What to Expect From Our Refinished Vintage Furniture

When you invest in a refinished vintage furniture piece from Casey Grace Studios, you're not just buying furniture - you're receiving a fully restored, meticulously prepared piece that's ready to become part of your home for decades to come.

The Benefits of Refinished Vintage Furniture vs. Buying New

These aren't the particle board pieces you'll find at big box stores. Vintage furniture offers quality construction that simply doesn't exist in today's market: solid wood - often old-growth mahogany, walnut, or pecan. Dovetailed drawers assembled by human hands, not an assembly line. Joinery held together with wood glue, not staples and screws. Depending on the era, you'll find high-quality veneers that are impossible to recreate today with the same depth and grain patterns.

This is furniture that was built to last a lifetime - and with our refinishing process, it will last several more.

Here's something most people don't realize about buying refinished vintage furniture: those beautiful pieces often come with functional issues that get painted over but never actually fixed. A door that sticks. A drawer that won't close flush. A missing middle leg on a very long dresser that sags under its own weight.

We fix all of that before a single coat of primer ever touches the wood.

When your piece arrives, every door will open and close smoothly. Every drawer will glide effortlessly. The structure will be sound, square, and stable. These aren't glamorous repairs, but they're the difference between furniture that looks beautiful and furniture that works beautifully.

Vintage furniture wasn't built with ball-bearing drawer glides - and that's actually part of its charm. But it does require some thoughtful updates to function the way you expect furniture to work today.

Drawer stops: We add small plastic stops to prevent drawers from being accidentally pulled all the way out. It's a small detail that saves a lot of frustration.

Silicone glide tape: Instead of the traditional candle wax that was often applied decades ago, we add thin strips of silicone tape beneath each drawer where wood meets wood. The result? Drawers that glide consistently, smoothly, and quietly - every single time you open them.

Adjustable feet: Floors aren't always level, and furniture that isn't level will eventually develop sticking doors and drawers as the piece settles out of square. We add adjustable feet to every piece so you can keep everything perfectly aligned, no matter where you place it or how long you have it, every piece remains plumb. 

Papered Drawers: If there are stains or other issues with the drawer interiors, we will paper the drawers. If you've purchased a rescue to customize you can definitely choose your paper. In fact CGS has a wallpaper line coming soon!

Some workshops or furniture painters will spray the entirety of the drawer interior and exterior sides. We ONLY do that when we've altered drawers for a vanity transition. In those situations, we've had to cut up the drawer to rebuild it around the plumbing, and since the new wood will not match the old, we fully spray them so they look cohesive.

You'll see a lot of painted furniture out there, but what we do is different. Our high-gloss lacquer finish involves 2-3 layers of primer, 2-3 layers of color, and 2-3 layers of topcoat. Then we buff the entire piece - just like a car is buffed - before applying a final ceramic coating.

The process is entirely water-based, which means nothing toxic and no off-gassing. This matters not just for your home today, but for the life of the piece. In another 50 years, when someone wants to refinish this furniture again, they won't be dealing with toxic materials from our work. (Want to understand more about why we choose lacquer over paint? Read our comparison here.)

Many vintage pieces we find come with their original glass top. If it’s in good shape, the glass stays with the piece. If the piece does not have glass, we do recommend protecting your investment with a tempered glass top for high-use surfaces. 

Our finish is more durable than paint and will last for decades with proper care, but like any fine finish, it can scratch. A glass top ensures your piece stays pristine.

Your piece will arrive via white glove delivery to your first floor. Each item is individually wrapped in blankets, then secured with plastic wrap - but not before we oversee the entire packing process at pickup.

Why do we supervise? Because the shipper needs to understand the anatomy of your piece to make smart decisions about how it's positioned in the truck. A nightstand stacks differently than a tall dresser. Delicate hardware needs specific protection. These details matter.

We're always looking for ways to elevate the Casey Grace Studios experience. Soon, we'll be introducing a more curated unboxing moment and offering touch-up kits for long-term care. Because when you invest in a piece that's meant to last another 50+ years, we want to make sure you have everything you need to keep it looking incredible.

The work we do isn't always visible in photos, but you'll feel it the moment you open that first drawer or adjust those feet to get everything level. That's when you know you've reclaimed a refinished vintage furniture piece that was built to last - and restored to last even longer.