Oswaldo Design

We contacted Oswald to refinish our dining room table and chairs. Oswald refinish and upholstered them. We were really pleased with the work. He expanded the table to conveniently fit 8 chairs. Oswald also made us a customized bar table to fit our beer fridge and wine holder. The bar finish matched our dinner table and chairs. We difinitely will use Oswald Designs again.

Biggest mistake ever! I started off getting a quote by Oswaldo… actually his son, Johan. Oswaldo doesn’t speak any English. Johan is the son who is also the sales guy for the company. I wanted my cabinets refinished. For $ 8800, they quoted me to basically do my entire kitchen remodel and asked me for 50% up front and 50% at the completion of the job. All I had to do was supply all the backsplash tile, new sink and new faucet. They’d supply the kitchen counter top.
The job went over schedule by about 2 weeks. Anytime they quote you on a date to have the project completed, multiply it by 2.5 and you’ll get an accurate time frame of job completion.
My kitchen turned out okay. So I decided to have them do my bathroom. That would cost me about $ 6000 plus the cost of tile. Again, the job went over about 2.5 times what the original quoted time frame would be. My bathroom was out of commission the entire time. But I was reasonably happy with the job.
So, I had them do a final project for me. I had them put a door in going out to my outside deck from my master bedroom.
This is where everything went to hell in a hand basket.
They cut the door out, completely screwed up the stucco on the outside and never repaired it, didn’t do the door jamb correctly, didn’t weatherproof anything and had the bottom jamb sloped inward… meaning that the first rainstorm we’d have would funnel all the water inside my bedroom and ruin my carpet, padding and floorboards.
I asked them to fix it. They came out and did a half-​baked job at altering the bottom jamb area and weatherproofing. I had a building inspector come out and he told me that there should have been permits pulled for the outdoor lighting put in, which they put in. This is when I found out that they’re not licensed to contract anything in the state of California.
I tried calling, texting, and emailing Johan to fix the weatherproofing and to replace the door that started warping after about 2 weeks from the date of installation. He refuses to return my calls. Apparently they skipped town.
Now I have to have another contractor come out to fix the door and then I’ll have to sue them for the cost. That is… if I can locate these people.
Or rather, I’ll have to sue Johan’s mother (Fidela) or Oswaldo’s wife… whoever she is… because this is the person they have you write all the checks to. This should have been the first red flag; that you have to write checks to some other person who probably lives in Mexico or somewhere.
In the meantime, I’ve had to file a complaint with the CSLB (Contractor’s State License Board) of California with the hopes that they can shut these guys down from illegally contracting jobs with no contractor’s license, no insurance, no bond, no legal business… and they’re probably not even legal here in the United States.
Do yourself a favor and hire someone else for whatever it is you’re trying to do. These people skipped town with my money and they’ll probably do a half-​baked job for you and do the same to you too.

We hired Oswaldo after he was recommended by a large, well-​reviewed cabinet company. Unfortunately, the kitchen cabinets he made were awful and the installation was disastrous.
The carpentry was of poor quality: the doors were all misaligned and there were nail holes and putty visible all over the cabinets. He used very cheap plywood (not even painting grade) with knots and holes, and the doors were rough to the touch, which means the laquer wasn’t even applied properly. The worst part, however, was that none of the cabinets were level and they installed the upper cabinets hanging off the walls. We later discovered that they weren’t even screwed into the studs! I only wish I had taken pictures to show how bad they were, but I guess I didn’t want the memory of that!
In the end, we hired a carpenter who started from scratch … which means we lost all the deposit money we paid to Oswaldo. Unfortunately, we found out after all of this that he is not even licensed, so we cannot hold him accountable.

The water damaged kitchen cabinet doors were repaired and stained to perfectly match the other cabinets. The dining tabletop was repaired and stained but came back darker than it was originally. Their craftsmanship is above average. Where they are deficient is in how they conduct business. It happened several times that they said they were going to be at my house only to call at the last minute and say they couldn’t. They also underestimated the time it takes to complete my job. Be aware of these things and get them to commit to some kind of schedule.

Oswaldo Designs just refinished cabinets throughout my new condo, and I couldn’t be happier with their work. In addition to the cabinets looking gorgeous, they were incredibly reliable, friendly, and went above and beyond to make sure that I was satisfied. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to refinish cabinets!

I just moved to LA from Chicago — my mother was kind enough to give me an old piece from her garage. I had no idea where to start looking for a refinishing place but found Oswaldo on Unilocal.
When I called the number they couldn’t be nicer and sweeter. They explained how they work and that they would actually come to my house and look at the piece for an estimate. I felt very confident giving them this old piece and was excited to see what they could do with it.
The piece used to be an old make up table that my Mum found over 50 years ago at an auction house in New York. The moment the gentlemen looked at it they knew it was something special. As they were working on it someone told them it was Italian and probably over 100 years old!
The guys promised to have my piece delivered in two weeks and they were right on time. I am so thrilled with the work, it looks amazing. They even changed out the drawer pulls to ones that are traditional with the piece. You can’t even tell the broken leg was ever detached and the inlaid flowers on the drawers really pop.
What a great «welcome to LA» gift this was — and now I have a fairly priced, reliable furniture refinisher that I would recommend to anybody. Your a fool if you go with someone else. These guys are trustworthy, efficient, and offer a fair price. True craftsmen!

just a preliminary review based on the meeting i had with the guys for an estimate on cabinet work. they were very professional, brought wood samples, brought color samples, and drove in the rain from Alhambra to Hollywood, also made sure to call me to tell me they were running behind.
I’d definitely give these guys the next cabinet specific job I have in any one of my 5 apartment buildings, it’s just too bad I needed a more general contractor for this last make ready.

After going through several weeks of Kitchen Remodeling, I’m happy to say that I’m almost done. So now comes the evaluations of the various services I used.
I was fortunate that my kitchen cabinets were solid wood and in great condition. I just needed a little updating through refinishing and found Oswaldo Design on
I gave them a call and they gave me a quote to refinish my cabinets. I also got a quote from NHance who is Home Depots supplier. I opted for Oswaldo because the proprietor, Oswaldo is a craftsmen and his price was much better then Nhance. Oswaldo removed the doors and drawers and took them to his shop for refinishing. They then came in and sanded, stained, sealed and polished my cabinets and Voila, instant upgrade to a modern kitchen.
Oswaldo Design is a small shop but does great work. They do kitchen cabinet refinishing, Furniture repair and refinishing, Custom Cabinets etc. So if you’re looking to upgrade your kitchen or repair an old piece of furniture, give them a call and get a quote. You’ll get what you want and possibly at a lower price done by a craftsman.