Furniture That's Better Than New

People often paint older furniture in order to give it a new look. Conversely, Scott Singleton, senior manager, product marketing for Rubbermaid Commercial Products of Winchester, Va., spends a lot of time carefully removing these layers of paint — sometimes with dental picks — to restore antique furniture.

Restoration is the process of bringing older furniture back to its original condition and functionality. It can mean removing paint or finish, fixing broken legs, drawers, doors or replacing missing parts and hardware. During restoration, it's important not to remove or replace original finish or parts because they're part of its value.

Scott shares an interest in older furniture with his wife Tanya, who works in an antique shop.

"About 23 years ago, we bought a piece of furniture and restored it. It was both economical and fun, so we filled our house with antiques that we bought and restored," says Scott.

The Singletons' home, except for their TV, stereo and computer, is furnished totally with antiques, typically mid-1800s-style furniture.

Scott will tackle just about any project. Once, he was asked to restore a chair with a missing piece of wood. He found a broken-down old dresser at a flea market and bought it just for the wood, using it to repair that broken chair. Now Scott has a collection of old furniture that he keeps just in case he needs to match a particular type of wood or stain.

"Years ago people would stain wood with fruits and berries," he says. "An older, primitive piece, for instance, might have a reddish tone to it, and that reddish-orange stain is almost impossible to remove today."

Furniture restoration for Scott is a stress-reliever. He has his garage set up as a restoration shop, and spends five to 10 hours a week doing restoration work.

"I usually work on two to three projects at a time," says Scott. "I get burned out working on the same piece all the time, so I'll rotate and spend a few hours on each of the pieces I'm working on."

Scott's favorite piece is a Victor Victrola phonograph he bought at a flea market and restored.

"It looked terrible from the outside, but inside it was pristine," he says. "I gutted it, worked on the motor, and then finished it on the outside. I found parts, including the product manual from 1925, on the Internet. I bought some old 78 rpm records, and we actually listen to them."

Right now, in a perfect contrast between old and new, the Victor Victrola is sitting right next to Scott's computer.

Scott is currently working on restoring a pre-Civil War dresser with a marble top for his 18-year-old daughter.

"It's probably the oldest piece I've ever worked on. Because it's for our daughter, I'm spending more time on it than I normally would," Scott says. "When you can take a piece of furniture with a history and restore it, it has more meaning because it belonged to someone."

Gretchen Roufs, an 18-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns a marketing and public relations company in San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “Freetime,” contact her at Gretchen@GretchenRoufs.com.