Don Wright -A man whose opinion I value highly
and not just because of the nice things he says in this letter!
Wright Table Company
Rob is by far one of the most knowledgeable and honest restorers I've encountered. He did an excellent job on my Baker table and brought it back to its original condition. It really comes down to value and trust when you have a valuable piece of furniture worked on. Rob delivered on both of these attributes and more. He was professional and it was a very quick turn-around. He also went to the trouble of building a special clamp to seal the veneers. Unbelievable attention to detail, and we couldn't be happier. I work with a lot of contractors he is on the top of our list. Thank you Rob!10/25/2016
Mary D. - Evanston
Rob repaired 3 pieces of furniture that have been in the family for generations. The simplest was a rocking chair in which the rockers were doggie chewed. He also repaired a doggie chewed (bad dog) leg of a butlers tray coffee table. There he had to replace some wood and blend that with the original. He also repaired and fixed the hinges of the side flaps. Now the damaged leg looks just like the others. The last piece was a secretary in which he did multiple things: attached trim that had come off, planned the sliders so they worked properly, fixed the drawers so they worked as they should, and made feet. We couldn't tell if there were feet on the secretary originally, but it looked incomplete without them. With the addition of the feet, the secretary is a much more regal piece of furniture and looks as if the feet have always been there.
In addition, Rob recommended some products to use for the upkeep of the antiques to help keep that rich look that the pieces had when they came back for being repaired. In addition to the excellent work and good prices, Rob is a delight to work with.
My only disappointment is that I don't have any more furniture for him to fix.
For antique furniture repair, there is no better! His workmanship is the best I've seen and his prices are reasonable. My advice, don't look any further, call Rob now........
Lucia G. - Northbrook
Then finally we were missing the left side of each door on a dining room china cabinet and server, five in all. Rob was able to not only locate a replacement set of handles for all doors he was able to give us a number of selections from which to choose.
We picked the one we liked best, he ordered them while we were traveling and upon return scheduled and replaced the existing and the broken base of all 10 handles. I had been trying to locate replacement handles for some 30 years for the dining room pieces to no avail.
Rob you are amazing and did an amazing job - nicely done and much appreciated!!!
Donald V. - Buffalo Grove
Some gave me quotes via email when I sent them a photograph of the table, but Rob wanted to actually see the table before he determined what needed to be done. His references were excellent and the process that he recommended was consistent with the best refinishing practices (he was also trained at the Smithsonian in this art). In addition, his quote was the most reasonable and he agreed to pick up and deliver, which was important to us since the table was too large and heavy for us to bring to him.
In the end, we couldn't be more pleased with his work, his professionalism and his helpfulness. In fact, when he picked up the dining room table I asked him about what I could do about smudges that I could not remove from a large coffee table that I was not having refinished. He said that he would take care of that when he returned our dining room table.
Today when he returned our beautifully refinished dining room table, he remembered to bring the material to remove the smudges and rings from our coffee table. Although it didn't take him a long time to make the table look like new, he didn't even charge me for the extra work! He also gave me a new can of the product that he recommended that I use on my fine furniture. When I have a need to have any piece of wood furniture refinished, I would absolutely use Robert Kleeman... he is an artist and cares deeply about customer satisfaction.
JoAnn D. - Lake Forest
Rob restored 5 pieces of bedroom furniture that my father had made. They had scratches and the finish had faded after 20 years. Rob also replaced the fixtures on the dressers and bedside tables. Given that my father (who had recently passed away) had made these pieces, I was looking for someone who knew what they were doing.
When I read that Rob had been a luthier and had trained at the Smithsonian, I knew I'd found the person. And I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I can't quit staring at the transformation of these pieces. He brought them back to life. I remember when Dad was making these in the basement, but I'd forgotten how beautiful they were with new finish.
Rob didn't just strip and slap on some "walnut" finish. He layered the finish with the proper undertone, and brought out the wood grain to an amazing detail. He is such a perfectionist that he was worried that two drawer fronts that were made with two different types of walnut wouldn't match well. He worked to match it, but still wasn't satisfied. I frankly could not even detect a difference. On the hardware, I'd wanted a more modern look but he gently nudged me toward the authentic style for this period--and he was right.
Rob is an artist. He's not cheap, but he's worth every penny.
Barbara R. - Chicago
Robert is amazing. He is a incredibly skilled, insightful and a great person with which to work. He restored an antique 19th century mantel mirror that we feared was beyond repair. He was so knowledgeable and honest that I would have trusted him if he'd said it was beyond repair.It is a huge piece. Robert refinished and stained it, and it looks better than we could have hoped. After picking up the piece (it's a 2 person job) he brought pieces back to check that the stain color was what we wanted. He matched the color perfectly. Rob even came up with a solution for hanging this heavy piece and mounted it for us. It is a focal point of the room and people always comment. We are so grateful!
Since this job, he's been out to work on our antique dining room table. For that project, he offered us a variety of different options (ranging in time and price) which we really appreciated. We hope to work with him again on a number of projects on our wish list. A+++Margaret B. - Chicago
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