When you talk to Gerry Masse, owner of Louisville Antique Restoration, you’ll be inspired to take a new look at the old furniture in your life.
Old furniture tells a story — just think of your kitchen table growing up, Gerry says. It held Christmas dinners. It held your homework (and perhaps your head) as you worked on it. It holds memories, and Gerry, an artist at heart, taps into that energy when he restores heirloom pieces.
He recalls the woman who at 16 ran away to be a hippie in New York and bought a dining room table at a yard sale on the way. “Now she’s in her 70s, and she was showing me every cigarette mark, every ding and scratch on this table,” Gerry says. “She liked certain ones and hated others because they reminded her of bad memories. So I took a picture and printed it, and told her to circle all the ones she loved. I got rid of all the ones she hated. I buried them deep because we can do layers, so really deep down in there. When she saw it [restored], she got those tears and gave me a big, long hug.”
There are countless other stories — particularly since COVID. The pandemic seemed to remind people that life is fragile and nudged them to take note of their family’s history, even in furniture, Gerry says. “I hear ‘I always wanted Grandma’s rocking chair fixed for the next baby coming,’ or ‘I want to fix up these wagons and tricycles for the grandkids.’”
That ‘energy’ of the furniture or antiques gives them character and adds to the reason behind the restoration, Gerry says. And such good energy may be something you want to bring more of into your home. “We’ve redone a ton of furniture from hotels — zero energy. It’s weird,” Gerry says. “Then we’ll get estate furniture, like something from a grandma, and it has this good, loving energy.”
Choosing the right restoration method
A sculptor by trade and previously an art educator at UK, Gerry has learned which restoration methods work best for antique pieces. “We do what’s called a conservation finish,” he says. “It’s the best thing and least expensive thing you can do for an antique.” He contrasts this method with the ‘dip it and strip it’ approach that was popular in the ’80s, which he says will affect the glue joints in a piece of furniture — making it look beautiful for a time, but likely to fall apart later.
“The correct thing to do for an antique is to build on top of what’s there,” Gerry says. “So we de-wax, then we can see the truth. From there we do any woodworking, and feather it in and build, and then we end it all with a wax and a buff. So it all looks consistent and close to what it would have been when it was built.”
What changes to make
Gerry also says that if you are considering making changes to older pieces, there are a few things to keep in mind.
“When it comes to family heirlooms, it’s best to keep them to what people remember them being — that’s the reason you’re doing it,” he advises.
When considering restoring a favorite piece, should you worry about hurting the value? “Well, is it George Washington’s couch that we’re doing, or Aunt Lulu’s couch from 1960? It’s not that valuable,” Gerry says matter-of-factly. “You want it in Wildcat blue? Just do it.”
Finding pieces you love
Buying a piece at a flea market or estate sale and having it restored is a great way to add interest to your home decor, Gerry says. He’s seeing a lot of customers spend less on the purchase, and then put their money into the restoration.
Another trend is people sending their furniture in for a refresh when they are moving to a new house. “We’ll go over and pick up their objects, then restore them and deliver them to the new house,” Gerry says.
The restoration projects don’t just come in locally. Gerry and his team of artist-restorers get requests from all over the country. “People will buy things from Ebay or somewhere similar and ship it right to us, and we restore it and ship it to them,” he says, recounting one memorable project when a customer bought an old ray gun from a 1960s sci-fi show online, then had it restored by Gerry’s team and sent to a friend for his birthday.
“Those [special items] are the best pieces that we love,” Gerry says. “That’s the core of the business. Being a sculptor myself and making objects, and looking at these family heirlooms and seeing how much those objects mean to a whole family, and all the energy in them, blows my mind.”
Gerry started Lexington Antique Restoration in 2007 and added Louisville Antique Restoration in 2017, working with a team of artists and craftsmen. Their services include furniture restoration, car interior restoration, metal work, and more.
Gerry is also the director and co-founder of Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum located in Solsberry, Indiana., near Bloomington. This nonprofit and park brings outdoor sculpture and art education to the community through its programs and more than 180 large-scale sculptures by artists form around the world. Gerry also teaches artists to cast iron for sculptures in the Sculpture Trails iron foundry.
By Anita Oldham and Jessica Alyea | Photos courtesy of Louisville Antique Restoration
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