visual blog post

Visual before & after: Universities

March 30, 2012 By admin

Here at The Refinishing Touch we consider ourselves as pioneers within the growing sustainability movement, particular amongst our target industries—government, higher education and hospitality. Having been in the business for 35 years, we continue to work to ensure that refinishing, refurbishing and reupholstery helps our customers save money and the environment, versus buying new furniture.

In this month’s visual blog post, we wanted to highlight the work that we’ve done at a number of universities across the country, and show the benefits that an entire industry has seen from furniture refinishing and furniture asset management. Universities are one of the top industries in the world whose furniture assets experience constant and consistent wear and abuse. As you can see from some of the photos below, most of this furniture may have looked as if it was time to be thrown away, but all it needed was a bit of tender love and care!

The fact that these institutions are willing to embrace the notion of refurbishing and refinishing their existing pieces is not only cost effective but also very smart. See for yourself how something as simple as reupholstering and refurbishing can take a furniture piece from outdated to updated, all while reducing carbon footprints one customer at a time.

Before & After

Visual Blog Post: Armoire Modification

October 28, 2011 By admin

Televisions have come a long way in the past decade—from heavy blocks of cathode ray tubes, to sleek flatscreens that can be wall-mounted.

As this technology has changed, furniture has had to adapt. Hotels across the world once housed televisions in heavyweight armoires, but following the advent of new flatscreen plasma and LCD televisions, those armoires have become cumbersome, dated and obsolete. But they’re not cheap either—they’re costly furniture assets made of solid wood. They’re certainly not something that should head to the landfill. Instead, they should be preserved and modified.

At The Refinishing Touch we specialize in re-manufacturing TV armoires, transforming them to new furniture forms that are functional, stylish and relevant to today’s hotel rooms. Our on-site armoire modification program takes one of these redundant pieces of furniture and turns it into a functional dresser and TV stand fit for the newest of televisions. We can even preserve the style and aesthetic of the original armoire if requested to do so.

Our unique on-site approach is completely non-disruptive to hotels and their guests. It also saves money and is better for the environment than buying new furniture. But why not see for yourselves?

In this visual blog post, we’re giving you an inside look at some of the armoire modifications we’ve recently completed, demonstrating how easy it is to breathe new life into the furniture you’ve already invested in. To find out more about our armoire conversion services visit our website or email us at [email protected]

Marriott Walnut Creek:

Photo of Walnut Creek after refinishing by the refinishing touch

Omni Mandalay Dallas – Room 1

After refinishing by the refinising touch

Omni Mandalay Dallas – Room 2:

Fairmont Miramar:

Fairmont Boston Copley:

Crowne Plaza San Jose:

Before and After Visual blog post

September 27, 2011 By admin

We’ve realized we do a lot of writing about the work we do. The pieces we work on undergo a dramatic transformation, but no matter how descriptive the text, you really need to see it to understand. As they say – a picture’s worth a thousand words. So with that in mind, welcome to the first installment of our visual blog posts, which detail some of the renovations at the properties where we work.

Eastern Mennonite University:The life of college furniture can be tough, but a little love gives students a durable centerpiece for the room, while saving the school up to 80% over buying new. It doesn’t hurt that it’s sustainable also.

Photo of EMU after refinishing by the refinishing touch

Boston Hyatt: Essential pieces such as this table serve many purposes, but are sometimes overlooked, both by guests and property managers. Fixing it up with new a finish and hardware will certainly help it stand out to everyone, like it should.

Kennesaw State: Drab and torn, this chair has certainly seen better days. And with our re-upholstery, those better days have come around again.

After refinishing by the refinishing touch

Stuffed chair: While most would give up on preserving a piece such as this, we saw a unique opportunity and made the most of it by giving this chair a whole new exterior.

Nightstand: Clearly lacking attention, this nightstand needed a ton of work, which is what it got, through new hardware, a new finish and some structural reinvigoration.

Armoire: This is a piece that may have been replaced, since it no longer met the property’s needs. Luckily these managers knew what they had (and what we could do), and now this armoire is re-engineered to support a flat panel TV.