Real antique wood furniture will be very valuable soon

I've been looking for an antique buffet. So far nothing has caught my eye.
One thing i've noticed is that it seems EVERYONE is painting over old wood. Look at this photo. This is a quick search I did
for buffet. 5 of the pieces are vintage or antique. All painted, some very poorly.

I'm not a total antique purist. Some things look ok painted. The problem is that there is going to be a very very limited amount of real wood, untouched patina antique furniture pretty soon. I've even seen someone paint white on some stickly pieces (sa·cré bleu!!!!)
Yes, I know, people are free to do whatever they want with what they buy, ok. & don't get me wrong, I'd rather someone save a piece rather than putting it in the dump. That's not what i'm talking about here.

I'm just saying if you like real wood, without paint I have a feeling they are going to be in very short supply real soon. This is a fad, and it will go away and all that will be left are pieces that need to be stripped. They are never the same as the original patina. My favorite is old old tiger oak. That color is just amazing. Maybe I was an old woodworker in a past life. It kills me a little bit every time someone slaps paint on a perfect piece of wood. The problem is the most people really don't know how to prep or paint either. People think painting is easy, maybe it is, but quality painting isn't. I heard on a remodeling show a young person say they don't like any "brown"... yes, "brown", and in wood. Is that not the weirdest thing. ok...

I've noticed that in my region people are also going crazy painting their kitchen cabinets white. It looks horrible. We are talking blind you like the sun white. I've now seen realtors looking for houses that don't have painted cabinets! (yes they actually said that!).

I would think a paint stripping biz would be a viable enterprise.

a reply to: JAGStorm

It seems that wood finish is falling out of favor...

a reply to: JAGStorm


Checkout an auction website called EBTH (Everything But The House)...You'll love it.

I have a few pieces of natural wood antiques. I would never paint them!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Just goes to support my premise that people are basically stupid ...

a reply to: JAGStorm

I have an antique buffet in my dining room.It has lion paws and lion
heads in the details,I don't know how old it is.Previous owner had
put plastic shelf paper inside of the drawers.I did pull that out and
uncovered the original lining.

originally posted by: mamabeth
a reply to: JAGStorm

I have an antique buffet in my dining room.It has lion paws and lion
heads in the details,I don't know how old it is.Previous owner had
put plastic shelf paper inside of the drawers.I did pull that out and
uncovered the original lining.

I saw a gorgeous very old antique table with those lion paw feet. It was absolutely drop dead gorgeous.
I sat there and looked and seriously contemplated buying it. I ended up not buying it, because I seriously could not imagine letting anyone actually eat on it. It was a piece of art! Your buffet sounds amazing too

My Wife and I ordered some Amish furniture for this very reason after we were married. We wanted heirloom furniture and after 10 years of ikea/target/goodwill pieces it was amazing to get solid wood furniture. It's definitely more expensive but I think it's well worth it to have some solid stuff to pass down and a good investment in this disposable world.

I have an uncle in the antique business.
He says shows like pickers has really hurt the antique business.

But he also says that something being old doesnt make it valuable. If it was cheap when it was manufactured it's still cheap now.

A 1972 ford pinto is still junk no matter the condition.
A 1972 mustang on the other hand is worth a bunch more.
Same thing applies to antiques.

The furniture that you dont like to see painted is also a dime a dozen. No great loss.

Oops....dbl

The wood is still there. It can be dipped. Yes, you lose the patina, but really, only purists care about that.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
I have an uncle in the antique business.
He says shows like pickers has really hurt the antique business.

But he also says that something being old doesnt make it valuable. If it was cheap when it was manufactured it's still cheap now.

A 1972 ford pinto is still junk no matter the condition.
A 1972 mustang on the other hand is worth a bunch more.
Same thing applies to antiques.

The furniture that you dont like to see painted is also a dime a dozen. No great loss.

I think it used to be like that, but people are now painting mahogany, cherry and tiger oak now. Like I said, I even saw stickley pieces being painted. Those are totally not cheap pieces.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I have an old China cabinet, only about 3' wide and maybe 5.5' high, circa 1915-1930 I think, art-deco era, so not real old. Never been painted or refinished, wood framed glass door and made of 3 different kinds of solid wood. No idea what it is worth.

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: JAGStorm

I went into a UK Charity shop -a Thrift Store I guess in North America- and found a gorgeous 5ft sideboard, curved with 3 drawers and two cupboards, all with brass locks, and complete with a baise lined cutlery tray and quarter dowl on every edge.

A walnut veneer I think, very little evidence of wear. In the bottom drawer were the keys, all engraved with the makers name - Harrods.

I would guess this was hand made in the 1960's when Harrods had a cabinet makers on site, based in the roof of the store. The asking price was £249, about the same as it would have been back in 60's. How tastes change!

I have an antique 3-drawer dresser in the bedroom that my grandmother gave me. Been in the family for a long time, from what I understand.

When she gave it to me, it was in rough shape. I mean, it looked like complete s#. It'd been painted over god knows how many times, paint layers were peeling, scratches, gouges, dents, etc. It was perfectly fine structurally, but simply looked god-awful.

I spent months carefully hand-sanding the paint off (with a mask, of course) as opposed to using chemicals -- I avoid using them when elbow grease works just as well.
I got off multiple layers of greens, blues, reds, white and a hideous shade of seafoam.

Turns out, it's a glorious oak piece. Looks exactly like this, but with scalloping on the bottom:



The original metal backing for the handles is long gone, but I still have the handles themselves. The original key locks are also long gone, but no matter. I simply sealed it, not a drop of stain, and use it next to the bed as a nightstand & (very) light storage dresser. The way the light coming in the bedroom window hits it & highlights the grains and color variations makes it look marvelous

Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I also redid our 5 drawer dresser, headboard and footboard in the same manual, no chemicals manner. My sister-in-law gave me her childhood set, which is probably no older than the 1960's (so vintage at best) It all was painted a ghastly faded black, the color left a lot to be desired.

I spent a solid year hand-sanding it to bare wood. The amount of seal someone at some point plastered over the paint to make it shiny was ungodly. And ridiculously painstaking to get off with sanding, but I did it anyway.

Under all those layers of s#, a stunning solid cherry set was hidden, omfg. Part of the headboard on the forward-facing side was mended with poplar at some point, it was an obvious difference in grain and color. To conceal that, I did have to compromise and stain the pieces, but I went with a lighter cherry stain and couldn't be happier. It's not a heavy stain, but gives the set a nice richness in color.

I've got a barrister bookcase in the bedroom, mostly poplar hardwood with oak veneer, that might be my next project sooner or later. I'm not fond of the veneer's color (I swear to god it's developing a greenish tint as it ages) so I'm liable to restain it to match the rest of the furniture (aside from that antique 3 drawer, that's perfect the way it is)
I'd probably have to chemically strip the seal off with the bookcase, though, I'm good at tricky sanding, but I'm leery of sanding veneer. Too easy to screw up.

a reply to: Nyiah

The dresser is a perfect example of what I was saying.
It's worth $50...... maybe

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Nyiah

The dresser is a perfect example of what I was saying.
It's worth $50...... maybe

Your point being?

I don't care what it's worth, it's a functional piece of furniture that just needed a little TLC.

a reply to: Nyiah

The point is that no matter how beautiful or functional the piece is it will ways be worth $50.
Therefore painting them will always happen.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Nyiah

The point is that no matter how beautiful or functional the piece is it will ways be worth $50.
Therefore painting them will always happen.

Ok, and? Someone personalized it with paint before me, I personalized it with unstained wood FOR me.

What is the point of your snubbing? Because you "have an uncle in the biz"?