Friday, June 25, 2010

Furniture Medic Before and After

As most people who know me already know, I bought a Furniture Medic franchise in March of 2009. What's a Furniture Medic? Go to my website, http://www.fmbydallas.com/ and you can get an idea of some of the things I do. Furniture repair is a challenging and (to me) fun way to make a living. You never know what you might run into. I thought I would share a few of the before and after pictures of some of my repairs. Some people have seen some of these, some haven't seen any of these and some probably really don't care. Before I go any further, let me make it plain...I AM NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER. I am a woodworker. Many times over the last year, I would get into a repair and suddenly think "This would have made a very good before and after set. Dummy me forgot the before part." so, this is just a small sampling of what I have done.






One of the services I provide is "Image Enhancement". That is fancy talk for making it look better. Here we see the front edge of a desk where the chair has rubbed all the color off.













Adding color and matching the existing finish makes a big difference. In a professional setting where "image" is important, this small thing can make a difference.

















How about those pesky, ugly water stains? Water damage, while sometimes pretty severe, can usually be repaired. This small, folding side table had plenty water damage. It was used for a plant stand, and it shows. Not only were there water rings, but the veneer on the top was buckling in lots of places.











With the severity of that water damage, a complete refinish was required.























Sometimes, it's nothing more than that white water spot on the table after a hot dish was set there, or a cold glass of tea on the coffee table.


















Usually, that's a very easy, inexpensive repair.




















There are several repairs I have performed that I am more proud of than others. This is one of them. A bit of a story here. This wonderful elderly lady had this chest hand made in Japan in the 50's when her husband was stationed there in the military. It is her prize possession. Her water heater in her attic burst and completely soaked this chest. She was heartbroken and didn't think it could ever be repaired.










This view shows the water damage a little better. The piece had to be completely stripped and refinished. The pictures don't show, but the damage was inside as well.























Here is the front of the chest after repair.......





















and the end. This customer told me after she bought the piece, the Craftsman would stop by every once in a while to make sure she was taking care of his work. After I delivered it back to her, she cried and told me even he would have been pleased. One of the most gratifying jobs I have ever done. I did several other jobs for this lady afterward and always made sure I scheduled plenty of time, because I couldn't get out of there without a cup of coffee and some conversation.










Here's a cedar bed post with a big chunk missing out of it.




















Chunk filled and re-built. Piece of cake.




















I don't have a clue what happened here, but the veneer cracked in several places on these chair backs (4 of them).






















After a little hocus-pocus, some filler and color matching they looked good again. Yes, it is the same chair. Different day, different lighting, angle, etc. etc.





















Everybody that's ever raised a puppy in the house can relate to this picture. Of course, the puppy didn't do all of it. This cedar chest was in bad shape. Parts missing. Lid busted. Knobs broken and missing. This lady wanted this repaired to give to her daughter for graduation in a few months. I actually picked this piece up several months before I started my Furniture Medic business, but it is some of my work.













After several months, several new parts and lots of hard work, it turned out pretty good. I was even able to get new knobs that were identical to the old ones. That was a trick.
















Not everybody can say they had a chimney fall into the living room on top of their furniture, but these folks can. It crushed one of a matching set of chairs. Supposedly antique, but definitely sentimental. I had to get the upholstery removed to find out what all was broken. The main frame that the legs attach to had to be replaced on one side, loose at every joint and some of the joints broken. Notice the piece of the right arm lying in the seat.














The arm was broken the entire length. Part of the support was gone in the front and had to be rebuilt.





















It took a lot of work, but it ended up almost as good as new.




















The broken arm....well you had to look closely to even see the crack from the repair.


















As I said in the beginning, I am not a photographer, but I think I was able to show some of the many things I have repaired over the last year. I am making an effort to take more pictures and hopefully can build a more complete portfolio of my work.

Some of my earlier blogs show stuff I did before becoming a Furniture Medic. My kitchen remodel and some of the stuff I turned on the lathe.


I hope you have enjoyed this and have a better understanding of the things I do. I know I enjoy doing them. Please feel free to leave a comment.