Good furniture is worth repairing. A dining table that has been in the family for thirty years, a walnut desk that was expensive when it was bought, a pair of chairs shipped from Europe that arrived with a cracked leg — all of these are usually cheaper to restore than to replace, and the restored piece is very often better made than anything you could buy today.
At Fitout | Renovation Dubai we carry out furniture repair Dubai homeowners, offices and hotels rely on: structural repairs to joints, legs and frames; refinishing, French polishing and colour matching; re-veneering and inlay repair; water, heat, sun and termite damage; scratch, dent and burn repair; drawer, runner, hinge and mechanism work; reupholstery and re-webbing; and the revival of outdoor teak that a Dubai summer has stripped grey. Work is done in our own workshop in Ras Al Khor, with collection and delivery across the Emirates, or on site for pieces that cannot be moved.
Since 1984 we have restored antiques, designer pieces, family heirlooms, hotel and restaurant furniture and the contents of whole villas after leaks and shipping damage. This page explains what can and cannot be saved, how pieces are damaged in this climate specifically, what repairs cost in 2026, and how our assessment works before any money is spent.
Three arguments generally decide it. The first is construction: furniture made twenty, fifty or a hundred years ago was built from solid timber with mortise-and-tenon or dovetail joints. A great deal of what replaces it today is particleboard with a printed foil face, held together with cam locks, and cannot be repaired at all once it swells. Restoring the old piece keeps the better object in the house.
The second is money. A full restoration of a solid-timber dining table — re-glued joints, a sanded and re-finished top, touched-in edges — typically costs a fraction of a comparable new table of the same quality, and far less than replacing a set of six chairs whose frames simply need re-gluing and new webbing.
The third is that some pieces cannot be replaced at all: a grandmother’s dressing table, a piece brought from another country, a chair whose match no longer exists, something bought on a trip that will not be repeated. In those cases the question is not cost but whether the repair can be done sympathetically, and that is a matter of the workshop’s skill.
We are honest when restoration is not sensible. If a piece is particleboard that has swollen with water, if a frame has been attacked by termites beyond its structural core, or if the cost of repair clearly exceeds what the piece is worth to you, we will say so at the assessment rather than quote for work that is not justified.
Every piece is assessed individually — construction, timber, finish, previous repairs and what you want from it. The images below illustrate the type of work; they are not photographs of particular client pieces.
Wobbly chairs, loose table legs, split rails, broken stretchers, failed mortise-and-tenon joints, cracked carcasses, sagging shelves and bed frames that have worked loose. Old glue is cleaned out properly and joints re-cut where needed, then re-glued and cramped — not screwed and filled, which is what usually caused the damage in the first place.
Stripping and re-finishing tired tops, hand-applied French polish on antiques, hardwax oil or lacquer on modern pieces, colour changes, and colour matching where a repair must disappear into the surrounding surface. Ring marks, heat marks, sun bleaching, scratches, dents and cigarette burns are dealt with in place where possible, so the original patina is kept.
Lifting, bubbled and missing veneer re-laid or patched with matched stock; chipped edges and banding replaced; marquetry and inlay repaired or re-cut; and mother-of-pearl, brass and bone details re-seated. Veneer failure is the most common problem we see on furniture shipped into the UAE, and it is nearly always repairable.
Full reupholstery in your chosen fabric or leather, re-webbing and re-springing of seats that have dropped, new foam and feather cushion interiors, deep-buttoning, piping and studwork, headboard re-covering, and outdoor cushion replacement in fade-resistant, quick-dry materials suitable for this climate.
Grey, dried-out garden furniture cleaned, sanded and re-oiled back to colour; split slats replaced; loose joints re-made in stainless; and the after-effects of water leaks, air-conditioning condensation, termites and shipping damage repaired. We also handle insurance-related restoration work with written condition reports.
A repair is only invisible if the material and the finish match. We hold stock of the timbers, veneers and finishing materials most often needed here, and match everything else to the piece.
| Material | Used For | Character | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid oak, walnut, teak, mahogany, beech | Legs, rails, patches, new parts | Matched to the original grain | Selected for grain direction and colour before cutting |
| Sliced veneers | Tops, panels, edges | Real timber face, 0.6 mm | Matched for figure; burr and crotch veneers sourced to order |
| Hide and animal glues | Antique joints, veneer laying | Traditional, reversible | Correct for antiques — a future repairer can undo it |
| PVA and polyurethane adhesives | Modern furniture, structural work | Strong, permanent | Used where reversibility is not required |
| Shellac and French polish | Antiques and fine pieces | Deep, warm, hand-built | Repairable in place; sensitive to alcohol and heat |
| Hardwax oils | Modern solid timber | Natural, matt | Spot-repairable without refinishing the whole piece |
| Two-pack lacquers | Tables, commercial furniture | Tough, even sheen | Best where heat, water and heavy use are expected |
| Upholstery foams and fibres | Seats, backs, cushions | Firm to soft grades | Chosen for seat height, comfort and how the piece is used |
| Fabrics and leathers | Reupholstery | Your choice or ours | Rub-tested fabrics for family and commercial use |
| Brass, stainless and period hardware | Hinges, handles, castors | Original or reproduction | Original hardware is cleaned and re-used wherever possible |
Most of the damage we repair in Dubai comes from four causes, and they are quite specific to this environment.
Very dry air-conditioned interiors. Furniture that arrived from Europe or Asia at 55 per cent relative humidity sits here at 35 or 40 per cent for months. Timber shrinks, panels split along the grain, veneer lifts at the edges and joints work loose. We repair the split properly — filling with matched timber rather than wax — and re-glue joints after the piece has acclimatised, so the repair holds in the conditions the piece now lives in.
Sunlight through large windows. Villas here have a great deal of glass. Sun bleaches one half of a table, fades fabrics and hardens finishes until they craze. We can re-finish an entire surface to even it out, tint a replacement panel to match the faded original, and recommend UV-inhibiting finishes, fabrics and window film to stop it repeating.
Water: leaks, condensation and cleaning. Air-conditioning condensation, bathroom leaks and washed floors are the main killers of furniture feet, plinths and particleboard carcasses. Solid timber can be dried, cut back and repaired; swollen particleboard cannot, and we will tell you which you have.
Termites and shipping. Termites arrive through soil contact or infested timber and hollow out a frame from inside; we assess how far the damage runs, replace affected members in solid timber and advise on treatment. Shipping damage — cracked legs, punched veneer, crushed corners — is usually straightforward to repair, and we supply the written condition reports insurers ask for.
The hardest part of furniture restoration is not the joinery — it is making the repaired area vanish. We build colour in layers: stains and dyes to bring the new timber to the base tone of the old, then grain and figure drawn in by hand where a patch crosses a visible line, then a finish built to the same sheen as the surrounding surface and cut back so the texture matches too.
Where a piece has genuine patina — the darkened edges of a hundred-year-old table, the worn arms of a favourite chair — we preserve it rather than sanding it away, because patina is most of what makes an old piece look old. Stripping an antique back to bare timber destroys value and is almost never the right answer; we do it only when a previous refinish has already ruined the surface.
Where a client wants a change rather than a restoration — a dark mahogany piece lightened, a dated finish taken matt, a chest painted — we are happy to do that too, and will say honestly when a piece is valuable enough that changing it would be a mistake.
Nothing is started until you have seen an itemised quote and agreed it.
Small repairs typically take three to seven days; a full restoration with refinishing and upholstery, three to six weeks depending on materials.
Pricing depends on the piece, the damage and how invisible the repair has to be. The ranges below are indicative 2026 figures from our own workshop, excluding VAT, and include collection and delivery within Dubai on jobs above AED 1,500.
| Work | Typical Scope | Indicative Price (AED) |
|---|---|---|
| Chair re-glue and tighten | Dismantle, clean joints, re-glue, cramp | 250 – 600 / chair |
| Dining table top refinish | Sand, stain, three coats, edges | 1,800 – 5,500 |
| French polishing | Hand-built shellac on an antique surface | 450 – 1,100 / sq m |
| Scratch, dent and ring-mark repair | Localised, colour-matched in place | 350 – 1,200 per area |
| Veneer repair | Re-lay lifted veneer or patch with matched stock | 600 – 3,500 |
| Broken leg or rail | Splice or replace in matched solid timber | 700 – 2,800 |
| Drawer and runner overhaul | Re-make runners, ease and wax | 300 – 900 / drawer |
| Dining chair reupholstery | Seat pad, new foam, customer fabric | 350 – 900 / chair |
| Sofa reupholstery | 3-seater, frame checked, new foam, labour | 4,500 – 16,000 plus fabric |
| Headboard re-covering | Strip, new foam, buttoning if required | 1,500 – 5,000 |
| Outdoor teak revival | Clean, sand, re-oil, tighten fixings | 250 – 700 / piece |
| Full antique restoration | Structure, veneer, polish, hardware | 6,000 – 40,000+ |
| Written condition report | For insurance or shipping claims | 500 – 1,500 |
| Factor | Repair and refinish | Reupholster | Buy new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | Low–medium | Medium | High for equal quality |
| Keeps the original piece | Yes | Yes — frame kept | No |
| Time | 3 days – 4 weeks | 2 – 6 weeks | Immediate to 16 weeks |
| Build quality of result | As original, often better than new | As original frame | Depends entirely on price paid |
| Sentimental value | Preserved | Preserved | Lost |
| Best when | Solid timber, sound frame | Good frame, tired cover | Particleboard, water-swollen or beyond economic repair |
Our rule of thumb: if the frame or carcass is solid timber and structurally sound, repair is almost always the better value. If it is particleboard or MDF that has swollen with water, replacement is usually the honest answer — and we will tell you that even though it means no work for us.
A restored piece will stay restored if you protect it from the same things that damaged it. Keep furniture out of direct sun where you can, or use blinds or solar film on the worst window — sunlight is the single biggest cause of the fading and crazing we repair. Do not place pieces directly under an air-conditioning outlet, where the cold dry blast dries one side faster than the other and opens joints. Use coasters and mats on polished and oiled tops, and wipe spills immediately, especially alcohol on French-polished surfaces, which it dissolves. Dust with a soft dry cloth; avoid silicone sprays and all-purpose cleaners, which build a film that makes future repairs harder, and never use a damp cloth on a shellac surface. Wax an antique two or three times a year with a good paste wax, and re-oil oiled pieces annually. Lift furniture rather than dragging it, check chair joints once a year and bring anything that feels loose back to us early — a joint re-glued while it is only slightly loose costs a fraction of one repaired after it has broken. Outdoor teak should be cleaned and re-oiled once or twice a year, and cushions stored under cover through the summer.
Families with inherited and antique pieces that have travelled with them; residents whose shipped container arrived with cracked legs and lifted veneer; homeowners whose furniture has been damaged by a leak, an air-conditioning failure or termites; owners of good modern designer pieces that are worth repairing properly; villa owners reviving grey, dried-out garden furniture; landlords refreshing furnished rentals between tenancies; interior designers restoring or re-covering pieces to fit a new scheme; and hotels, restaurants, cafés and offices that need chairs, banquettes and tables repaired and re-covered on a rolling programme with minimum downtime.
Our workshop is in Ras Al Khor Industrial Area, and we collect and deliver across Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim, Al Barsha, Arabian Ranches, Emirates Hills, Dubai Hills Estate, DAMAC Hills, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Jumeirah Park, Al Furjan, Mohammed Bin Rashid City, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, JLT, Downtown, Business Bay, Mirdif, Al Warqa, Nad Al Sheba, Town Square and Villanova, and on request in Sharjah, Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Ras Al Khaimah. Built-in pieces, very large tables and hotel furniture that cannot leave the building are worked on in place, out of hours where needed.
If the piece cannot be saved, or the room needs more than a repair: loose furniture made to measure in our workshop; beds and headboards when a bed frame is beyond repair; kitchen cabinet refurbishment for fitted units rather than free-standing pieces; door repair services for doors damaged in the same way; and the home carpentry hub, which lists every joinery service we offer.
Small repairs such as re-gluing a chair start around AED 250. A dining table top refinish is typically AED 1,800–5,500, and a full antique restoration runs from AED 6,000 upwards. Every job is quoted item by item after a free assessment.
Sometimes, if the damage is cosmetic or a fixing has pulled out. But once particleboard has swollen with water it cannot be restored, and we will tell you honestly rather than quote for work that will not last.
Yes, across Dubai and the northern Emirates, with pieces wrapped and protected. Collection and delivery within Dubai are included on jobs above AED 1,500. Fixed or very large pieces can be worked on in your home.
Yes. We build colour in layers with stains and dyes, draw in grain by hand where needed and match the sheen of the surrounding finish. Matching is checked under daylight and artificial light before the piece leaves.
Small repairs, three to seven days. A refinish, one to two weeks. A full restoration with veneer work, polishing and upholstery, three to six weeks, depending on how quickly fabric and materials arrive.
Yes. Faded tops can be re-finished to an even colour, crazed finishes stripped and rebuilt, and we recommend UV-inhibiting finishes and window film so it does not simply happen again.
Yes — full reupholstery, re-webbing and re-springing, new foam and feather interiors, deep buttoning, headboards and outdoor cushions. You can supply your own fabric or choose from ours.
Often, if the damage has not reached the structural core. We assess how far it runs, replace affected members in solid timber and advise on treatment so it does not spread to other pieces.
Usually not. Patina is most of what makes an antique look right, and stripping destroys value. We repair into the existing surface wherever possible and strip only when a previous refinish has already ruined it.
Yes — cracked legs, lifted veneer, crushed corners and split panels are routine work for us. We also supply written condition reports with photographs for insurance and shipping claims.
Yes. Cleaned, sanded and re-oiled it comes back to its original colour, split slats are replaced and loose joints re-made in stainless. One or two treatments a year keeps it there.
Yes. Structural repairs and finishing carry a written warranty; upholstery carries a workmanship warranty with the fabric covered by its own manufacturer. Terms are stated on your quote.
Dubai’s single-source fit-out and renovation specialists since 1984. 25+ in-house trades delivering residential and commercial interiors across all seven emirates.