Furniture Restoration in Stockton, California

Our bench is at 301 Maze Blvd in Modesto, about thirty miles south of Stockton by Highway 99 or I-5. Restoration is bench work, not a service call, so the drive happens once — and because we run our own truck for piano and furniture moving, pickup and delivery for Stockton pieces is something we handle rather than something you arrange.

For a piece you cannot move safely — a tall secretary, a marble-top washstand, a full dining set — say so on the phone. Getting it to the shop intact is part of the job.

Stockton is one of the oldest cities in the Valley and the furniture reflects it. The Craftsman and Tudor neighborhoods around the Miracle Mile, Victory Park and Pacific Avenue are full of pieces bought for those houses when they were new: quarter-sawn oak, mahogany dining suites, built-in-scale sideboards, library tables, and case pieces with joinery nobody produces at that price anymore.

Those are exactly the pieces worth restoring rather than replacing, and exactly the pieces that get ruined by a fast sand-and-spray. Quarter-sawn oak has ray fleck that disappears under aggressive sanding. Old mahogany veneer is thin. The correct approach is slow.

We also see a steady stream of estate and downsizing work from north Stockton and Lincoln Village — one or two pieces kept out of a whole household and made right before they go to a son or daughter.

Being at the edge of the Delta, Stockton carries more moisture in the air than we do inland, and furniture stored in basements, garages and unconditioned back rooms shows it: white bloom in old finishes, lifted and bubbled veneer, swollen drawers, mildew in upholstery, rusted and pitted hardware.

None of that is automatically fatal. Bloom often lies in the finish film, not the wood. Lifted veneer can be re-laid. Swollen drawers are usually a fitting problem once the piece is dry and stable. What matters is getting the piece stabilized before the joints and the veneer go past the point of repair.

We start by looking at the piece: what it is made of, how it was built, what has failed, and what it means to the family. Then hand stripping with methods matched to the finish and the veneer, structural repair and re-gluing, veneer and part replacement in matching stock, color and grain matched where new wood meets old, and a finish built up in coats. Upholstery when the piece calls for it.

Full detail is on the furniture restoration page, and the results are on the Before & Afters page — every photo there is our own work.

Nixon's Oak Tree House has been family-owned in Modesto since 1991 — about 35 years. When you call, you talk to Bob, Jenny or Dick, and the person who tells you what a piece needs is the person at the bench.

Call (209) 524-6349 any time, or request an estimate and include a photo or two — that is usually enough to get the conversation started.