ENSIGN FINE FINISHING INC

Michael refinished two pieces that were my grandmother's. He is amazingly talented, and the furniture is absolutely beautiful. He was great to work with, good communication through email, in person and on the phone. I was so impressed, I sent a rocking chair off with him when he dropped off the other furniture. These were refinishing projects that I have wanted to have done for many years, and I am glad that I waited until now.

I found Michael on Angie's List. He had a very high rating so we asked him to look at a dresser and mirror we wanted to have refinished. Frankly we thought the dresser might not be worth repairing due to the condition it was in. After talking to Michael and based on what Michael told us about the dresser, it's age etc., and the price he quoted we decided to have Michael refinish our dresser. Michael picked the dresser up, was in continual contact with us as the project progressed, invited us to his shop so we could pick out the stain and hardware, delivered the dresser to us and set it up. The cost of the project was below the quoted price and we feel Michael is ethical and honest as well as personable. Working with him was a complete pleasure and I can't say enough about the quality of Michael's work. He was a thorough professional yet so very friendly and knowledgeable. We enjoyed working with Michael and we feel like we've made a friend! We highly recommend him! You will not be disappointed in his work, the cost or the finished product! We're certainly not.

We couldn't have been happier with the results of Michael's work! He was knowledgeable about the correct finish to use as dictated by the period of each piece. His attention to detail was impressive. He even skillfully cleaned the 30 year old suede upholstery on the rocker. Michael's work was superb, the cost was very reasonable and the pieces were finished on schedule.

He did a great job, finished on time, and was very affordable!

He did a great job on the refinishing work and repair work. He's an excellent furniture refinisher and repairman. Very prompt on second part of order. Ist was slowed down by a family crisis but he let us know what was going on and returned the finished product as soon as possible. Definitely would use his services again and highly recommend him.

Wow! Michael came up to our condo on the East side of SLC and we reviewed the project, he was one time and told me he would e mail the bid to me in a day or so. He made suggestions on the stain and finish that I never would have thought of. It was nice to have him come back (on time), pick up the table and chairs to take them to his shop. Back on schedule and I loved his craftsmanship. I will have work for him in the spring. This guy knows his stuff and on top of all that he left be a can a spray beeswax and told me to never let my cleaning lady use Pledge again on anything. Thanks Michael Ensign.

Michael came to my house to inspect the table base, gave me an extremely reasonable estimate, and I picked up the base in two weeks. I was moving so I did not need it right away, otherwise he would have completed it faster. He was very professional, and did an excellent job on the repair. You can't even see the crack and he added extra reinforcement to ensure the part would last forever. I was so happy to be able to use my beautiful table in our new house.

Mr. Ensign did outstanding work in a reasonable time at a very reasonable price. He is also very pleasant and helpful. He referred us to a person in the area who specializes in reweaving straw seats on antique chairs. We would have never found this person without Mr. Ensign's assistance as she is not listed in the phone book. The cost included a generous tip.

Michael was a joy to work with. My wife and I didn't expect that we could look at our refinished dining room table and gasp at its beauty. After all, it was just a refinishing job, right? But when we both looked at the finished product we gasped at how Michael brought the finish back to life. Furthermore, he made a choice to install metal leaf supports (dowels) rather than wood or plastic. This makes our table strong and trustworthy virtually forever. But even more important than Michael's quality of work, is the way that he handled his business relations with us. We first took the table to him and he gave us a quote...and his price was lower than we thought it might be. Then, he did the work as he promised over the next couple of weeks. Then, when I went to pick up the table, the bill he presented was exactly as he had quoted. No surprises working with Michael except if you count the surprise of "better than expected". We will take all our furniture to Michael and recommend him to all we meet. Thanks Michael, for a trustworthy job, well done!

My wife and I spoke with Mr. Ensign in December (2009) regarding getting the above mentioned work done. We had inherited the sideboard from my wife's mother and especially wanted to have it done prior to Christmas so that the rest of the family could enjoy it when they came to visit. This didn't give him much lead time but Mr. Ensign promised to have it done and delivered on his promise. There wasn't a time factor with the rest of the furniture and as I recall, the rest were completed in January (I'm tardy with this report and am therefore a little hazy about dates.) The work was outstanding and we were very pleased. In speaking with us about the different options that could be pursued in refinishing the various pieces, Mr. Ensign displayed an amazing depth and breadth of knowledge and experience. He also emphasized in our conversations that his main concern was that we get the results that we wanted, not get something just because he recommended it. We definitely got the results we wanted.

I took the chair into Ensign and talked to Michael about the chair and the finnish that would have been on the peice of furniture when it was made. Michael repaired, carved, glued, and refinished my chair to perfection!

Michael and his crew always completed the work as promised. It was us who delayed things when picking out fabric, etc. His input was invaluable as far as fabric and finishing selections. Our furniture looks fantastic. I was so afraid to have anyone touch my grandfather's rocking chair, and now it is beautiful. He helped us decide which fabric to use on which pieces and what type of pillow to have made for the rocking chair. We are so happy we had this work done! Shortly after returning the finished pieces to us, one piece got nicked by a vacuum cleaner. Michael came to our house and fixed it!

These 2 chairs were in sad shape because I hated the old fabric (that my husband picked 20+ years ago) I let my little cat have it as a scratching post. The finish on the arms was gone and yet they were beautiful chairs. I took them down to Michael's shop and he agreed they were worth refinishing. He quoted me a price and said they would be down in about 9 days and I could them come down and pick out a shade for color or bring a piece of furniture that we would like match. We did and a few days later they were done and they looked better than when they were new. Michael does really fine work and I would highly recommend him. I will be taking several other pieces down to be redone in the near future. Soon they will be back from the Upholstery shop and looking grand.

This was a table that originally belonged to my great aunt, so it was important to have it preserved since it has sentimental value. It was in really bad shape and very wobbly and I didn't have the highest of expectations for the end result, but mostly wanted it to be usable and look somewhat decent again. Mike and his team did an amazing job!!! They really took the time to do it right. He said they dipped it in chemicals to strip it as they usually do, but didn't leave it in very long since it has a lot of delicate and intricate work. That meant they had to do a lot of sanding and such by hand. Having spent some time training in Italy, Mike recognized that the table was probably from there and very familiar with the period and style. I wish I had taken pictures of the table before I took it in because the result is truly impressive. My brothers were extremely surprised and impressed as well when they saw it in its newly restored state. I found Mike here on Angie's List and saw nothing but great reviews and I now know why! He doesn't take credit card, which was fine, but when he didn't have change when I paid in cash, he even rounded down and saved me another $8 on top of the 25% Angie's List discount. I was in no hurry to have him complete the work since I had already been hauling this thing around in bad shape for almost 10 years, but he was still prompt and followed up in a very timely manner. He must work all the time too cause he even let me drop it off and pick it up on the weekend. I will definitely return to him for any future furniture repair/restoration needs and highly recommend him!!!

I thought they were excellent. I decided to go with him because his shop is located close by. When I called him, he was very pleasant. He told me to get the chairs the same day and started working on it right away. He told me it will take 5 days to repair the oak chairs, and he completed it in 2 days.

He did a wonderful work. We had some renovation work going on, so, he was keeping the bed and table with him even though he was done with it, until the remodeling was finished. He quoted little over 700 dollars for those two items and that included transportation and storage. When he brought it out to return it to us, he and his helper were very nice enough to set the furniture up in the right places and move everything around for us. The beauty of his work really stood out to me, it looks brand new bed and table. He also gave me a discount because I found him on Angie's List.

Ensign Fine Finishing was very professional. They returned our call promptly and came to our home to give us an estimate. We were happy with the estimate and scheduled the work. Most repairs were done in our home. The refinishing jobs were taken to their workshop. We were happy to have our furniture repaired so we could use it again. The refinishing work that they did for us was beautiful. The occasional table and Art Deco bar look like new! They were very clean and careful in our home as well.

Michael was extremely prompt and responsive. This is our second time using him. We contacted Michael to fix 3 chairs that were tippy, and a rocking chair that had a broken rocker. He came to our house, loaded the chairs into his truck, and let us know how much time he would need. He called when the three dining chairs were done, and arranged a convenient time to drop them off. The rocking chair took longer (as expected) and again, he called to let us know it was done and to arrange a time to drop it off. The chairs are all good as new, and the replaced rocker perfectly matches the one that is still on the chair. We are very happy with the quality and convenience of the work.

Michael Ensign and his crew are the very best furniture refinishers I know. During my 30 years in the Navy it was not uncommon to incur some damages to furniture as it traveled several times across the country and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I would always seek out refinishers with the best reputations, but NEVER have I seen the gorgeous quality of work that Michael and his crew produce.

Michael visited my home to assess the furniture that needed to be repaired and finished. He provided a prompt written estimate via email of the work to be done and the costs associated with each piece of furniture. He took the time to explain what needed to be done to preserve the furniture. He called me to come to his place of business to select stains and see the repairs done. He articulated the process very well. After he completed the work, he made arrangements with me to deliver the anitque furniture to my house. I was very impressed with Michael's superb quality of workmanship, professionalism, and communication. He understood my desire to preserve antique furniture that had been in my family for several generations. He takes pride in his work. I strongly recommend him for antique refinishing/repair work. I will certainly use him again for other pieces of furniture.

Excellent! The chair I picked up at a second hand store. I could not beleive the quality of the carving of the wood and all the details of the chair. Michael refinished the wood and the quality of his work is extraordinary!

Mr. Ensign came to my home and assessed the work to be done. He soon provided a written and clear estimate--not to exceed an amount, which allowed me to budget the work without having to guess. He told me what I needed to do to prepare for him, showed up on time, and did an exceptional job within the time promised and for less than the 'not to exceed' estimate.

I came into possession of a very old Singer treadle sewing machine, which was in terrible shape. Michael Ensign gave me a tour of his shop, and then a very reasonable estimate to refinish the machine, giving me several options on what could be done. He emphasized that he would stick to the estimate, no matter what. Although along the way we found that there was more damage than first thought, Michael restored the sewing machine so that it looks both authentic and better than it did when it was first made. He stuck by his original estimate, even though much more work was required than he thought. Michael Ensign is a joy to work with, keeping me involved in all decisions about restoration as the work went forward. I am extremely pleased with my restored machine, and, as I told Michael, I hope that some day in the future I will need restoration/refinishing work done again so that I may once again use his services. He is a truly gifted craftsman.

I actually combined this with the previous request for a detailed description of the services performed.

Excellent! The dining room table is 28 years old, it has been used almost everyday and has never been refinished before. A big crack was in the middle of the leaf, the old finish was completely worn off, it had allot of scratches. I did not have much hope that it would look completely new again but it had a lot of sentimental value. I also could match the color to the new dining room chairs. The table looks fantastic! You have to really look where the crack was and the color was right on. The table looks brand new. The price I paid was less then the estimate because he did not have to do the some of the work he thought he might have to. He was very professional. He recycles the chemicals he uses in taking off the old finish.