To give a strong recommendation—like how to properly restore antique furniture—a great strategy is to put yourself in the other person's shoes. In Spanish, use these two highly common idiomatic phrases, followed by the conditional tense.
Yo que tú (If I were you)
To say "If I were you", use yo que tú. It's the most natural way to offer advice by imagining yourself in the other person's situation. Always follow it with a verb in the conditional tense.
| Hey, if I were you, I would restore that antique piece of furniture to keep the original wood. | Oye, yo que tú restauraría ese mueble antiguo para mantener la madera original. |
| If I were you, I would apply a layer of wax because it is best. | Yo que tú aplicaría una capa de cera porque es lo mejor. |
Yo en tu lugar (In your place)
Another common phrase is yo en tu lugar ("if I were in your place" or "in your position"). Just like yo que tú, it pairs with the conditional.
| If I were in your place, I would clean the dust and sand the piece of furniture before the varnish. | Yo en tu lugar limpiaría el polvo y lijaría el mueble antes del barniz. |
Advice with irregular verbs
These idioms work exactly the same way with irregular conditional verbs. As a reminder, verbs like poner (to put), tener (to have), and hacer (to do/make) use the irregular stems pondr-, tendr-, and har-.
| Look, if I were you, I would put a second coat of varnish. | Mira, yo que tú pondría una segunda capa de barniz. |
| If I were in your place, I would do it with a lot of care to not ruin the wood. | Yo en tu lugar lo haría con mucho cuidado para no estropear la madera. |