Here at Tom's Restorations our goal is to bring out the beauty of
your antique furniture. We work to keep the aged look or patina
of the wood and at the same time restore the old style finish. We
can repair, glue and refinish your antique, not so antique and
new furniture. We also do hand weaved caning for your chair
and rocker seats, we also install factory wove cane and plus we can
weave rush seats.
samples of our work
502 East Walnut
Sigourney, Iowa
ph 641-622-2995
A sample of my caning on the rocker above.
As you can see the lovely library table came into the shop with lots of water
damage. Also the top was split in two. Because of how they built the table by
putting top on the sub top then adding the angled skirt afterwards. The screws
were in a super tight space that no normals crew drivers could reach. Even short
right angle screwdrivers couldn't reach, so I had to make two custom screwdrivers
so I could take out those screws a1/3 of turn at a time. Then I glued the top and
put it back on and refinished the table back to its original glory. So even when we
have to invent a tool to fix a problem we can do that.
This rocker came into the shop from a lady who's mother had owned
since about 1915. The many years of rocking had loosen the joints
and the finish was wore off in many place. The seat has loss about
3/4of its finish. So after gluing the rocker so it was sturdy again it was
refinished back to the golden oak it originally was.
This pie safe on the left was purchased by a customer from an
antique auction. It had been refinished the wrong way. The
person hadn't sand enough and did not use the right finishes to
give a nice aged look but let you see wood grain. After
stripping and sanding the piece was stained and then finished.
As you can see on the picture on the right the grain shows and
the blotchy finish that was on the piece before was replace
with a nice rich glow and the wood could be seen.
I purchased the secretary as in appeared on the picture on the
left on an antique auction. Someone had stripped off the warm
rich mahogany finish and put a terrible brown finish on it.
After gluing some loose joints on it I stripped and put back the
rich warm mahogany stain and finished the piece how it
should have been finished. So we can restore item back to
their original beauty when mistakes are made in refinishing.
This cedar chest was purchased at local flea market with the finish
in bad shape from misuse and general no upkeep. I refinished the
cedar chest and sold it at a local auction house. A link for which you
can find on my site.
This Victorian desk with gallery was one of 7 pieces of antique
furniture a moving company damaged when the load fell off the
moving truck. When it came to the shop it was in a pieces and
several parts were too damaged to be fixed or they were just
gone. So I had to dig in my stock of salvage antique walnut
lumber and make several parts using the same joints, cuts and
designs the original builder had used on the desk. The finish was
so scared and messed up it had to be refinished. The customers
were happy to get their desk back for their new home.
This walnut dresser was also one of the 7 pieces of furniture
damaged when the moving company dumped them on the
highway. It too came to the shop in pieces and parts. After
carefully taking the piece apart and repairing the broken
pieces. It was then refinished since the finish was ruined in
the accident.


Check the link below to see some other items so of which  
most would not thought possible to save. See if an old family
heirloom can be saved for your future generations giving
Toms Restorations a call.
This old wheelchair had been put in a old farm shed where the weather and
not heat deteriorated over the years. It was brought to the shop when a
lady inherited it.   It had belonged to her Grandmother and she had many
memories as a young child visiting her Grandma and her seating in the
wheelchair. So she wanted it restored back to how it use to be. So at the
shop we took it apart and refinished the wood, patched the wicker, replaced
the cane and cleaned and painted the metal work. So don't give up on that
piece of furniture that might look like it can't be saved.
This tall carved chest had been painted over at some time. After striping off
the paint someone have put on in later years we found the original finish was a
dark finish and kept that look to the chest with our finishes. It was surprising to
find it was hand carve oak under all that paint.
Tom's Restorations
A sample of the rush weaving we can do for you.