The Basics of Refinishing Wood Furniture

Solid built wood furniture is difficult to come by these days and often costs an arm and a leg when bought new. Solid wood furniture often holds a special place in our homes because it is so timeless and can easily be given from one generation to the next. More and more people are buying old pieces of wooden furniture and refurbishing them back to their former beauty.

The procedure of changing an old piece of wooden furniture that has been neglected and returning it to a eye-catching piece of furniture can be frustrating but the end results are worth it. If you have time and a little bit of skill then it isn't hard to restore most wooden furniture pieces. Restoring simple pieces of furniture is always less challenging when you're first starting out, so you might want to start with a piece like a small desk or even an old door. Here are the general steps you'll take to restore just about any wooden tables:

You'll first want to remove any old paint or finish carefully without harming the wood beneath it. You can reveal the plain wood surface of a piece of furniture with chemical removing agents, specially designed brushes and lots of arm muscles. Removing the original finish of a piece of wooden furniture is the first challenging task you'll have to undertake. Taking off an old stain finish can take a long time, so take your time and try not to get discouraged by how long it takes.

Sanding a piece of wooden furniture removes any left over paint and it readies the uncovered wood to accept a new stain of some sort. There are many different tricks you can follow when sanding old wooden pieces of furniture with different power sanders. After removing all the old finish you'll want to sand every surface of the furniture piece you're working on.

If your wooden furniture piece has any metal hinges or knobs that aren't working you'll want to fix them now. You can fix cracked wood pieces with glue and use wood putty to hide any obvious dings. At this point you will need to fix anything that's not working on your wood piece of furniture.

There are several different types of wood stains you can use to change the look of your furniture and then you should consider what type of polyurethane you're going to use to protect that stain. When it's time to choose a finish you'll have a lot of options open to you. At this point you can move on to putting on a new finish to your old wood furniture piece.

When your furniture refinishing project is all done it's comforting to know that you can transform a piece of trash into gold! Refurbishing an antique piece of furniture is often an amazingly challenging project to complete. Turning a forgotten furniture piece into a beautiful treasure can be a lot of fun.

Want to find out more about refinishing wood furniture and improving your home? Visit our site for lots more home improvement projects with photos and detailed instructions.