How To Refinish Furniture
This dresser was a lot of fun to refinish. I painted this dresser with my new office in mind. I wanted it to match the desk. Do you have a piece of furniture that needs a new look? Refinishing furniture is easier then you think, as long as your willing to get your hands dirty and make a mess. There are some basic tools and things you will need to get before you start.
You will need
- Rags
- Puddy Knife
- Brush
- Gloves
- Stripping Agent (I used Klean Strip)
- Time and Energy (I wish they sold that in a bottle)
Make sure you are in a well ventilated area, like an open garage, or just outside in the grass. A warmer day is best too, because the stripper and paint require it.
This dresser was my grandmothers. She used it in her vacation home. It has a lovely shape and it is short. I thought it would be just the thing for our office to hold art supplies, use as a work surface and a place for our printer. Just needed a fresh coat to match our black, white and teal theme. One nice day, I got started on it.
First, I cleaned the dresser making sure all the dust was off. Next, I took out all the drawers. I poured the stripping agent right on top of the finish.
Spread it out with the brush, making sure the whole surface is drenched. See the blueish tint? That is the stripping agent. Then it was time to wait a few minutes while it worked it’s magic on the old finish.
Next, came the messy part. Scraping off the old finish with a puddy knife.
I scraped the gunk into an old, empty paint can. I used the rags quite often to clean my knife and gloves.
I did this to the top and all sides of the dresser. Making sure to pay attention to the details of the furniture. Scraping out grooves or any engraving.
Once all the old finish was scraped off, I sanded the dresser, smoothing out the surface from bits of gunk. Then it was time to paint. I gave it two coats of Dark Kettle Black Valspar semi-gloss. Looking good. Now it’s time to work on design details that make it unique. I chose a simple design using rectangles around the drawer handles. I taped off a rectangle shape on the drawer fronts. I have found that electrical tape works better than painters tape, for a nice crisp edge. Time to paint, next. Two coats inside the tape. I used Aquatic Mist from Valspar.
Finally, I picked out new hardware for all the drawers.
Looks great in our office! <3 <3
