Greg’s Cabinet & Furniture Refinishing

Greg refinished 2 beautiful shelves which belonged to my grandmother, who is long ago gone. They were stripped by MIke next door and then refinished by Greg. I am SO pleased with the results. Done well, in the time promised. I would highly recommend Greg for any job you cherish.

NO! NO! NO! NO! Stay away. Did more damage than repair on six 150+ year old Windsor antique chairs that I’ve owned for 55 years and have been in the family for 150+ years. I should have known this wasn’t going to end well when I looked out my window and saw him piling the chairs on top of each other – no padding or anything – and take off with them bouncing around in the back of his pick-​up.
No sense in going into detail other than to say if he hears something he doesn’t like he either snaps at you or hangs up. He has endless excuses for missing due dates, not doing the job he promised, serious damage like broken spindles, globs of sand-​filled glue, endless scratches and gouges from clamps and then blames it all on his workers when you say something or claims «it was like that when you brought it in.» The final insult is after he storms off after delivery and picking up of the other half of his charges, which weren’t that cheap, he calls, apologizes, and offers to send somebody over to fix things. Yeah! Like I’d let this guy (or one of the workers he blamed for doing a crappy job) within a mile of my stuff… or my family. My chairs (recently appraised at $ 1,200 each) are now worth about $ 75.
This guy is scary…
AND…just wait until you see his follow up on this review. He’ll put a whole new spin on it… just like he did with most of the many other bad reviews he got…

A workman had left a large water stain on our wood table. Greg was completely helpful the entire process of redoing the table top. He went out of his way to rush the work for our family dinner and delivered the large 6 foot round table to us on a Saturday. He saved us money and the table looks better than it was new. See the pictures.

Smh

Greg did an amazing job refinishing two bedside tables that belonged to my grandfather. The staining involved a lot of intricate carvings and details that Greg really brought out well beyond what we’d imagined. I definitely Italy recommend using Greg and Mike (The Stripper Herk) for brining old furniture back to life!

Greg is very professional and passionate about his work and clearly has the talent of an artisan for staining and refinishing furniture. Through the years he has stained or refinished several pieces for us including a dining room set, buffet and hutch, night tables, and a large cabinet. We have been very pleased with each project he has completed for us.
He’s good at listening to the customer’s ideas and is extremely helpful in giving advice and options for creating a certain look. His vast experience and knowledge of wood and staining enables him to transform pieces into beautiful looking high quality furniture. His prices are reasonable and his time estimates are on target.
He recently refinished a very old chest of drawers which belonged to my grandmother and did a spectacular job of highlighting the natural beauty of the wood. It orginally had a very dark finish and Greg suggested we use a much lighter stain which enhanced the beautiful grain of the wood.
I highly recommend Greg. He is sensitive to the customer’s needs and his priorities are quality work and customer satisfaction.
Janet O.

This is my first negative review on Unilocal,Ever.
PEOPLE– SAVE YOURSELF THE TIME, DRAMA, ENERGY AND $ AND LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR THIS TYPE OF SERVICE.
Greg is all sorts of crazy… I had spoke with Greg on the phone, received a quote for both of my two items to be repainted, and he had arranged for his delivery guy to pickup the items. Greg then let me know that pickup and delivery would be extra, at $ 60 per trip, and I was to pay the delivery service separately.
I was very clear about the size of my items– I had sent him photos as well as the measurements. He suggested that he send over two guys to pick up the items. I advised him that I am strong and can help move the pieces, and that one guy would be sufficient.
Pickup day arrives, and after arranging with Jose, the delivery guy– I left work early to accommodate his schedule. Jose shows up with a very small Toyota pickup truck, with only one of my items fitting. I then arrange for Jose to pickup the other piece at a later day and I send him on his way with my one piece, and the 50% deposit check that Greg said was to be paid on pickup.
After Jose left, I called Greg to get him in the loop about the pickup situation. I left a message– no answer. Greg calls me back the next day. WOW is all I can say.
I was very calm with Greg explaining the situation. Greg flips out on me, stating that I am a «red flag’ customer and he is getting a bad vibe from me. … Also that he doesn’t want to do the project because «I will be overly critical of his work.» To top it off– he says that I should have had the other delivery guy come with an additional truck. (If this is a professional business, you would expect for the delivery guy to have the correct vehicle to pickup large items.) He also got mad at me for giving Jose the deposit, even though when Jose arrived he had an invoice for me stating I needed to pay the deposit.
Back returns Jose with my dresser a few days later, and after all the Greg Drama– my furniture did not get repainted, am out $ 60 for Jose to drive my dresser back.
I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but I was told when the dresser was returned that this is definitely NOT the first time this has happened with Greg.
Jose gave me a great recommendation of another furniture refinisher in the area that is not CRAZY like Greg and did an AMAZING job.

The easiest part of our extensive kitchen remodel was working with Greg’s Cabinet. Greg was referred to us by a designer who relies on his work for many of her remodel projects. He painted the cabinets with a beautiful high quality paint that looks like it will last forever and is easy to clean. His team was reliable, personable, experienced and meticulously neat; the work they did is first rate. The estimate for the painting was accurate and we did not have to pay for any «extras».
I wish that everyone else we worked with on our kitchen charged what they said they would charge, showed up when they said they would show up and delivered exactly what they said they would deliver like Greg!

Based on reviews I thought Greg was probably competent but crusty.
Unfortunately, he seemed to have no color sense. I brought an old table with a sample shelf from another piece as a color match.
I dropped by to see if there was any progress, since it was late (as I had expected based on reviews). The table was this horrible purplish color; nothing like my reference piece. He knew it was bad and had already planned to redo it.
He restripped the entire table which meant waiting for Stripper Herk to do it again. I don’t understand why he couldn’t match my sample but I finally told him to just match a piece he had just finished.
Unfortunately, it’s still not right. I think we’re just going to get a new table, even though this is the antique my mom grew up with. Very disappointing to spend all that time and money for nothing. I’m still baffled about how he could have done the entire table in a color that was so wrong — if he’s that bad, why not test on just a leaf of the table? I’m really angry that he was so incompetent.

Greg just refinished a bend ply wood coffee table and we were astonished how great a job he did for such an amazingly reasonable price. He made the table seem much more valuable than it actually is! We have an architecture & design firm, & were general contractors for about 20 years, too. One of us, in addition to being a licensed architect, is also a finish carpenter. In short, we are highly knowledgeable about wood and refinishing, and we found Greg’s work to be just terrific. He was also prompt, responsive, and funny — what a great combination! We won’t hesitate to highly recommend him to our architecture and interior design clients.

I had a great experience with Greg and Stripper Herk.
I’ve got a great Heywood Wakefield dresser from the mid fifties with a large mirror that had a terrible original color. I started stripping and working on it myself. Pretty soon after I realized that I was going to ruin a great piece with my inexperience, I’d called the folks at Stripper Herk and visited the shop.
Luis picked up my dresser and took it on down to the shop making it hassle free for me. A week later, they’d finished stripping it down and I talked to Greg about color and finish. I brought in a chair arm that we used as a color swatch and I’m glad I did — Greg was insistent that a photo wouldn’t give us an accurate image to base color off of for the stain and he’s right. A week later, it was finished with an English Chestnut stain and a satin finish. It’s absolutely gorgeous. With the old finish, the grain was practically invisible, but with the new finish it’s practically alive. And of course, they dropped it back off at my home. Now I’m looking for a matching set that I can send their way and have refinished in the same color.
I’m pretty darn happy with the costs too. I was happily surprised with the quotes I received from them and the final costs were right on target.

Greg was really rude to me over the phone. Albeit, I had called him on my Bluetooth and left a message and apparently the message was really windy sounding to him. But he actually scolded me about it! In the end he couldn’t help my needs and even if he could have repaired my table, I wouldn’t want to go to him. Too rude.

Greg’s Furniture Refinishing was recommended to me by the House of Hardwood, a group of the most honest and knowledgeable wood-​working guys out there. I am happy to say that their recommendation was well worth-​it. I asked Greg to stain a custom wood master closet that had been built with walnut veneers by California Closets (they are not in the «finishing» business). I wanted to do a light grey-​brown stain, which was a little tricky since walnut darkens when it is stained. Greg knew the look I was going for and I was able to approve the exact shade from some samples he did on the spot. His crew came and worked until early evening to finish the job on time. When I didn’t have the drawer pulls ordered in time, Greg came back, taking a good 2 hours to patiently install them. Lastly, we moved a shelf and I needed some touch-​up work done where the shelf had been. Greg refused to take any money for the additional touch-​up work because he wanted to make sure the job was done well and we were happy. We LOVE our new closet and are so pleased we put it in Greg’s capable hands!

There are times where I am very unfortunate to have to leave a bad review. This is one of them. I wish I had read more reviews online first.
Greg was pretty helpful at the start, I had a rush full kitchen cabinet job and he swore he could get it done. It was stripping and then repainting, which I thought would be fairly standard. But with any businesses workload, I think he was just too booked and couldn’t follow through on time. The project ran late, which made other things run late. On top of that, we had a few disagreements on the phone and he even hung up on me. Yes, he Hung Up, how professional is that. On top of that, the minute he finished the job, he demanded final payment. I hadn’t even inspected it yet. I wish I had, as the job was very half ass. Wasted money and I would never recommend Greg to anyone.

I am in a business where I utilize trades people to get work done. I have lived in several homes where I have undertaken renovation or refinishing that required skilled craftspeople to translate my vision into reality. In choosing such expertise I always look for:
–Experience
–Understanding of Quality (the same definition of quality as mine)
–Cost Competitiveness; Value for my dollar (Cheapest is not always the winner)
–Ability to Listen to my needs/​wants
–Ability to Communicate back to me as needed
–Respect for their staff or co-​workers and for me as The Customer
–Ability to Deliver on Time as Promised (know that quality work rarely should be done on a crash and burn schedule)
–Recommendations (if available)
I heard about Greg through some friends. I had six chairs that were over 40 years old that needed refinishing, along with four table legs that had their finish ruined in a house flood. Although the chairs were in good condition, I wanted to update the look to go with a new vintage dining table. Over the phone Greg gave me a general estimate and explained his process. I arranged for him to pick up (and later deliver) the chairs (and table legs) for a nominal fee. When he picked up the chairs he confirmed the estimate and the time frame. We also discussed what I was looking for in the refinished new look. He knows his trade and presented the pros and cons to several options. He explained the process in more detail that he would use. He also recommended that I come to his shop after he had done work on one chair to make sure I was happy with the option I chose. I was glad I did. Seeing Greg and his staff, along with Stripper Herk «next door,» was an education. I not only got to see my job in process, but also see some of the other projects Greg was working on. My visit to the shop actually opened up a new option to what I was wanting to achieve, and so we mutually decided on the new look. In less than a week after that my chairs were delivered. The chairs made my dining room look incredible. The table legs looked brand new and matched the table to which they were to be attached. The quality of the work was excellent. When Greg delivered them, he also asked if I was satisfied and wanted to make sure he had met my expectations. He did. If I could offer the reader any advice it would be to not be in a hurry when refinishing your item. I was not, and my chairs (and table legs) were completed in a reasonable time frame. I actually wish I would have left the chairs with Greg for a few more days to cure, for both I and family members are sensitive to paint fumes and I could tell the chairs were «leeching» slight fumes as they cured. This was minor and a personal preference consideration. You may not be as affected. With his reasonable prices he does take credit cards and requires 50% upfront. I have other projects on my «to-​do» list, and I look forward to using Greg again.

Thank God there are still guy’s like Greg around. He re-​did my mahogany end table to P E R F E C T I O N! I took his recommendations and he was right on. Nice to know there are a few places where you get brilliant work and no BS! If you have a great piece of furniture do yourself a favor and take it to Greg. You will be well rewarded with his acute attention to detail and complete mastery of his craft.
Jon Perachiotti
Los Angeles

Okay, I want to give this guy a better review. I really do. But here’s what happened.
I discussed with Greg two pieces I wanted refurbished over the phone, and he gave me quotes. One was for a hand carved chess table (fairly complicated work) and the other for a Henredon buffet. He qualified the quotes because it was over the phone, and therefore subject to change once he actually saw the furniture. Fair enough. He referred me to an associate who was to strip both pieces who gave me quotes in addition to the prices Greg would be charging. Okay, no worries there.
Then he saw the pieces. The price for the chess table went up by about 12% of the original estimate. Fair enough, he had by then seen both pieces and we were at that point both on the same page.
I was to be called back in within two weeks to go over colors, etc. once the pieces were stripped. Three weeks later I got a call (alright, sh*t happens, what’s one week?). I went in to see the pieces. The chess table was stripped of its original stains/​varnish. Greg then complained and complained about how much work it would take detailing the chess table, and convinced me to go with two colors (treated wood and an espresso stain), rather than the three I had originally asked for and had been quoted on. «And it’s gonna cost you more than we thought.» I was taken aback. He’s putting in LESS detailing (with one less color) and the price was going up? But what recourse did I have? the piece had already been stripped. I knew Greg did great work based on the photographs on his web page, so I sucked it up. The price went up another 10%. And Greg stopped his complaining.
Ballpark FIVE WEEKS LATER I call Greg to ask about the furniture, having heard nothing from him. If you think his pricing skills are off, his time estimates are horrible. He told me that some other pieces came in and he worked on those first. He gave no other reason other than ‘he bumped mine to the back burner.’ Sorry, he’d get to mine right away. How’s that for customer service?
When I got there, the chess table was spectacular. Absolutely beautiful. I catch myself just admiring it to this day.
But the buffet was substandard, to say the least. They didn’t bother to strip the old paint, just painted over it. There was a broken wheel on the bottom that was supposed to have been fixed. Instead, they just took off the other three wheels. (To his credit, the delivery guy stopped at Home Depot on his way to our place to deliver and put wheels on it. He gave me the receipt and I paid him for his efforts). None of the brass finishings were polished.
I don’t know what comes to your mind when someone says «refurbish» a piece, but painting over old paint and leaving the rest of it as it was doesn’t cut it for me.
Greg and his staff are clearly talented. If you do business with them, (1) get a quote in writing (2) make damn sure you’re on the same page as to what all the details are that you want done and make him stick to it (3) learn to live with Greg’s complaints about how much work it is to do a piece properly.
Finally, I say be prepared to walk. Between the constant jacking up of the prices, the constant delays in getting the work done, and his changing the game plan without consulting or informing you, you might be better off somewhere else.

We found Greg here on Unilocal and based on the great reviews hired him to refinish all of the furniture in our office.
Greg is dependable, punctual, honest, and fairly priced.
Not much more to say!
We will be calling Greg again. Feel free to stop by our office, Skin by Lovely on Wilshire Blvd (you can find us on Unilocal) if you would like to see some of Greg’s work.

I wrote a review about the Stripper Herk who stripped my dining room table. I finally got my dining table back after going through the second part of the process, which is the refinishing, so now I can now write my review about Greg’s Refinishing. It was so convenient-​I dropped off the table at Stripper Herk and Greg’s Refinishing is the shop «next door.» I say «Next Door» because to me it looks like the same shop (can’t tell where one starts and the other finishes). They work as a great team. When I went to drop it off, they were both there to give me advice on what was the best from stripping to refinishing. The cutest part of the whole visit was his mom was hanging about at «the shop» watching her boy do his work.
I wrote Mike from Stripper Herk in my last review as the bad ass in woodshop class. Greg from Greg’s Cabinet and Furniture Refinishing is the bad ass’s friend who had a marlboro behind his ear, who also made woodshop the coolest class… cooler than metalshop. :D
Greg did a beautiful job on my table and helped me throughout the whole process. He gave me advice on what I should do about coloring and protecting my newly refinished table. For example, he gave me dimensions so I can buy acrylic from Hastings Plastics (another review to come!) to protect the table top.
With a nominal fee you can have the table picked up/​delivered from the shop. I had Greg drop off the table for me. He graciously brought up the table and helped me re-​assemble it.
I already used the table for a party and everyone was surprised about how beautiful it looked. Most of my friends actually did not even recognize it.
His prices seem reasonable and most importantly he explains what makes up his estimate.
My only advice would be that it takes a few weeks from start to finish. I believe he gave me estimates that it would take 2 weeks or so, but it took about 3.5 weeks. It didn’t bother me because I was not in any rush to get my table back, but something to consider.