NBR: refinishing old furniture.

Shellann1 · December 2013

Ok so we found a crazy cool style old dresser on the side of the road today. The wood is still in tact and has a cool structure but the top layer is pretty beat up and were wanting to strip it and redo it.
Anyone have experience doing it? Any tips /tricks preferred paint products?
I know there's a lot of Pinterest info but hoping someone who's actually done it can give some pointers. I'm not very crafty

bumpuser9343355 · December 2013

The main thing with refinishing is to prep like nobody's business. Sanding is the first step (one that I would make your SO do as it is hard and produces a lot of dust). After sanding, make sure you wipe everything down really well. Then you want to prime. I would just ask your Home Depot salesperson for a good furniture primer. When priming, make sure you do a really thin coat. If you need to, you can do another round of sanding and priming. Before you paint, the dresser should look how you want it to, just in the color of the primer (hope that makes sense). When you paint, use a latex paint and again, do thin coats. Two coats should do it. If you can, take the drawers out of the dresser first and make sure you remove any of the drawer pulls. With furniture items like a dresser, I typically use a 4-6 inch foam roller (made for bathrooms/kitchens). If you are going to do any part of the priming/painting, I would wear a mask and make sure you are in a well-ventilated area. Hope that helps and good luck!

mek20 · December 2013

We found older dressers in our basement after we moved in. They were a hideous looking purple color. DH just used an electric sander and white wall primer. Now they look almost brand new and are a beautiful bright white.

TheMrs820 · December 2013

@ Mrsgerman: Love it!!

nflan16 · December 2013

I spray painted all of my dining room chairs and a night stand this summer. There are awesome spray paints that have a built in primer and you don't even need to sand the furniture first. I got mine at Home Depot, very easy!

Shellann1 · December 2013

Oh thanks ladies!! Awesome tips! We're really excited to do this project together. We have another dresser painted black were going to do white for the nursery so well have a set.

Lovely job to the photos of the redos!! Excellent job! Hope ours comes out that nicely.

cakebatter27 · December 2013

I'm lurking from July but you can buy Annie Sloan paint and just paint. No sanding or priming. I'm hoping to try it out on something cheap before trying it on some old furniture I'd like to use!

purtz · December 2013

Fun thread! Thanks for all the recommendations. I just bought a Jenny Lind bed for DD who is almost 2.5 and I'm planning to use Annie Sloan chalk paint. It's low VOC and comes in awesome colors!!! Good luck everyone.