How To Restore Old Wooden Furniture
Sam Lutz • March 1, 2016
Restoring old wooden furniture is a great way to save money, especially if you're a frequent consignment store shopper. Furniture restoration can also make a fun hobby. These tips will help you restore your old wooden furniture pieces and turn them into beautiful, functional furniture items that can be used around your house or even given away as gifts.
Pick the Right Pieces
When looking for wooden furniture to restore, try not to concern yourself over the amount of paint or stain that will need to be removed. The more hidden the wood, the more rewarding the process will be. In addition, wooden furniture that has been buried under a thick shell of scuffed paint or peeling stain is often cheaper than old furniture that has a less marred exterior.
Gather Your Materials
Once you've got the furniture that you'd like to refinish, gather the materials for your project. Each project will be different because different types of furniture will require different materials in different quantities. Be sure to gather safety materials like goggles and work gloves. In addition, you'll need:
- Rags
- Tarp
- Screwdriver
- Hammer
- Semi-Paste Stripper
- Metal Scrapers
- Bucket
- Stiff Brush
- Steel Wool
- Glue
- Nails
- Screws
- Wood Filler
- Sand Paper
- Stain/Varnish
There may be other materials that you'll require, which you'll gather as you discover that you need it. Again, every piece of furniture is somewhat different, and in fact, you may find that you don't even use all the materials mentioned above. We still recommend having all the above materials on hand, just in case. (and we always recommend wearing safety gloves and goggles)
Process
If your furniture is wobbly and the screw holes are somewhat stripped, start by disassembling the piece. Remove any screws and hardware that might be holding the furniture together. Once the furniture is in pieces, set up your workstation with your materials gathered around, a tarp on the floor and your furniture on the tarp. With that done, you can officially get started with the process.
- Clean the furniture. Remove any dust with a rag.
- Use a rag to apply semi-paste stripper to the wood. Leave the stripper on the wood for the amount of time specified in the manufacturer's instructions.
- Gently remove the stripper from the wood using the metal scraper. Be very gentle to avoid damaging the wood. Put the old, used stripper into the bucket.
- Use steel wool to remove any remaining stripper and finish or pain. You may find that some paint or finish will not come out of the nooks and crannies in the furniture. Liquid stripper can help with these areas.
- Dry the furniture with a rag.
- Use wood filler to fill in holes and scratches in the wood.
- Wait until the wood filler is dry, then sand down the wood filler so that it's even with the level of the wood. If you're using wood filler to fill in and tighten screw holes, take a look at this page for information about that process.
- Use your tools to reassemble the furniture.
- Clean the furniture with a dry rag again.
- Reassemble the furniture, if you took it apart.
- Stain and varnish your furniture. We recommend using gel stain because of its ease of use (there's no sanding required between layers). Apply the stain to the furniture following the manufacturer's instructions, then apply a second layer if the first layer is uneven or streaky. Take a look at this video for information about applying gel stain to furniture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFXhtX9SeaQ
- If using a gel stain, wipe off the stain in between coats. Once this is done, you can either apply varnish over the top of the dried stain for extra protection, or you can leave it without varnish (because the gel stain contains polyurethane).
Resources
There are a variety of helpful tutorials online
that can teach you how to restore old furniture. However, if you have questions regarding a specific piece, we recommend stopping in at Ace Paint and Unfinished Furniture. We can give you advice and show you our line of helpful products that will will help with your project. For more information, give us a call. We'd love to help.
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