time.

To repair any individual parts of the table you may need and various construction tools:

• For example, using a hammer, screws and simple nails, you can properly fix the legs of the table;
• For fixing plastic and MDF panels, it will be necessary to acquire a special glue, which is also called liquid nails and is often used for repairs;
• To work with wooden parts, you must have a small saw or jigsaw, with which you can cut the necessary part from a piece of wood.

We should not overlook the various small details, which greatly simplify the process of restoration. So it’s better to have a large ruler or tape measure, a bright marker or a pencil, building tape, brushes to remove dust and sawdust, protective gear and a damp cloth.

To repair a piece of furniture in the home as a whole, in the form in which it is - the task is almost impossible to solve, because many details need an individual approach.For example, during the finishing of the remaining parts, it is better to remove the tabletop in order to protect it from causing even more damage.

Independent restoration of even the smallest table can be a very laborious process, if the approach is not correct, skipping important details and steps. It is for the timely implementation of each stage of work that it is necessary to draw up an action plan.

Before proceeding with the restoration, you must carefully inspect the front of the upcoming work. Very often there are products with serious damage, which cannot be dealt with only through cosmetic finishing. For example, if a leg has fallen off the table, painting will not fix it.

The first step is to disassemble the table, if the model allows it, and carefully examine the surface of each part for serious damage. If there are none, you can proceed to further actions depending on the planned restoration work.

If the surface of the parts has fairly deep cuts, severe chipping or serious damage, it will be necessary to take steps to eliminate them.In case damage cannot be simply repaired, you may have to resort to replacing any part of the furniture attribute.

Only after a thorough examination and identification of all the "weak points" of the piece of furniture can a further plan of action be drawn up and proceed directly to the process of restoration itself. Compliance with the sequence is very important in this matter.

In any repair process, after the definition of the “work front”, there follows a stage of cleaning and smoothing the surface. Restoration of tables is no exception and, regardless of their varieties, grinding of individual parts is an indispensable part of the whole process.

If there is an opportunity to use a tape machine for grinding surfaces - you should make a choice in favor of it, because it will help speed up the process. But you should know that the machine is suitable only for processing spacious flat surfaces, and small parts will still have to be processed manually.

If the coating is removed completely and you only need to give the surface smoothness, you should use fine-grained paper. Thus, the roughness will be smoothed without damaging the surface. In no case can one sand the surface across the fibers, since they are quite damaged and scratches of different depths are formed. Processing is done exclusively along the location of the fibers. You should also use a respirator or a special mask in order to avoid the ingress of dust and small particles of wood in the respiratory tract.

As mentioned earlier, in the presence of severe damage and deep scratches will need to get rid of them. The simplest and most affordable way is putty. In addition, even the largest holes can be filled with a putty, so that replacement of the part may cease to be a necessity.

If the surface of the product has only shallow cracks, you can use the stain, and then apply several layers of protective varnish.Thus, the fibrous structure of wood elements will be preserved and beautifully decorated.

After applying the putty and before applying the final coating, it is necessary to prime the surface thoroughly and sand it again. The primer will help to degrease parts of the furniture attribute, and re-polishing will smooth out the remaining irregularities.

The final and very important stage requiring special attention is the process of painting the surface. It is important not only to choose the right paint, but also carefully apply it without various formations, lumps, irregularities and protect the freshly painted surface from the ingress of small particles of wool, dust and hairs.

Dark shades are best applied in several thin layers. So the paint is better to grab, and the color will be more saturated.

You should carefully select the shades and very carefully apply the paint, because in case of dissatisfaction with their work it will be rather difficult to repaint the table, you will have to do all the laborious work again, starting from the stage of grinding the surface.

In order to have a beautiful gloss on the surface, the surface should be treated with a layer of varnish, and after it dries, and with a protective layer. Most often, to protect the surface of furniture, various polishing compounds are used, as well as wax mixtures, which, when rubbed into the tabletop, will give it a glossy shine, protect it from dirt and large accumulations of dust.

How to update the old table, you can see in the next video.

After painting or in its process, if desired, you can additionally decorate the surface of the table, giving it a lighter, more relaxed and informal look. Consider the most common and beautiful ways to decorate restored tables:

• Technique "Decoupage". For the design of the table in this style, a white background is used, special glue, thin napkins with ornaments and patterns or special paper for decoupage, as well as varnish, which covers the final layer. The paper is applied to a thin layer of glue and leveled. After drying, it is necessary to varnish the surface.

• Glass Surface Models very often decorated with photo printing.But to make such a decor at home is almost impossible, so you have to make out the countertop to order.

• In addition, separate parts of the old table with a smooth surface can glue with special furniture film. But it is necessary to take into account an important point - you need to make sure that when gluing under the film did not get air bubbles.
• In addition, the old table can be paint with patterns in the appropriate style, and its surface is treated with a special protective coating.