After a while, the finish on your furniture can become worn out and look bad, or maybe you’re just tired of it and want to do something different. Refinishing your furniture isn’t a very difficult task, and you can make it look really nice depending on how much effort you put into it.
What you’ll need:
- Lots of sandpaper
- Lots of time
- Solid wood furniture, don’t try this on laminate.
Difficulty:
It depends on what kind of finish is already on it. My desk barely had anything so it was easy. My headboard was a real pain.
I would recommend doing this outside, because this will make a huge mess. I made the mistake of doing this inside. If you are going to stain inside, be sure to protect the floor and make sure the room is well ventilated.
Steps:
1. Sand all the old finish off with rough sandpaper (I used 60 grit). You can either do it by hand or use a power sander. I spent about 12 hours sanding my desk down by hand, and found out there was still a lot on there after I got a power sander. Do yourself a favor and use a power sander from the beginning. Do not sand against the grain, this will leave scratches.
2. Once you’ve sanded off most of the finish with the rough sandpaper, move to some finer sandpaper (100 or 150 grit). This will make it more smooth.
3. Use wood putty to fill in any dents or other imperfections. Sand it when it’s dry.
4. If you have an air compressor, blow most of the sawdust off the furniture. If not, get a bench brush or a broom and brush it off. Don’t use water, it will raise the grain and you will have to sand again.
5. Now it’s time to stain it. You can either brush it on or wipe it on with a cloth. If it’s oil based, put the cloth in a metal container when you’re done because it could spontaneously combust.
6. Lightly sand the stain with fine sandpaper between coats if the grain raises.
7. Now it’s time to seal the stain. I used polyurethane, but there are other options. Be sure to research to see what is best for the kind of use the furniture will get.
8. Lightly sand whatever you used to seal it between coats. Use something like 250 or 350 grit sandpaper, or maybe something even finer than that.
Your furniture should be done now, be sure to allow it to dry for the appropriate amount of time before using it.
