We have about 5 different Haywood Wakefield pieces of furniture in our collection. My wife and I recently picked up a great coffee table for free from someone's garage. The reason it was free, it has water damage to it on the edges and needed to be re-glued badly. I have reglued and re-finished it, but the black spots along the edges of the table from the water damage is irrepairable. Mind you, it is just on one edge of the table, about 6inches. The table is 3'X4' so the damage is only limited to that one edge.
Should I just seal it and keep the table in the original finish like the rest of our pieces (and live with the slight damage as character), or should I stain it a bit darker or even paint it?
I hate to paint the table, but if I did, I would finish it with a hard laq. finish in white or possibly black...but I feel it is almost sacrilegeous to paint this great furniture. Help!
Hmm.. staining it isn't going to help, it could even make it worse, I know from experience. Your only choice may be to paint it.
Or if possible, you could rebuild it i.e. carefully take it apart and remove the damaged area and then put it back together so it's like new. Not ideal, and may not even be possible, but i know some restorers that do this. They don't pass off the tables as the original's, but do always let the buyers know that it's a restoration.
I think even if it lightens it, you will be better off than you are right now.
Personally, since I got it for free, I would ask about getting it restored. It's a good investment in the long run, and you won't have to paint over something that should NOT be painted in my opinion!
