Rescue, Restore, Redecorate: Amy Howard's Guide to Refinishing Furniture and Accessories

by Amy Howard

Welcome to Amy Howard’s Rescue Restore Redecorate lifestyle! Whether you dream of restoring an heirloom to its former beauty or just want to modernize a flea market treasure, Howard has the design and refinishing secrets you need.

Here are all the furniture finishing recipes, techniques, and tips that have made Howard’s classes sold-out success stories, and made Howard herself the go-to guru of refinishing and “use what you have” upcycle redecorating. Try your hand at unique painted and faux finishes, and experiment with gold leaf, distressing, and marvelous graining effects. Chapters Howard shows you a variety of lovely and exciting projects, including the Nicholas Nightstand and the Hugo Table, the Augustus Lamp and the Donovan Chairs, the Drake Lantern and the Alfred Mirror Tray. Along the way, you will learn a treasure trove of techniques, as Howard shares before-and-after makeovers from her studio and offers impeccable step-by-step instruction in all that is needed to achieve each look.

Howard writes in her introduction, “When you rescue, restore, and redecorate a vintage piece, you not only bring a new chair or table or dresser or mirror into your home. You bring in a new story, as well. You’re giving something old a new life, one that makes your own life even richer and better. That’s the Rescue, Restore, Redecorate lifestyle.”

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Crafts, Design, Art

192 pages, Paperback

Published May 8, 2018

Reviews

[Ligaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but generally not my cup of tea to work so hard to restore something and make it look old. The author's aesthetic is much more painting over wood than refinishing the wood so one can actually see the wood grain. I found lots of confusing directions (p. 50: avoid touching gold leaf with your bare fingers - opposite a photo of a bare hand touching gold leaf, p 81: Hold[ing] the spray can 10 inches from the lamp body - opposite a photo of a spray can 3-4 inches away...) and very simplistic directions for prepping furniture before painting that I'm certain will frustrate inexperienced DIYers who don't understand that the prep work is almost (or sometimes) as difficult as the painting. I do plan to try gilding, though will look for other references for assistance. This book is good for inspiration.

[Marcie Lovett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amy Howard sells a line of paints that replicate antique finishes, and there are beautiful photos in the book of old furniture. The projects she shows don't have that look, for the most part. The directions are vague and she repeats the same steps for each technique - even using the same photos in two of the projects. The book would have been shorter if she had laid out clear directions one time, then referred the reader to that section for each project. Instead, she goes through the same process of cleaning and prepping, sometimes adding a pertinent step that she doesn't include in the rest of the projects. Directions for using gold leaf are confounding, and although she repeats them in several projects, it isn't the final project that she actually gets all the steps in.

Chapter 2, "The Creative Pantry," is a list of supplies she suggests you have on hand. She doesn't detail the products she uses, although in some photos you can see her line of products in the background. It would have been helpful if she included a list of products she actually used so you don't have to guess what she means by "gentle degreaser," for instance.

She also names each piece of furniture. I don't know who the intended audience is, but I found it tiresome. Can't recommend this one.

[Jesse D · Rating 1 out of 5]

A guide to making old furniture look cheap, and cheap furniture look old.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A whole new world for me.

[Lablover · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was poorly written with vague directions and descriptions. It seemed more like the author wanted to brag about the items she purchased. She has a ton of products she keeps in her pantry but doesn't really lay out what they are. Most of the furniture looked cheap after she finished with it but I guess that's a matter of opinion.

[Aldene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good tips but not really any help for rescuing and Restoring mostly just painting and prettying up items.

[emyrose8 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a beautiful book, but overall I was disappointed. I'm very much a beginner in furniture restoration, and I expected this to teach me how-to's from start to finish. It kind of does. Her techniques are in paint, laquer, guilding, and antiqued mirrors. The prep is to clean the piece with a gentle degreaser. That might work for most things, but I have two chairs with flaking... I don't know, veneer? varnish? ... anyway, I'm still not sure what to do with those. But I do feel well equipped to laquer, use zinc antiquing solution, or paint a piece.

The book reads like a cookbook, except the recipes are instructions for refinishing specific projects. Each project details how to do that specific finish in the context of the project (so the process for each technique isn't separately explained). Still, the instructions are pretty good and I think I'd be able to figure it out if I wanted to DIY a furniture find.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these DIY books reluctantly, always expecting to find dressers painting in eye-gougingly bright colours or faux-distressed furniture that makes my skin itchy just looking at it. This book attempts to show a more sophisticated route to repurposing furniture. The catch is money, the tools required are on the pricier side, though perhaps reasonable if one's looking to give new life to a single piece of furniture rather than piles of junk yard finds. I'll amend my star rating upon trying a project.

[Dave N'renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

not exactly my style of decor - more traditional than the modern rustic that i like...but there are good technique ideas for using milk paint and chalk paint and for painting on fabric. instructions seem thorough and easy to follow.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice. Step by step instructions with lots of photos to see how to for a variety of projects. Like to try more restoring someday. Liked her outcomes too. Think many look much better after being refinished than before.

[Justine Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good some bad

She spent to much time on gilding. Other than that she gave really good descriptions of types of finishes. Milk paint, chalk paint, lacquer, etc.
I would have liked to learn more about glazing.

[Mary Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a fan of faux finished furniture or Amy Howard- lovely book, nice photos.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has some very helpful hints.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll have to revisit this book when I have more time to search for and work on some projects.

[SassieMolassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated how many projects there were, and how many ways you can finish/antique, or refinish some thing. However, the designs and style were just not my cup of tea.

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting and well written. It has color photos throughout.

However, the author and I differ in taste. I prefer wood that looks like wood. She liked wood that is painted over.

[Kimberley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not for the faint hearted. If you’re a newbie into DIYing stuff or restoring, some of these projects are not for you.
Mind you the end results for some of these are amazing and I’d like to have some of the pieces myself but Lordy, so many steps and way too much gilding. Sometimes gold paint will just do the trick.
If you’re not sure you’re doing the right prep work for a piece of furniture, get a professional to do it.
Overall the final pieces and the styling, come together beautifully. Some of it may only be beneficial if you like older pieces and have time to check out antique stores.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolute treasure trove of advice on how to beautifully alter furniture with paint. I will certainly be returning to this title and am following her on Pinterest. Wow! What a resource!