Repair and refinishing
Furniture restoration in Adelaide
A piece is worth restoring when it is solid timber with cut joinery, and it is not worth restoring when it is veneered particleboard held together with cam locks. That 1 test settles most of it. Re-gluing a chair costs $80 to $250, refinishing a dining table costs $600 to $1,800, and a full sideboard restoration costs $900 to $3,000.
The rest of this page is the detail behind that: how to read the construction of your own piece, the difference between restoration, conservation and refinishing, the 5 jobs Adelaide workshops see most, and the point at which a repair costs more than starting again with new timber furniture. Most of the damage in this city is climate damage, explained in why solid timber splits in Adelaide homes, and if the base is sound a new custom top is often the better answer than a full refinish.
The decision
Turn it upside down before you ring anyone
Spending 5 minutes with the piece on its back tells you more than any photograph a restorer can look at. You are checking 1 thing: is there anything here for a repair to hold onto.
| Construction | How to spot it | Typical origin | Restore? | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut joinery in solid timber | Dovetailed drawer sides, visible mortise and tenon frames, pegged joints | Pre-1960, and good modern custom work | Yes | Every joint can be taken apart and put back. The piece was designed to be repaired |
| Solid timber, dowelled | Round dowel ends visible at a broken joint, no dovetails in the drawers | 1950s to 1980s mass-produced | Usually | Dowels can be drilled out and replaced. Costs more labour than cut joinery but holds |
| Veneer over solid timber or plywood | Face grain stops at a solid edge lipping, core shows real timber layers | Mid-century, quality 1950s to 1970s | Yes, with care | Veneer can be lifted, re-glued and patched. Never aggressively sanded |
| Veneer over particleboard, cam locks | Cam bolts and plastic dowels, core of fine brown chips at a chip or screw hole | Flat-pack and post-1980 mass market | No | Nothing holds a repair. A stripped screw in particleboard cannot be reliably re-fixed |
| Laminate or foil over particleboard | The grain pattern repeats, and the edge is a printed strip | Flat-pack | No | The surface is a printed film. There is nothing underneath to refinish |
Economics decide the middle of that table and sentiment overrides all of it. A grandmother's chiffonier gets restored at any price and nobody needs a spreadsheet to justify it. What the table is for is the other case: the piece you inherited or bought second hand and are genuinely unsure about.
The 60% rule. If the restoration quote comes in above 60% of what an equivalent new custom piece would cost, and the piece has no antique or sentimental value, replace it. A dining table refinish at $900 against a $3,500 to $5,500 new custom table is an obvious yes. A $2,600 restoration on the same table is not, unless it is the table you learned to eat at.
Terminology that costs money
Restoration, conservation and refinishing are 3 different jobs
They get used interchangeably in enquiries and they are not interchangeable at all. Asking for the wrong one on an old piece is the fastest way to lose most of its value.
Conservation
Stabilise and retain. Consolidate what is failing, arrest the damage, change as little as possible and keep every original surface. This is the correct approach on a genuinely old or rare piece, and it is the least invasive of the 3.
Restoration
Return it to working order with sympathetic repair. Re-glue joints, replace a broken component in matching timber, revive the existing finish, repair veneer. The original surface is retained wherever it can be. This is the majority of the work.
Refinishing
Strip the old coating off, sand the timber back and apply a new finish. It is quick, it is dramatic, and it is irreversible. Correct on a 1970s table that has been through 3 households. Wrong on anything with an original shellac surface.
Why stripping an old shellac finish destroys value
Furniture made before roughly 1930 was finished in shellac, usually applied as French polish. There are 2 things that follow from that. First, the surface itself and the patina in it are a large part of what the piece is worth to anyone who values it as an antique, and once it is sanded off it does not come back. A stripped and polyurethaned Victorian cedar chiffonier is worth a fraction of the same piece with its original surface intact.
Second, shellac does not need stripping. It redissolves in alcohol, which means a tired, crazed or clouded shellac finish can be reamalgamated: the existing film is softened, redistributed and re-laid, taking the scratches and bloom with it. That is a $250 to $900 job on most pieces and it keeps everything that mattered. Ask any restorer for revival first, and treat stripping as the option of last resort rather than the default. The finish types themselves are compared in timber furniture finishes explained.
Local reality
The 5 jobs Adelaide restorers see most
Note that 4 of these 5 are caused by the same thing: this is the driest mainland capital, and the inside of a cooled Adelaide house in February is drier still.
- 1.
Chairs whose hide glue has let go
The most common restoration job in this city, and it is a climate problem. Animal hide glue is reversible by design, and Adelaide's indoor humidity under 30% through February shrinks the tenon inside its mortise. The joint goes slack, the chair racks under load, and the racking loosens the next joint. The correct repair is to knock the frame apart, clean every surface back to bare timber and re-glue it square. Do not inject PVA into a loose joint: it seals the surfaces without holding them, and it turns a $120 repair into a $400 one because the next restorer has to clean it all out.
- 2.
White rings and heat marks
A pale ring under a glass or a hot dish is trapped moisture inside a shellac or lacquer film, not damage to the timber. It can usually be drawn out or reamalgamated in place for under $220 without touching the rest of the top. A dark or black ring is the opposite: water has reached the timber and reacted with the tannin, and that needs the coating removed locally before it can be addressed.
- 3.
Sun-bleached tops from north-facing glass
Adelaide extensions are glazed heavily to the north, and a tabletop with half of it in direct sun bleaches unevenly inside 1 summer. Tasmanian oak lightens, blackwood and jarrah darken then fade. There is no spot repair for this: the whole top has to be cut back and re-coated so the colour reads evenly, which is why it lands in the $600 to $1,800 band rather than the $200 one.
- 4.
Split solid tops
A top splits because it was restrained, not because the timber was bad. Screws driven straight through a fixed rail, a glued breadboard end, or a top fixed hard to a metal frame will all do it in a dry summer. Filling the split without releasing the restraint guarantees it reopens in the next February. The repair has to start underneath the table.
- 5.
Lifting and bubbled veneer
Mid-century sideboards and wardrobes were veneered with hide glue too, and it releases in the same dry heat. Caught early a bubble can be slit, re-glued and weighted for a few hundred dollars. Left through 2 summers the veneer cracks, chips off at the edge and has to be patched with matching stock, which is where the cost climbs.
Preventing the next round is cheaper than the last one. Keeping a piece off a north-facing window, out of the direct path of a ducted outlet, and re-oiled at the interval its finish actually needs avoids most of what is on this list. That is set out in caring for solid timber furniture in Adelaide.
Cost
Adelaide restoration price bands
Restoration is quoted per job after the piece has been seen, because what is under the finish is not visible until work starts. These are the bands most jobs land in.
| Job | Adelaide band | What drives the number |
|---|---|---|
| Chair re-glue, per chair | $80 to $250 | Whether the joints come apart cleanly, or somebody has already injected PVA into them |
| Water ring or heat blush | $90 to $220 | White ring is in the finish and reversible. Black ring has reached the timber |
| Veneer patch or re-lay | $150 to $450 | Sourcing matching veneer, not the gluing. Old veneer is thicker than modern stock |
| French polish revival | $250 to $900 | Reviving the existing shellac rather than stripping it. Size and current condition |
| Repair a split solid top | $350 to $900 | Releasing whatever restrained the top, not filling the gap. A filled split reopens |
| Dining table refinish | $600 to $1,800 | Size, the existing finish, and whether the top needs flattening before coating |
| New solid top for an existing base | $700 to $2,200 | Timber species. This is a new-build cost, not a restoration one |
| Full sideboard restoration | $900 to $3,000 | Veneer condition, drawer running, hardware, and whether the back is salvageable |
When the repair costs more than the replacement
Run the numbers on the set, not on the item. A set of 6 dining chairs re-glued and refinished at $180 each is $1,080, against $250 to $600 each for solid timber replacements, so restoring wins comfortably if the chairs are solid timber. Flip 1 variable and the answer flips: if those chairs have moulded ply seats screwed to a particleboard frame, the same $1,080 is spent on something that will be loose again in 3 years.
There are 2 more cases where replacement is the honest answer. A piece needing a new solid top at $700 to $2,200 on a base that is already failing is most of the way to a new table. And any job where more than half the original material has to be replaced has stopped being a restoration: at that point you are commissioning a reproduction, and it should be quoted, and compared, as new work by a furniture maker.
FAQ
Furniture restoration in Adelaide: common questions
Is my furniture worth restoring?
Turn it over and look at the joints. Cut joinery in solid timber, dovetailed drawers, mortise and tenon frames, is worth restoring almost every time. Veneered particleboard held together with cam locks and plastic dowels is not, because there is nothing for a repair to hold onto. Sentimental value overrides both answers and always has.
What does furniture restoration cost in Adelaide?
Re-gluing a chair is $80 to $250 each. Refinishing a dining table is $600 to $1,800 depending on size and whether the top has split. A full sideboard restoration, including veneer repair, drawer work and hardware, is $900 to $3,000. Small work like a water ring or a heat mark starts around $90.
Will restoring an antique reduce its value?
Stripping it will. On a pre-1930 piece the original shellac surface and the patina under it are a large part of what the piece is worth, and sanding both off to apply a modern coating destroys that permanently. A shellac finish can usually be revived with alcohol rather than removed. Ask for revival first and stripping only as a last resort.
Why do my dining chairs keep coming loose?
Older chairs were assembled with animal hide glue, which is reversible by design. Adelaide summers hold indoor humidity under 30% for weeks, the tenons shrink, the joints go slack, and every time somebody leans back the chair racks a little further. The fix is to knock the joints apart, clean off the old glue and re-glue properly.
Can a water ring be removed without refinishing the whole table?
Usually yes. A white ring is moisture trapped inside the finish rather than damage to the timber, and on shellac or lacquer it can often be drawn back out or reamalgamated locally for $90 to $220. A black ring is different: that is water that reached the timber and reacted with the tannins, and it needs the finish removed in that area.
How long does furniture restoration take in Adelaide?
A chair re-glue is 1 to 2 weeks including drying time between stages. A dining table refinish is 2 to 4 weeks, because each coat has to cure before the next is cut back. A full restoration on a sideboard with veneer and hardware work runs 4 to 10 weeks. Almost all of that is waiting, not working.
Keep reading
You might also find this useful
- Caring for solid timber furniture in AdelaideHumidity, north-facing glass and re-oiling intervals: how to avoid needing a restorer again.Read it
- Timber furniture finishes explainedHardwax oil, polyurethane and lacquer compared, including which ones can be spot repaired.Read it
- Furniture makers in AdelaideWhen a piece is past restoring, this is what commissioning its replacement involves.Read it
Start here
Get your piece assessed by Adelaide restorers
Send us photographs of the piece, including the underside and any damage. We match it to Adelaide workshops that do restoration work, and they quote you directly.
- Free to use. Makers pay us, you never do.
- ABN, public liability insurance and completed Adelaide work checked before we refer anyone.
- Adelaide metro only, so you are not sent to an interstate workshop.