A Perfect Finish

unknown

Very good quality of work. Worth the cost and time.

unknown

I had an old dresser which my father (deceased) had purchased around 1950. I liked it a lot, but it had been damaged a bit with family passing it around and using it like an old piece of junk. Once upon a time this was a high-quality piece, both beautiful and functional; my father was a practical man, an engineer, and he chose his dresser-for-a-lifetime with wisdom and care. Since I was born in 1953, all during my childhood it kept getting shorter as I grew taller. I never knew my father without him having and using that dresser as a centerpiece of his daily life, and I both wanted it and had a practical need for it. I did a deal with a member of my family to obtain it. I drove to Chicago to pick it up, and brought it home to Northern Virginia, taking it straight to A Perfect Finish. I'd never done business with them before, but my research suggested it might be a good choice. And it was. The owner Steve talked with me about the job before I started my trip to get the dresser. It's a rather funky enterprise. Steve has two men working for him and they seem to enjoy being there. He keeps a couple of dogs (rescue strays) at the shop during the days. It is not like some corporate franchise where anyone is telling Steve how to do his business or present himself. It's like you'd have found in an old-fashioned community where it's just a workshop, not a showroom, and it smells like sawdust and varnish plus a couple of dogs. They repaired Dad's old dresser, including making a couple of replacement parts from scratch, sanded it all down, worked with me to choose a good color for the new stain, finished it, varnished it, and Steve delivered the completed work right into my bedroom. I'd told him I did not need the work to be finished quickly, so it wasn't. (Make your needs known.) I got just what I wanted, at a fair price, and it was convenient. Dad's dresser looks like new, but its got a quality and beauty that I could not find anywhere at any price from a furniture store, and then there is the sentimental value, all for $650 invested in what some people would say was an old piece of junk.

They did a good job, for the most part; but they took a very long time. They kept promising the work would be done. They kept saying they would come next Monday, and so on. We never heard from them, and we kept calling them back to deliver the stuff, so they could finish the work.

Steve and his employees came and removed the door, blocking the doorway off so that there was no security issue. He stripped and refinished the door while we were away on vacation, and brought the completed door back after we returned from our trip. He was very conscientious about keeping to the agreed-to schedule and in keeping us apprised of progress.