GETTING YOUR FURNITURE READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS IS AS EASY AS 1-2-3

By Lou Manfredini, contributor to NBC's Today Show

Are you hosting a holiday party? Is your coffee table looking a little tired? Are your nervous that when your Mother-in-law sits at the dining room table that her chair may collapse? Don’t worry we have a few quick fixes to make your furniture look almost brand new. And the cost less than $20.00

Most wood chairs and assembled using wood glue and fasteners on the legs. Over time these legs can become loose and eventually (if not repaired) could fall apart. Turn that chair upside down. Remove the loose leg from the hole that it is inserted into. Fill the hole with some carpenters glue available at a Hardware store. Then re-insert the leg. Drill a small hole through the leg and into the body of the seat. Install a screw into the hole and tighten. If you are repairing several section of the chair use an adjustable strap or an old bicycle inner tube to hold it all together while the glue sets up. Let the chair sit (pun intended) for 24 hours and you now have one solid chair.

Most coffee table or dinning room tables get damaged by watermarks or heat rings from constant use. Discoloration can also happen from too much furniture wax. Most of these imperfections are in the finish of the piece not in the stain. Using a wood amalgamator like Howard-Restore-A-Finish or Danish oil can bring the finish back to life. Using fine steel wool with a rating #0000 soak the steel wood and wipe with the grain. The chemical will strip away thin layers of the finish and produce a clean smooth finish. Then wipe down the surface with a clean cloth with pure mineral spirits. Rotate the rag several times to get it nice and clean. Keep wiping the top until the rag is clean. Then to keep it looking good you can apply an even layer of clear spray lacquer. Spray evenly and over each side to get a professional looking finish. All of these products are available at your local hardware store.

Most of the time, legs of furniture take a real beating. From the vacuum cleaner, kids, or our pets. There are several options for hiding these imperfections so only you will know they are there. There is a wide variety of stain sticks on the market. Basically there are permanent markers in different colors. Use these if you have scratches that are not too deep to blend with the color of your wood. For deeper gouges colored putty sticks can be purchased. Many times the colors will match perfectly, but when they don’t you can actually mix a couple of the colors together to get the exact match. Apply the putty and scrape away any excess. Then apply a little clear shellac. The shellac will harden and protect the putty. Then you can do the lacquer trick, which you perfected above, and you are all set.

Leather and fabric furniture can be brought back to life with a new product called “Tear Mender” Sliced bread had a good run. This product can help repair damage to not only furniture but clothing as well. It’s non-toxic and easy to use. You just apply the adhesive hold for a few minutes and you cannot pull it apart. To soften up your leather goods work a little “Mink Oil” (which is silicone and lanolin) into the leather to make it replica rolex smooth and soft.

One, two, three, done! You have just saved yourself a few hundred dollars and brought your tired furniture back to life. If you have more questions or need some advice feel free replica louis vuitton handbags to e-mail me at lou@homeimprovementminutes.com

Happy home!

The above material is provided as an information service. Lou urges you to consider all prudent options prior to beginning a home improvement project or repairs, including checking with home improvement professionals in your area, and local building codes.