Refinish furniture to enhance its appearance.
You can rejuvenate ordinary or tarnished furniture by refinishing it with the right type of stain or paint. If you plan to paint the furniture, you must condition the surface a particular way, depending on its condition, or it will ultimately shed its new finish. If you plan to stain or varnish the furniture, you may need to employ specific preparatory steps to promote absorption, or the finish could end up splotchy and uneven.
Instructions
Preparation
1. Remove cushions from the furniture.
2. Shelter the floor beneath the furniture from drips and splatters by covering it with plastic dropcloths. Cover the plastic dropcloths with fabric ones to prevent pooling.
3. Remove dust from the furniture by wiping it with a tack cloth.
4. Cover portions of the furniture you do not want refinished with painter's tape and plastic coverings.
Stain
5. Coat the furniture with a coat of stain, using a paintbrush, made for use with oil-based finishes. Add more coats for richer color. Allow two hours of drying time between each coat.
6. Clean the brush with mineral spirits.
7. Wait at least six hours. Coat the furniture with a coat of varnish, using the clean brush. Wait a full day before using the furniture.
Paint
8. Coat the furniture with a coat of acrylic latex primer, using a paintbrush, made for use with water-based finishes.
9. Clean the brush with water.
10. Wait at least two hours. Coat the furniture with semi-gloss or gloss latex paint, using the clean brush. Wait a full day before using the furniture.
