John Mark Power Antiques Restoration

I found Mr. Power on Angie's List shortly after moving to the area and reached out to him to get an idea of what it might cost to repair the old solid oak roll-top desk that my father had kept in his veterinary office from the time I was a toddler until he passed away in 2002.  It's a massive desk, 5 feet wide, 3 feet deep, with six drawers in the bottom section - 5 of which are nearly the depth of the desk and numerous drawers, cubbies and hidey holes in the roll-top section.
John came to my home to examine the desk and determine what needed to be done.  While at my home I showed him a couple of other pieces I have - he is so knowledgeable about antiques and old furniture!  I immediately knew that he was the perfect person to take care of my desk. 
I was very busy throughout the Fall and then the holidays were upon us so it wasn't until the end of January or so that I arranged with John to have him pick up the desk and effect the repairs. He had originally estimated that it would take about 2 weeks to complete and it ended up taking 3 - but he did contact me to let me know that it was taking longer than expected as he had uncovered areas needing repairs that were not evident previously.  (he made these additional repairs at no additional cost)
Finally the day came when it was time for my desk to come home!  I could not believe my eyes - I cried when it was all put together again in my study.  It is not a highly valuable piece in and of itself, but the sentimental value is priceless to me. John and his team had gone above and beyond my expectations - the desk had been in pretty sad shape after years of neglect and now it is so beautiful!  In addition to cleaning, repairing, and restoring they researched it and found the manufacturer, the distributor and, buried deep inside, a label with the date of completion.  John and his team seamlessly repaired areas such as the opening where Dad pushed in his chair - it was so battered the raw wood was exposed and worn away!  And now - you cannot tell that any repair has been made.  There are so many areas on the desk that are the same - you can't tell it was in such bad shape when it was taken away.
John Mark Power is an expert in his craft and I wholeheartedly recommend him to everyone who has need of antique restoration!  He wrote about my desk in his blog, here is the link to copy and paste in your browser:
http://johnmarkpower.blogspot.com/2015/02/national-oak-roll-top-desk-1917.html
This so you can see for yourself what a beautiful job he did! And he describes much more completely the details of what actually needed to be done to restore it.
I already have plans for John to restore the other 2 pieces I have - I know they will be spectacular too!

I found John Mark online and called him. He didn't answer so I left him a message and he called back in less than 30 minutes. I told him what I had and he gave me a rough estimate. He asked to come and look at the stuff and told me that onsite estimates were free so we scheduled a date and time for him to come over. He arrived 8 minutes late but he called before hand to tell me he was in slow traffic and might be a little behind.

He was well dressed and looked exactly like what I expected an antiques restorer to look like, trimmed beard and all! He greeted me by name and asked to come in and look at the furniture. I showed him the chairs and the table and he got down to work. He pushed down on the chairs and wiggled them so much I thought they would break but he just said "the glue is bad" and told me it was no problem to fix them. Then he looked at the table and said pretty much the same thing. 

I really appreciated how he explained everything in so much detail. He told me when he thought my chairs were made (he was dead on with my family chair and I knew it because I knew when the chair was originally bought but it was neat because I hadn't told him before. He could tell by looking!) He explained how as wood ages it shrinks across the grain and round parts like on my chairs become oval shaped and move away from the original glue. He said he would remove the old glue and put new glue in that filled the gap left by  the aging wood.

He told me my table was made from maple and explained how the gouge on the leg went across the grain of the wood and told me he would fill the scratch then touch up that part using dye and I would never see it. Lets just say he was right!

After he had looked at my furniture he gave me a written estimate (and said he would email me one as well). He honored the estimate he gave me on the phone! He said he'd be happy to do the work and asked me when I would like my furniture returned. We agreed on a return date and he proceeded to take my furniture out. He wrapped each piece up in its own padded blanket and strapped it down so it wouldn't get any more damaged.

John Mark called me about a week before the date we had originally set to return my stuff and he said he had it all done and could bring it back sooner if I wanted. I told him I could take it anytime that worked for him and we set a new date and time.

When he brought my furniture back each piece was in its own individual plastic bag. He put the furniture back where it had been sitting before and took the bags off. It was great! The chairs were as solid as you could ask for and I couldn't even find the scratched area on the table!

He explained what he had done to the furniture (which was exactly what he said he would do when he picked it up). He asked me to keep him in mind if he could do anything for him in the future and he left: He left me with two good as new antique chairs and a brand new dining room table!

Every part of my experience with John Mark Power was fantastic! He was absolutely professional and his work was perfect. His prices were fair (even cheaper than a few places I called) and he never confused me with jargon. He told me what he was going to do, how much it would cost and he did it exactly like he said he would. The next time I need my furniture worked on John Mark is who I will call and I would recommend you talk to him as well.