I had an absolutely magnificent 5 star experience with Heredia Antiques after I called upon them to refinish a late 19th century "tallboy" dresser for me. Not only had the dresser been damaged in a recent move (one of the carved feet in the back fell off), but the finish had issues throughout the piece (splotchy, bubbled, chipped, etc) and the hardware was rather gross. We're talking dirt and grime accumulated over a hundred year period here.
I did get numerous appraisals of the piece before I went ahead with the plan to refinish it. So no worries there. I finally picked Heredia Antiques to refinish the piece because they do NOT use a spray stain or varnish. They actually do things old school. I wanted traditional techniques since this tallboy is a true antique. And I was not disappointed. There are special details that come alive to a true antiques enthusiast inspecting work done by hand, instead of lazily applied with one machine after another.
For less than $350, I had the piece picked up from my home, repaired, refinished, and stored before delivery. Talk about a crazy deal.
They were completely finished with the dresser in about two weeks, which is super speedy in my book. But because the dresser was picked up before the holidays, and I LOVE to travel during the holidays, I was away for about a month. No worries there because Heredia Antiques had absolutely no problem storing the piece for me while I was away. I've been hit by astronomical storage fees from repairers / refinishers in the past, and that was a welcome and present surprise.
Throughout the entire process, they kept in contact with me. Calling me at least twice a week to update me on the status of the dresser or other details. Providing me the phone number of their office, delivery truck, and even a cell phone just in case. The day of pick up, they called to confirm and arrived on the dot. The same went for the day of drop off. I've never ever had an OC merchant arrive on time for me, ever. And they did, twice.
When the dresser was finally delivered to me, it was carefully wrapped in thick plastic to protect it on all sides. Noting that I have dark wood floors, they placed some non-permanent felt feet on the bottom of the dresser, so as not to scratch anything. Again with the attention-to-detail and high customer consideration.
After they placed the piece in my designated spot in the living room -- where I plan on making it the decorative accent of the whole space -- they took all that thick wrapping off so I could inspect their work. The dark stain was the perfect complement to the natural cherry undertones of the wood, the high gloss finish was appropriate and authentic to the time period, the small finish flaws throughout that were originally very noticeable (at least, to me) had disappeared... they even refinished every drawer, inside and out. And I noticed that they also took the time to clean and buff my hardware.
I am seriously still floored by how lucky I am to have come across them online. Never have I found a local service of any kind to be this courteous, professional, and high caliber. So long as I stay in the OC, I plan on taking all of my antique pieces to Heredia's. For anything. Refinishing, cleaning, or just a touch up, whatever. I'm there. I'm glad that I've found at least one service in the OC that I can consistently rely on and they're definitely going to be seeing a lot more of me. read more