How To Refinish Your Living Room Furniture

It is simply amazing just how much money can be saved when you choose to learn how to refinish your living room furniture. Side tables, coffee table, nothing is safe once you get the bug to do this sort of thing! And best of all, this translates into saving more money to be put into other projects such as blinds or flooring for the same room. It’s all about logic, here.

Step one: Remove the old stain - Assuming we are talking about wood tables here, you will want to make sure you consider using stain, paint or varnish remover from your local hardware store. This will ensure that when you re-stain it, the table stain will stick. Very important when refinishing your living room furniture.

Step two: Time to sandpaper this table – Despite the temptation to use a sander, you will instead want to go with some old fashioned sand paper and a little elbow grease. Sanding the table by hand will translate into a table that is free of bumps and scratches.

Step three: Dry cloth or compressed air – Some other websites might suggest using a wet cloth to remove any excess sand from the sand paper when refinishing a table. I instead, prefer to use my husbands air compressor with an attachment that provides me with a way to aim the air at the table to clean it. Works really well! I also finish that off with a dry cloth afterward.

Step four: The application of stain/paint – Most likely, you are going to go with a stain. Even if you choose a paint, the basic prep work you did previously is the same. Whatever it may be, you will want to apply the first coat. With stain, you’ll give it a couple of days to dry with the first coat. Paint, I would suggest at least a day if not two as well.

When you are ready to apply the final coat of stain/paint, do so carefully then let stand to dry for about two to three days.

Step five: New hardware – Sometimes the tables you just refinished need some new hardware to help bring them into the general vibe of your living room. This might mean looking at the existing lighting you have going on along with other hardware on other wood products you have. Clearly, if you have a silver theme going, adding gold is just going to look silly. And vice versa.

Recommended books on furniture refinishing:

One person’s trash is another’s treasure. That’s a fact of life that the Junkmarket gals know only too well. Through their annual Minneapolis fleamarket, The Junk Bonanza, web site junkmarketstyle.com, and tireless touring, Sue Whitney and Ki Nassauer have helped countless devotees transform junk into one-of-a-kind furnishings and accessories. Working their magic on every room of the house–from kitchen to home office–they present conversational case studies that introduce the clients and explore their needs. With characteristic humor in tow, they take readers through each renovation adventure, from shopping for recycled materials to the actual construction projects. The gals also include complete materials lists, plus paint chips and fabric swatches, so that everything can be recreated down to the last delicious detail.

McGraw, whose previous craft books include Papier-Mache for Kids (Firefly, 1991), gives clear, well-illustrated instructions to over 30 furniture decorating projects. She begins with an overview of the materials, equipment, and basic techniques needed for preparing furniture to be decorated and continues with the projects that primarily involve various paint techniques, but she also shows how to refurbish cushioned seats, mosaic a tabletop, and fabric-cover furniture. Although the directions are generally clear, more detailed techniques such as tole painting are better illustrated in Priscilla Hauser’s Book of Decorative Painting (LJ 9/15/97). With the variety of projects illustrated, this book will be popular addition to collections whose patrons are looking for how-to books.