There are many ways to refurbish furniture. We do our best to accommodate the tastes and wishes of our customer. To some people original hardware and a very natural look are very important. The average American buyer prefers this style. Some customers, especially the French, want a highly polished almost new looking piece. We've even had requests for pieces done in green and blue which was never a color found in China. All pieces at least need to be cleaned and tightened. We are very straight forward about what our pieces are, but also sometimes use a bit of 'artistic license' when refurbishing pieces and do some modifications. For example, an 'eight god' dinner table might have the feet rotted and the face broken so we might turn them in to coffee tables with inlaid antique hand carved bed boards. (These coffee table have proven to be very popular sellers). We sometimes add drawers or calligraphy to some pieces. Other times customers have requested us to upgrade the hardware on some pieces with some magnificent looking reproductions. So let us know what is important to you and we'll do our best to meet your requirements. Many times, though, modifications are limited by the innate nature of the piece. In any event we are very straight forward about what we are selling i.e. whether it is modified or not. For an example of pieces as they come in please see section "Our shop" in main page. One could easily write a book on this subject, I will try to add more later.....