Furniture Restoration, Refinishing and Reupholstery of Antique and Modern Furniture by Olek Lejbzon & Co., est. 1950, NYC

Antique or modern furniture restoration brings the condition back to what it was at an earlier time. Restoring may include repair, refinishing, re-upholstery, or other crafts. We look at the condition of your furniture needing repair and discuss your expectations.

Repairs are essential to use your furniture. The original joints, or joinery, of furniture must be respectfully treated, or repairs will not last. Our emphasis on quality craftsmanship in our repairs underlies all that we do. A severely broken chair that we repair will reliably stand up through many decades of heavy use

Louis XV period side chair, ca. 1750 disassembled and repaired:

George Washington's Chair, ca. 1760 at Trinity Church, NYC:

Stickley Rocker nailed together and not maintained:

Rocker rail and arm split, top rail broken - rebuilding of parts and joinery

Backside only of top rail partially replaced with Dutchman inlay

Original white oak of front of top rail was savedsaved

Chair joints nailed

20th Century dowelled chairs need rebuilding hundreds of years sooner than antique mortise and tenon joined chairs. The way to repair a loose chair is to disassemble it into all its parts, then cut off the dowels, drill out the holes slightly larger, and drill out the dowels and insert a larger dowel individuallyadjusted to fit tightly, so the chair is tight without any glue at all. And only then re-glued. By rebuilding the chair this way, it will last 50 - 100 years before loosening again:

Dowels cut off, drilled out, larger dowels inserted in each joint

Each chair component is separately glued together

            • Improper "repairs",including injecting expanding polyurethane glues (like "Gorilla" glue) into the joints, or worse yet installing metal angles, nails or screws, are 3 month to 1 year "fixes". The loosening is often accompanied by collapse, as only a few joints loosen at once, putting too much stress on too small an area or on too few loose joints.

Dining Tables with Regency Style Dowelled Legs need re-doweling:

Legs pull out

Glued frame coming apart

Drop Leaf Table hinged support worn

This Table design is more challenged than the Regency Pedestal:

            • Marquetry or veneer inlays replacing missing elements to be seamless and indistinguishable from the original elements, whether it is Louis XV floral marquetry created by master ebenistes ca. 1750, or a pre-War reproduction dining table with missing pieces of string inlays around the cross-banded boder.

Early 18th Century Queen Anne Chest of Drawers, requiring Crossbanded Marquetry on Drawers

            • Chest of Drawers Rebuilding

Periodic maintenance keeps drawers functioning smoothly like new. For an old, wobbly piece, complete disassembly of the chest is necessary. The drawers are separated into the sides, back, front, and bottom on a bench. The sides are added to from the bottom with similar wood to restore original dimensions, all the dovetail joints shimmed to be tight without glue, then re-glued. We take the frame apart in the same way; after each piece is added to with Dutchman inlays to compensate for breakage or other losses to the same dimension as originally made, it is re-glued.

Early 18th Century American Queen Anne Period High Chest of Drawers, drawer runners and rails repaired:

The rails the drawers ride on are very worn on top, but probably pristine on the bottom side, so we flip them over and reattach.

American Empire Sideboard Repair, ca. 1830- Repaired with Veneer Inlays, Rebuilt drawers, French Polished, Hardware replicated where missing:

            • Carving  matches original missing elements, whether Gothic workmanship, or highly stylized Georgian period, or more theatrical and flowing Italian Baroque, or early 20th century neoclassical carved Church pew ends. Our carvers match the hand of the original carver and flawlessly inlay replacement elements.

Renaissance carving replicating pew end

            • Turnings made on a lathe,  are perfect hand-turned copies of the original hand-turned spindles, balusters, or other parts.

Top turning is copy of bottom- Victorian screen

Balcony railing spindles, turned from Locust wood

            • Metal Repair skillfully executed, and invisibly done. We cast, forge, weld, mill in our machine shops, chase, grind, turn, and perform any metalworking operation needed to attain a fine repair. We fabricate replacement elements indistinguishable from the original

            • Modern furniture  restoration  executed skillfully and with precision, utilizing the original materials, whether plastic, rubber, fiberglass, glass or various types of metals

Karl Springer Coffee Table with Bamboo Marquetry splitting and losing bamboo inlays

Bamboo parquetry Oriental Style Furniture Table developed splitting top, sides, legs, and loss of inlays

Missing bamboo inlaid, splits  over top filled in with solid wood beneath, and bamboo lifted and reglued, covering splits, then cement matched and filled in between bamboo, then bamboo stained and touched up, and finish applied.

To attain impeccable, meticulous results, we employ the finest European craftsmen; cabinetmakers, metal machinists and welders, carvers, upholsterers, artists, even glaziers.  We respect the integrity of furniture and know the importance of maintaining the original design and joinery when repairing your furniture or architectural woodwork. We will not insert a dowel into a mortise-and-tenon joint that will compromise a tenon’s function, to effect a cheap “repair”. 

Plaster Sculpture Repair of John Dickenson Furniture Table:

This plaster table had thin, flexible armatures "supporting" the plaster, and as a result all the legs were splitting in multiple places, with one leg broken off. Repairing the sculpture required installing heavier armatures furniture, and cementing all the cracked elements.

Olek repairs furniture or woodwork joinery true to the original design, so you will enjoy it for many decades after it has left our shop. There are instances when the original design was flawed and we suggest an improvement for durability

Olek's ability to repair antique period wood joinery on furniture or woodwork ranging from the middle ages to modern, from Rococo to Regency is well known. Complicated  repairs and badly damaged furniture are routine for us. Our European cabinetmakers perform complicated, intricate repair of missing marquetry, carvings, and joinery, on wood that is in good condition, or suffering from smoke or fire damage, or the ravages of powder post beetles.  Our mission is to restore your furniture, so you cannot tell that a repair was made;  the furniture will look like it was well maintained throughout its life.

Vanderbilt Bar- Braided crops, horseshoes, ribbons with tassels, straps, all replicated with hand of the original furniture carver

We repair historic exterior architectural woodwork, including furniture, doors, windows, and trim.  We meticulously follow original joinery design, no matter how complicated, so superior results are obtained, that there is no substitute for.  Many of the historic buildings we work on are Landmarked or on the National Register of Historic Places, and these details must be coordinated and approved by historic preservation agencies.  We can offer these agencies, and architects or others involved with the management of such projects, advice on the joinery and materials to be used, that will improve the results obtained.

Pickups & Delivery by our truck throughout metropolitan NY, NJ, PA, and CT-

Pickups of entire assembled Eames Lounge Chair may be inexpensively arranged throughout the Midwest and Eastern US, from Texas to Chicago, Florida to Boston

We arrange pickup and delivery promptly throughout metropolitan NY, including NY and NYC, NJ, PA, and  at CT at modest cost.  We can arrange for pickup and delivery of furniture throughout the United States east of the Mississippi, as well as all of Louisiana and eastern Texas with a recommended common carrier, TSC Moving (Hallandale, FL),   They are very reliable, and surprisingly economical for long-distance moves. Fine furniture deserves the best care, and is worth the trip.