ANTIQUE CONNECTION

After finding several good critiques of Antique Connection, I called to be certain they would accept my table and then carried it to the store on West Eau Gallie Boulevard. The people I met were all courteous and the man at the front desk got the owner, Elizabeth Vigil, to see my table and provide an estimate. My drop-leaf table had seen better days and had belonged to my grandparents. I could only guess the date of manufacture at circa 1920. It had at least one coat of "antiquing paint," popular in the 1960s, and some oily-looking stains had bled though that. The estimate was for ten shop hours at $75/h. I felt certain that was many times more than what my grandfather paid, but my bride wanted it as something of an heirloom for our children. Ms. Vigil seems quite knowledgeable with many contacts for those hard-to-find materials and veneers. The preparation for staining and finishing revealed at least one more layer of paint; possibly the table had never been properly finished; which was difficult to get out of small crevices and such; I chose to use stain to disguise those small remnants. The oily spots really were some kind of dark or dirty oil; some sanding seemed essential to remove the many tiny spots; the only option for the few larger spots meant leaving unsightly and unfinished blemishes or to gouge out the oily wood and build it back up; I chose the latter and it was very nicely done by their shop. Considering that even the top seems made of more than one kind of wood, the table looks very nice and reveals much character. We felt no particular hurry and waited until called to retrieve it after about two months. We're quite happy with the result and recommend Antique Connection.