Restoration of antiques. Restoration of antiques What you can restore with your own hands
Antique plate before restoration
Restoring antiques requires great knowledge of the subject of art history and high skill. It is also important that the subject of restoration work will be mainly wood valuable species- pear, oak, walnut, beech, mahogany. Our restorers are high-class professionals: they can replace or make a new one. soft upholstery an object, carry out gilding, silvering, bronzing, competently measure a sample and make a similar one, master the decorative and artistic finishing of antique furniture (carving, artistic turning and milling, marquetry, intarsia, inlaid wood with metal, tortoise shell, and so on). Your antiques are in good hands. We employ professionals who have extensive experience in restoration work. We will surround your rarities with care and attention, restore an antique chair or a broken porcelain plate, a painting, or repair an antique clock. We offer to restore your antique furniture or antiques. Before starting work, it is necessary to carry out a preliminary assessment of the cost and timing.
An example of a plate after restoration measures
Estimation of cost and timing
The condition of each antique item and the wishes of the customer are very individual. Objects with large historical significance, require real museum restoration, which is very expensive and labor-intensive. It must be remembered that such a process serves to a greater extent to preserve the object, and not to improve its consumer qualities. Generally, museum restoration is not required for objects of everyday use. But any intervention requires careful attention to the object and its history. The timing of restoration activities is always negotiated separately. They greatly depend on the complexity, condition of the object, the wishes of the customer, urgency and many other factors.
To calculate the cost of work, you need to send photos to INFO@site or WhatsApp +7-926-005-51-71, or using the form feedback posted below. After sending your photos, call us at 8-800-302-28-08 (toll-free within Russia). We have a team of restorers working with us who will give detailed advice on the approximate cost of the work, its complexity, and timing.
To agree on a preliminary estimate of work and cost, you can send photographs of antiques using the feedback form. Describe in detail the problem, your wishes, and the desired time frame for completing the work.
Acceptance of antiques for restoration
After agreeing on the cost of the restoration processes, based on the photographs sent, the antique item must be brought to our store workshop. It must be remembered that photographs do not convey the peculiarities of the condition of the object and, during inspection by a restorer, may reveal important nuances, which will change the initial estimated cost of the work up or down. The master will inspect the object, discuss in detail the wishes for restoration, and agree on the scope, timing, and cost. After this, an Agreement on the provision of restoration services is concluded, which describes in detail the cost, terms, and responsibilities of the parties. It must be remembered that during the restoration process hidden defects that were not noticeable during the initial examination may be revealed. In this case, the master contacts the client and discusses amendments to the estimate and deadlines. We accept a very wide range of items for restoration: antique furniture, paintings, porcelain, bronze, metal, interior and household items.
Reception hours for antiques: weekdays from 10-18 hours
Reception address: Moscow Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, 10.
An example of restoring a travel suitcase
Restoration: basic principles and rules
During restoration activities, special methods and techniques are used. Basically, the work is carried out using the method of conservation and reconstruction. Conservation - measures taken to stop the process of destruction of an object (monument), strengthen and maintain it in the form that has survived to our time. To do this, cleaning from contaminants, disinfection, general and local strengthening of the frame, its individual components, and protection from further exposure are performed. external environment.
Reconstruction is the reconstruction of monuments based on their surviving remains, images or descriptions. In the process of restoring furniture, damaged or lost parts of the item, individual sections of cladding, are made almost anew. decorative coatings.
We give priority to preserving an authentic item that grows in value over time. Therefore, conservation in restoration activities is preferable to reconstruction. 
An example of restoring an antique umbrella
In the process of restoration activities, we adhere to established rules:
1. We follow the path of preserving original furniture parts. We carefully try to introduce new elements when necessary, for which we use, for example, extensions for restoration. We replace veneer only if it is severely damaged - cracking, sanding. In case of replacing parts in furniture, we use them to repair smaller visible parts of the furniture.
2. Even in urgent cases, we avoid actions that exclude repeated restoration measures.
3. We try to pay special attention to the principle “an antique item is valued due to its natural aging,” as evidenced by the “patina of time” - plaque on wood, metal, etc. If, when restoring an item, this sign disappears, the item loses its value, since the aesthetic appearance of the object changes. In this regard, we try not to unnecessarily eliminate traces of earlier restoration processes, since this is a sign indicating the antiquity of the object.
There are things that you want to get rid of long before they serve their purpose, and there are those that are simply impossible to part with. But they too gradually become unusable. Fortunately, in most cases they can be restored. To do this, you just need to learn how to restore things with your own hands.
This work is creative, because you almost constantly have to learn something new. Old things will constantly present you with new problems, and you will try to solve them. Moreover the right decision will be the item that received new life and at the same time has not lost the touch of time. Otherwise, the thing looks like a cheap remake and loses the very aura for which you wanted to keep it.
What can you restore with your own hands?
You can give a second life to a variety of things, from furniture to children's toys. Of course, when we talk about restoration, we primarily mean furniture. It may be very old, left over from grandparents or more distant ancestors, or perhaps one’s own acquisition, but due to constant use, it has lost its “marketable” appearance. Of the antique things, most often buffets and chests of drawers remain in families, but you can find tables, secretaries, various bookcases, mirrors and shelves.
Nowadays you almost never see such things, and it is important to understand that there are objects that can be restored with your own hands, and where you can show your creativity and imagination in all its glory, and there are those that can only be entrusted to professional restorers, otherwise the thing will simply be mediocrely ruined . If you have even the slightest suspicion that your grandmother’s chandelier or grandfather’s chair has historical value, be sure to consult a specialist so as not to bite your elbows later.
Basically, you can put household items in order yourself, while you will enjoy creativity, and your home will become more and more comfortable.
Usually old things are ideal for country style interiors. We have already told you how to do it buffet in a similar force or chest of drawers. But round table, chandelier or mirror are more suitable for the interior classic style or baroque. Not so long ago, the loft style came into fashion here, and if you are a follower of it, then use UV printing during restoration upholstered furniture and choosing textiles and find a place for a chest or suitcase. In general, it is the little things that complete the interior design. Therefore, do not neglect boxes, key holders, cornices and other small antique things.
It is desirable that the entire interior be designed in the same style, and now this is often achieved by trying to adhere to one era. One of the simplest and beautiful ways make things old, that's crackle– creating a network of craquelures on surfaces – cracks, like in paintings by old masters. In addition, they use the effect of worn paint and other tricks. These techniques are not difficult to learn, but before you begin the actual thing, you need to practice on a piece of plywood.
A platform where people themselves decide on what terms to enter into transactions. Here you can buy something that is not sold anywhere else, and find a buyer for things that no one seems to need.
We have collected stories of people who often use Avito. Lifehacker's videographer told how, and a young couple from Voronezh told how. In this article, Lifehacker's commercial director Olga Makarova tells how she became a restorer and explains how to look for truly rare things using Avito.
Olga Makarova
Commercial Director Life hacker.
IN free time I remodel and paint furniture. When I lived in Ufa, I even had a workshop where I made custom work.
Why did I take up furniture restoration?
I graduated from art school and always loved to draw, sew, and do things with my own hands. When I gave birth to a child and was on maternity leave, I realized that I simply couldn’t help but do this, it became impossible to live without creativity.
At that time I had no experience working with furniture, but I decided to try it anyway. After all, this is a hobby, there is no risk here: even if it doesn’t work out, well, that’s okay. I started with my grandmother's chairs. She restored it, painted it and gave it to her brother for his wedding. My brother appreciated it, the guests were delighted too, and most importantly, I really enjoyed working with the furniture. This process was very inspiring.
How buying on helped me open a workshop
Once I found a buffet from the beginning of the last century on Avito. They gave it away for symbolic money, just so that someone would finally take it.
The buffet was in disgusting condition, and I remodeled it and literally gave it new life.
On the left is the same buffet in the process of restoration, on the right is kitchen set, which I decorated with painting After that, I realized that I liked the idea of reviving old things, and decided to open a workshop.
My brother’s wife communicated with the Ufa crowd of restaurateurs, so they began to contact me with requests to paint tables in a coffee shop or help with interior design.
Custom painted table For one apartment I decorated the entire bedroom: bedside tables, dressing table and lockers. The owner gave me a bookcase that she got from her grandmother to remake. In terms of beauty, the bookcase was not of particular value, but it was very valuable as a memory.
The bookcase that I helped fit into the new interior I made it consistent with the rest of the decor to keep the piece of furniture looking like false tooth in this apartment.
I often looked for furniture for remodeling on Avito. Came across there periodically interesting items first half of the 20th century. In Moscow and Ufa, such things are quite expensive: everyone has played enough modern interiors and learned to see value in history. In villages and towns the opposite is true.
If you set up a search for small settlements, then unusual furniture can be found for next to nothing.
I found these chairs on Avito, updated them and painted them The workshop worked for two years. At first I made do on my own, but gradually people recognized me in the city, and the number of orders increased. It was probably worth expanding, looking for investors and investing in the development of the business, but then I didn’t have the opportunity. Firstly, I needed money, and secondly, I lacked confidence that I could manage it.
Then I moved to Moscow. I had to forget about remodeling furniture: the pace of life does not allow me to devote enough energy to this hobby. If you start again, then take the matter seriously: you need separate room, paint shop and much more. Restoration remains my hobby: I have my grandmother’s chest of drawers, I want to remake it for myself.
What am I buying on Avito now?
I usually look for products here that don't make sense to pay extra for. Recently I was looking for a picnic basket. This is not the most necessary thing, so people often sell baskets that someone once gave them.
A new basket costs some strange money - around 10 thousand rubles. And on Avito you come across quite normal thousand for three. You can take it to nature several times, and then sell it the same way.
Some things become even more valuable after going through several owners.
For example, the same wooden furniture: if you buy a new one, it may turn out to be of poor quality, in a few years it will dry out and lose a decent appearance. With furniture that is at least 5 years old, everything that could possibly happen has already happened. If she still looks normal, she will probably stay that way.
Now I'm looking for my daughter bunk bed. Even if someone slept on it for several years, the bed will do nothing. But it costs not 15, but 5 thousand, this is a big difference.
How to look for interesting things
- Don't limit your search to a city. If you want to find something rare, search by region or even in other cities. Delivery is not a problem; you can arrange it on Avito from anywhere.
- Ask questions. If the ad does not contain details that are important to you, contact the seller and clarify the details you are interested in.
- Offer your terms. I don’t like to haggle, but in cases where the seller deliberately set an inflated price, I offered to pick up the goods quickly for a more adequate amount.
- Remember that there are many similar offers on Avito. Even unusual things are rarely sold in one copy here. I have not come across any products that had no analogues.
- Please evaluate the seller carefully before purchasing. If he behaves suspiciously, for example, insists on prepayment, it is better to play it safe and buy from someone else.
