Furniture from the big stores is getting more expensive every year, but what can we do about it? Instead of buying a brand new set of furniture for thousands of dollars, one simple tip can save you big bucks and refurbish old or cheap furniture.
This guide is designed to help you find furniture to refinish. However, it will also show you the steps to rework. It may seem like a difficult task, and it can be, but by following this article you will know exactly what steps to follow.
DIY Refinishing Furniture Guide
Step 1 – find furniture to rework
There are several ways to find furniture to refinish. However, the simplest options are:
- Use furniture you already own
- Second hand shop shopping
- Facebook marketplace
- Local online buying and selling
- Garages sale
- Real estate sales
These are the best ways to find furniture to refinish. If you want to find free furniture, you can always drive around during the cleanup weeks. Depending on the location, people sometimes throw away old furniture during these clean up weeks, which is great for a renovation project. Now that you've found your piece of furniture to refinish, you need to move on to the prep phase.
Step 2 – Prepare
This is when you decide what to do with this piece of furniture, you may already know, but if you don't make sure you have a plan. Do you determine which color you want to use, light or dark? Will you get stains too? If so, you need to pick a stain color too! The best way to get great ideas is to go to Pinterest and look for your type of furniture that has “makeover” behind it. For example, if you have a bedside table to revise the search for "bedside table remodeling" in the Pinterest search bar. You will find some amazing ideas!
Anyway, it's time to actually prepare your piece for repair. Use a paper towel, plastic, or canvas to keep the area from being covered in paint. Usually you want to be in a well-ventilated area like the garage or outside. Some fumes can be toxic and you will want to be ventilated to avoid serious damage. Place your piece of furniture on the hang sheet and clean it with a rag and mineral spirits. Mineral spirits are a powerful cleaner for wooden furniture, it works well, but an alternative can be an all-purpose cleaner. After you've wiped everything clean, you can move on to the next step of sanding.
Step 3 – sand down your project
Once you've decided on a stain, it means that all of your old finish needs to be removed. You can either sand it down with a random orbit sander, or use a wooden scraper to remove the top layer. Wooden scrapers can get messy. So if you're not a pro, this time you can go without it. When sanding, be careful not to go through the surface. You need to be careful with veneer. Veneer is a thin layer of wood that you need to carefully sand down. It usually looks great when you post-edit it. Just don't go through it! When painting wooden furniture, people wonder if you need to grind and the answer is that you should do a light sand. This creates a worn area that the paint will stick to much better. Before you continue painting and coloring, clean your project of dust and other debris.
Step 4 – paint and color
Finally, it's time to grab the paint and stain. The best color for furniture is a satin interior paint. Local hardware stores carry this and you can usually find paint in their returned area at a discounted price. Home Depot does it, and you can get paint for under $ 5! Stains are messy, but they bring out the wood design in your furniture. Instead of covering your surface like paint, it will penetrate the wood in the color of your choice.
Step 5 – apply top coat protection
After everything has been painted on and stained, we wait for it to dry. Then we can take out our top coat to protect the post-processed piece of furniture.
The most popular top coats are:
- wax
- Wipe off the polyurethane
- Spray poly
- Spray paint
As a beginner, any of these choices can be easily applied. Wax is great for chalk paint. it creates a nice matte finish. Spray paints are good for quick drying and flipping.
Step 6 – Sell or Keep!
After you've properly cured your furniture, there is a decision you need to make. Will you keep the reworked piece or sell it? Refinishing furniture can be very lucrative if done right, but maybe you wanted a nice and affordable piece of furniture for your own home? Either way, now you know the process of furniture repair.
If you want to learn more about flipping furniture and making money, check out Furniture Flippa. His blog and Youtube channel contain lots of step-by-step guides on how to refinish and sell furniture for a profit. Good luck with reworking!
