Also called: Furniture Conservator, Restoration Technician
Repairs and restores old and antique furniture without destroying its history or value.
A 200-year-old chair arrives with a cracked leg and water-stained veneer. You carefully steam off the old glue, match the wood and use hide glue and hand tools like the original maker did. Museums, antique dealers and families with heirlooms are your clients.
Museum conservators and well-known restorers earn more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
No formal education, about 2 years after high school. No degree required; learned through apprenticeship or restoration courses. Museum conservators need a master's.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, Trade school, Self-taught. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Furniture Restoration (trade school), Art Conservation.
Growing about average. No BLS projection; a small, steady niche.
Low risk for 10 years. Restoring antiques is careful hand craft and judgment; no machine can do it.
Classes: Woodshop class, Art, History.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.