How to Refinish Furniture: Part 1 Before You Refinish Furniture
Before You Refinish Furniture: What You Need to Know Before You Start
If you’re getting ready to refinish a piece of furniture, it’s tempting to jump straight into sanding, stripping, or picking out a paint color.
We get it. That’s the fun part.
But before you touch the sander, there are a few things worth figuring out first.
What is the piece actually made from? What kind of finish is already on it? Is that damage on the top something you can sand out, or are you looking at a thin layer of veneer? Are the drawers just sticking, or is the whole frame starting to come apart?
Taking a little time to answer those questions can save you a lot of frustration later.
At Brickhouse & Baron, this is pretty much where every refinishing project starts. Before we decide what a piece is going to become, we first figure out exactly what we're working with.
1. Is the Piece Actually Worth Refinishing?
This is the first question we ask.
And no, that doesn't mean the furniture has to be expensive, antique, or made entirely from solid wood.
Some of the best refinishing projects start with furniture that doesn't look particularly impressive when you first find it.
The real question is:
Does the piece have good bones?
Open the drawers. Open the doors. Give the piece a gentle shake. Look underneath it. Check the back.
You're trying to separate cosmetic problems from structural problems.
Scratches, faded stain, old hardware, small dents, water rings, worn edges, and an outdated finish usually don't scare us very much.
Those are exactly the kinds of things refinishing is meant to fix.
Problems that deserve a little more attention include:
Broken frames
Severely damaged drawer boxes
Large sections of missing veneer
Swollen MDF or particle board
Major water damage
Loose joints throughout the entire piece
Badly warped panels
Broken or missing structural supports
That doesn't automatically mean the piece is a lost cause. Furniture can be surprisingly repairable.
You just want to know what you're getting into before you spend several hours stripping the top only to discover the frame underneath is falling apart.
Try to See Past the Current Finish
This part takes a little imagination.
An old brown dresser might look completely dated, but underneath that finish it may have great proportions, beautiful drawer fronts, and a solid frame.
A buffet might have an ugly stain but incredible storage.
A small nightstand might only need a repaired drawer, fresh hardware, and a new finish to look completely different.
We try not to judge a piece by what it looks like when we find it.
We look at what it could become.
A good shape and solid construction are usually much more important than an outdated color.
2. Figure Out What the Furniture Is Made From
This is one of the most important things to know before you start sanding.
And here's something that surprises a lot of people:
A piece of furniture doesn't have to be made from one material.
A dresser might have solid wood legs, a veneered top, MDF side panels, plywood drawer bottoms, and solid wood drawer fronts.
That's completely normal.
The goal isn't necessarily to find a piece that's 100% solid wood. You just need to know what each surface is made from so you know how to work with it.
Solid Wood
Solid wood is usually pretty forgiving when you're refinishing.
You have actual wood underneath the surface, so you generally have more room for sanding, repairs, staining, and reshaping damaged areas.
That doesn't mean you should attack it with 40-grit sandpaper, but you have considerably more material to work with than you would with veneer.
Look at the grain.
On solid wood, you'll often see natural grain continuing around edges and through different parts of the board.
Older furniture also commonly uses solid wood for things like:
Legs
Frames
Drawer boxes
Drawer fronts
Structural supports
If you uncover beautiful solid wood, that may even change your original plan.
Instead of painting the whole piece, you might decide to leave part of it natural.
Wood Veneer
Veneer gets a bad reputation sometimes, but there's an important thing to understand:
Wood veneer is real wood.
It's simply a thin layer of wood attached to another material underneath.
And some very nice furniture uses veneer.
The problem isn't the veneer itself.
The problem is getting too aggressive with the sander.
Once you sand through that thin wood layer, there's no easy way to put it back.
If you're working with veneer:
Use lighter pressure
Be careful around edges
Don't stay in one spot too long
Start with less aggressive sandpaper
Consider stripping the finish instead of sanding everything off
We've seen beautiful veneered tops that only needed careful stripping and sanding to come back to life.
Treat it gently and you can get great results.
MDF
MDF, or medium-density fiberboard, is another material you'll come across pretty often.
It's made from compressed wood fibers and resin and is commonly used in furniture because it's smooth and stable.
And despite what you might hear, MDF isn't automatically bad.
In fact, MDF can be a fantastic surface for paint.
You just need to treat it differently from solid wood.
You generally aren't going to strip MDF down and stain it like a piece of oak. You're more likely to lightly sand it, repair any damage, prime it, and paint it.
The biggest thing to watch for is moisture damage.
Once MDF absorbs a lot of water, it can swell and become difficult to repair.
Particle Board
Particle board is made from larger wood particles that are compressed together with adhesive.
You'll often find it underneath laminate or veneer.
Just like MDF, it can work perfectly fine as part of a piece of furniture.
But again, water is usually the enemy.
If you see badly swollen or crumbling particle board, take a closer look before committing to the project.
A small damaged area might be repairable.
An entire swollen cabinet side may be another story.
Want to go deeper?
We have a full guide on this:
If you're new to refinishing, learning how to recognize different furniture materials is one of the most useful skills you can pick up.
3. What Finish Is Already on the Furniture?
Now that you have a better idea of what's underneath the surface, take a look at what's sitting on top of it.
Furniture can be finished with all kinds of products:
Paint
Polyurethane
Lacquer
Shellac
Varnish
Wax
Oil
Stain
Clear coat
And sometimes you'll find several of these layered on top of each other.
That's especially common with older furniture.
Someone may have stained it originally, someone else painted it twenty years later, and then another person added wax over the paint.
You never really know until you start investigating.
Start by Looking and Feeling
You don't need to turn this into a science experiment right away.
Start simple.
Look at the surface.
Does it look glossy?
Does it feel waxy?
Does the finish look thick?
Is it cracking?
Can you see wood grain underneath it?
Does it look like someone has painted the piece before?
Sometimes you'll know immediately what you're dealing with.
Other times you'll need to do a little testing.
And if you're going to test something, pick a hidden area.
Try:
Behind a drawer
Under the top
Inside a cabinet
Along the back edge
Underneath the furniture
Don't make the center of the dresser top your testing ground.
Why Does the Existing Finish Matter?
Because it can completely change how you approach the project.
Let's say you start sanding a thick polyurethane finish.
Your sandpaper may clog almost immediately, and you could spend hours trying to grind through something that a stripper could have handled much more efficiently.
On another piece, stripping the furniture completely might be unnecessary.
If the existing finish is clean and well bonded, you may only need to scuff sand it, prime it, and move on.
That's something worth remembering:
You don't always have to remove everything.
Remove what needs to come off.
Keep what can stay.
You'll save yourself a lot of unnecessary work.
For a more detailed breakdown, check out:
We go deeper there into paint, polyurethane, lacquer, wax, and other common finishes.
4. Take a Good Look for Damage
Once we know what a piece is made from and what's covering it, we start checking for damage.
And don't just look at the front.
Furniture likes to hide problems.
Pull the drawers out.
Look underneath.
Look behind it.
Run your hand over the top.
Open every door.
You're basically giving the furniture a physical before you start working on it.
Start With the Top
The top usually tells a story.
That's where people put drinks, lamps, plants, hot dishes, decorations, and just about everything else over the years.
Look for:
Water rings
Scratches
Heat marks
Missing veneer
Loose veneer
Cracks
Deep stains
Gouges
Uneven areas
One thing we recommend is actually running your hand across the surface.
Sometimes you'll feel damage that you didn't notice visually.
Pull Out Every Drawer
Don't assume that because the first drawer works, the rest of them do.
Pull them all out.
Check the drawer bottoms.
Look at the joints.
Check the slides.
Look for broken corners.
Try opening and closing everything.
A drawer that sticks isn't always a big problem.
Sometimes it's paint buildup.
Sometimes the wood has swollen slightly.
Sometimes a slide is damaged.
And sometimes the drawer is simply sitting in the wrong opening.
Older furniture especially can have drawers that were basically fitted to a specific spot.
We'll come back to that in a minute.
Check Doors and Cabinets
Open every door and see how it behaves.
Does it sag?
Does it rub?
Is the hinge loose?
Are screws missing?
Does the door actually stay closed?
Most of those problems can be fixed fairly easily, but again, you want to know about them before the piece is freshly painted.
Look Inside the Frame
With the drawers removed, you can usually see a lot more of the furniture's actual construction.
Look at:
Drawer supports
Corner blocks
Rails
Braces
Legs
Fasteners
Joints
Give the furniture a gentle shake.
If the whole thing moves like it's held together by a handshake and good intentions, you've probably got some structural repair to do.
That doesn't mean it's junk.
A lot of quality wooden furniture can be re-glued, tightened, and stabilized.
Just do that work before the finishing work.
Watch for Water Damage
Water damage deserves its own mention because it can go from cosmetic to structural pretty quickly.
Watch for:
Swollen material
Soft wood
Bubbling veneer
Dark stains
Delamination
Crumbling particle board or MDF
A water ring on a solid wood top may be relatively easy to deal with.
A cabinet side that has swollen to twice its original thickness isn't quite the same situation.
Use your judgment.
5. Decide What You Actually Want the Piece to Look Like
Now we get to the fun part.
Before you start stripping or sanding, have some idea of where you're trying to end up.
You don't need every detail figured out.
But you should know the general direction.
Are you restoring the original wood?
Painting the whole thing?
Keeping a natural wood top?
Changing the hardware?
Going dark and modern?
Light and neutral?
Having a direction now keeps you from making decisions halfway through that create more work later.
Keep the Natural Wood
Sometimes you start cleaning a piece and realize the wood underneath is way too nice to cover up.
If the grain is attractive and the wood is in decent condition, consider keeping some or all of it natural.
That may mean stripping the old finish, sanding carefully, applying a new stain, and protecting it with a clear coat.
Natural wood can bring a lot of character back into older furniture.
Paint It
There's absolutely nothing wrong with painting furniture when it makes sense.
Paint can completely change a piece that otherwise feels dated.
It can also help bring together furniture made from several different materials.
We've worked with everything from warm whites and charcoal to blacks, greens, blues, and earthy colors.
And don't forget about sheen.
A matte finish feels very different from satin.
Satin feels different from semi-gloss.
Color gets most of the attention, but sheen can change the whole look too.
Use Both Paint and Natural Wood
This is one of our favorite combinations.
For example:
Painted body + stained wood top
You get the cleaner, updated look from the painted sections while still keeping some of the warmth and character of natural wood.
It also works really well when the furniture is made from mixed materials.
Maybe the top is beautiful veneer or solid wood, but the body isn't something you'd necessarily want to stain.
Perfect.
Let each part do what it does best.
Don't Forget the Hardware
Hardware can completely change the personality of furniture.
You might keep and restore the original hardware.
Or you might replace it with:
Brass
Champagne gold
Antique gold
Matte black
Brushed nickel
Something more decorative
We usually look at the shape of the furniture before deciding.
Sometimes old hardware is one of the best parts of the piece.
Other times it's exactly what makes the furniture look thirty years older than it needs to.
6. Get Your Workspace Ready
You don't need a giant professional shop to refinish furniture.
But you do need somewhere you can actually work.
Furniture projects tend to spread.
Before you know it, you've got six drawers on the floor, hardware sitting on a workbench, sandpaper everywhere, and absolutely no idea where you put that one screw.
A little setup goes a long way.
Give Yourself Room
Try to leave enough space to walk around the furniture.
This is especially important if you're painting or spraying.
You don't want to finish three sides beautifully and then realize the fourth side is six inches from a wall.
Also think ahead about where drawers, doors, and shelves are going to sit while they're drying.
Protect the Floor
This one sounds obvious until paint stripper hits a floor you really didn't want it to hit.
Use whatever makes sense for the project:
Drop cloths
Cardboard
Rosin paper
Plastic sheeting
Other protective floor coverings
If you're using chemicals, be especially careful.
Some stripping products and solvents can damage finished floors very quickly.
Control the Dust
Sanding furniture creates a lot of dust.
More than you think.
If your sander can connect to a vacuum or dust extractor, use it.
Vacuum your work area regularly.
And if possible, don't sand right next to something you just painted.
We've learned that lesson.
Fresh paint has an incredible ability to find every floating piece of dust in the building.
Pay Attention to Temperature and Humidity
Paint and clear coat don't care that you're trying to finish the project today.
If conditions aren't right, they're going to dry when they're ready.
Cold temperatures can slow things down.
High humidity can also extend drying times and affect some finishes.
Check the recommendations on whatever product you're using and try to stay within those conditions.
It'll save you from wondering why a finish is still tacky hours later.
Label Your Drawers and Hardware
Please do this.
Seriously.
If you take six drawers out of an old dresser, don't automatically assume they're interchangeable.
Sometimes they are.
Sometimes you'll spend twenty minutes wondering why drawer number three suddenly doesn't fit anymore.
We like to discreetly mark where drawers came from and keep the corresponding hardware together.
A piece of tape, a small bag, or a labeled container is all you need.
Five minutes now can save you a ridiculous amount of frustration later.
7. Don't Skip the Safety Gear
Refinishing furniture isn't particularly complicated, but you are still dealing with dust, chemicals, power tools, solvents, and sometimes sprayed coatings.
Treat them with respect.
Protect Your Eyes
Wear safety glasses when you're:
Sanding
Scraping
Drilling
Grinding
Cutting
Spraying
Working with chemicals
Getting one tiny piece of wood or dried finish in your eye is a pretty bad way to end a furniture project.
Wear the Right Gloves
Disposable chemical-resistant gloves are useful when you're working with things like:
Degreasers
Strippers
Solvents
Stain
Paint
Clear coat
Just keep in mind that loose gloves and certain rotating power tools don't mix.
Use the right protection for the job you're doing.
Use Proper Respiratory Protection
This is an area where it's easy to cut corners.
A dust mask and a respirator are not the same thing.
Sanding dust requires proper dust protection.
Solvents and certain coatings may require respirator cartridges designed for those vapors.
Check the product label and Safety Data Sheet for what you're using.
If you're spraying a coating, don't assume a basic disposable mask is enough.
Make Sure You Have Ventilation
If you're working with products that produce fumes, ventilation matters.
Open up the workspace when appropriate.
Use suitable exhaust ventilation.
Keep chemicals and solvent vapors away from flames, heaters, sparks, and other ignition sources.
And follow the manufacturer's directions.
A good rule to remember is this:
Not being able to smell something doesn't automatically mean you should be breathing it.
Protect Your Hearing Too
Sanders, shop vacuums, compressors, and other equipment can get loud when they're running for a while.
Hearing protection is cheap.
Your hearing isn't.
Use it.
A Little Preparation Makes the Rest Much Easier
If there's one thing we'd want you to take away from this guide, it's that refinishing starts long before you open a can of paint.
Take a few minutes and figure out what you're working with.
Know:
What the furniture is made from
What finish is already on it
What needs to be repaired
Which areas can safely be sanded
What you want the final piece to look like
Whether your workspace is ready
What protective equipment you'll need
You don't need to know every answer immediately.
A lot of refinishing is learning as you go.
But the better you understand the piece before you start, the fewer surprises you'll run into halfway through.
And once you've done this a few times, you'll start looking at old furniture differently.
Instead of seeing scratches, an outdated finish, or ugly hardware, you'll start seeing what the piece could look like after another round of life.
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