Let me start off by saying that furniture refinishing is NOT a quick task – or really even an easy task. Unless you’re super familiar with the different types of finishes and can identify them on the spot, it may take you a few tries with a few different methods to find the one that is best for your furniture refinishing project. For example, when I first set out to give our nightstands a makeover, I was expecting to be able to spray them with Easy Off, give ’em a good scrub and be done. Nope. Not even close. The Easy Off did nothing but dull the finish and make them look terrible. So, at that point, I knew I was embarking on a little bit of a furniture refinishing adventure.
Why I Decided to Refinish This Furniture.
The why behind me wanting to do this was simple – I wanted our bedroom furniture to look different, but didn’t want to buy something new. Also, my nightstand specifically was showing signs of ware and the finish was chipping off the top. Most likely from me spilling water on it a few times and/or not using a coaster.. Oops!
Furthermore, we bought our bedroom furniture brand new when we moved into our home 3 years ago. Back then, I had a VERY different vision for what our home would look like and have since changed and evolved in terms of taste and design style. Lucky for me, our furniture is wood based and I could draw out that lighter wood look – which is what I’d want if I was replacing them entirely.
What I Used to Refinish Our Nightstands.
To this day, I’m not exactly sure what it was that coated these pieces of furniture. The best I can guess is that it had a thick coat of paint-like stain.. and probably a protective varnish of some kind. Whatever it was, it was resilient against the Easy Off method and was even tough to remove after letting the paint stripper sit for 24 hours.
That being said, here are the items I used that did eventually work.
- Citristrip Stripping Gel
- Gloves
- Cheap Paint Brush
- Paint Scraping Tool
- Grade #3 Steel Wool
- Paint Stripper Afterwash
- Power Sander
- Sanding Sheets (I used 120 Grit first to take off leftover gunk and then 80 Grit for a smooth finish)
- Stripping Brush (for getting into grooves if your piece has them)
- Stain (I used the color Early American)
- Stain brush
- Microfiber Cloth or Paper Towel
How I Refinished Our Furniture.
**Visit my instagram reels for a video of how I did this!**
Now, let me just say really quick that I am not an expert. In fact, this was my first actual refinishing project. There may be better products or methods, but this is what I did and how it turned out!
1. Cover furniture in a thick coat of Citristrip Stripping Gel and let sit.
The directions on the back of the stripping gel bottle says you can leave it for anywhere from 30 mins to 24 hours. I would say start out with an hour and then go and scrape a small section to check on the progress. If you leave it sitting for more than an hour or so, I would suggest covering it with plastic to keep it moist and easy to scrape.
2. Use the paint scraping tool to scrape off as much gel as possible.
Once you feel like the stripping gel has done it’s job, take the scraping tool and go to work scraping as much gel off as possible.
3. Dip steel wool pad and stripping brush into paint stripper afterwash and scrub.
If you’re project goes like mine, there was still a lot of area that where the stripping gel and paint itself didn’t come off – which was annoying. But I poured some afterwash into a bowl, dipped the steel wool and paint stripping brush into the bowl and used that to scrub off as much as I could.
4. Sand.
Once I felt satisfied that I scrubbed as much gel and paint off as I could, I went to town with our sander. I started with an 120 Grit sanding sheet which did well to take off the rest of the gunk. For a smooth finish, I went over the nightstand with an 80 Grit sheet.
5. Stain.
I used this one in the color ‘Early American’. I applied a small amount with a paint brush and then used a microfiber towel (or paper towel) to distribute and rub it in. I used this method because I wanted the stain to go on in as light a layer as possible. I wanted a touch of color but not a LOT.
After that, I replaced the pull knobs and they were done! What do you think?! Will you be trying a refinishing project of your own in the near future??
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