I come from a "crafty" family. My dad made his living as a carpenter. My mom sewed us little outfits as children, created beautiful (and intricate) cross-stitch art, then later in life picked up card-making and various other handiwork. My sister was born with an eye for art and drawing and working with her hands. And me? Working with my hands was never a fun activity. I'd rather read a book or hang out with my friends or, later in life, spend hours on the computer. I haven't really changed, honestly, but this pandemic situation gave me an idea and I ran with it!
It all started with a used piece of furniture, and thus far, the rest is history! I'm writing this blog to share my experience with furniture refinishing, both to help others if they want to try the same, and to keep a record of the details for myself when I'm old and grey and can't remember I did it! Each item below will include the tools and mediums I used, the approximate amount of time spent on them, lessons learned, and before and after photos.
The piece that started the fun this spring was a 4-drawer dresser. I found it on Facebook Marketplace for $40 and, although it needed work, I felt it was a great deal for a good-sized piece of furniture. I wanted to use it to store extra sheets and blankets, and the space it was going in would be perfect.
The dresser came without any hardware, but I recycled some old ones I already had at home. This piece took the most time to finish, and I used the largest variety of mediums. To start, I used an electric palm sander and a Dremel to remove the finish. I wanted to get this one down to the original wood or MDF rather than try to prime over it.
Mediums Used:
- Once sanded down entirely, I primed it with Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3 Water-Based Primer. I did two full coats of primer before moving on.
- I painted the dresser with Beauti-Tone Signature Series Semi-Gloss Acrylic in White. I didn't get it tinted at all, just went with the can as-is. I used two full coats of this one, and an extra coat on top.
- To finish it, I used Varathane 3X Triple-Thick Clear Finish, just on the top, and did two coats. I first tried using a different product for the finish, but wasn't happy with it.
- The drawer pulls were, as mentioned, recycled. Under the metallic colouring, they're a dark brown wood. I used Rust-Oleum Aluminum Gloss spray paint in Metallic for these, taking them outside and making up a little spray station to keep dust and dirt from sticking to them.
- Then the last thing to do, and completely optional but an added bit of fun, was to line the drawers with pretty paper. I found some Self-Adhesive Vinyl Contact Paper in a black floral pattern on Amazon.ca. It was a finicky job but worth it for the end result!
- And I almost forgot: the drawer slides needed to be replaced on this dresser because the rollers were quite worn out. This was a frustrating item: I purchased the wrong ones first (long story), and this was only after installing them ALL on (that's 48 screws, by the way). Then the newly-purchased set still didn't quite work (again, not being smart and putting all 48 screws in first)... so I finally learned my lesson and worked on one drawer to get it right before finishing the rest. If you need any 12" brand new slides, I have a set of 4 available!
Time Spent: A lot!! It's actually quite hard to say with this one. I'd guess 3 hours of sanding, another 2-3 hours of painting, and another hour or so for the adhesive paper. Just the drawer slide debacle itself ate up 2-3 hours itself, so I'll leave that out and write it off as a major learning opportunity... Also, I don't want to talk about it!! HAHA
Lessons Learned: Sand between coats of primer AND paint. The internet was right, and I didn't pay attention to it. Sanding doesn't mean taking off all the work you just did; the step is there to smooth out any imperfections so you can end up with a really, really nice-looking piece. I only sanded after the first coat of paint, and by that time it was too late for a few spots. Oh well!
Okay, now the fun stuff!
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To see what the inside of the drawers look like, check out my link above for the adhesive paper on Amazon.
The second piece is an old headboard that has been in my family a long time. I don't actually know when it was first acquired, but my guess is the 70s.
I kept it incredibly simple with this one, using only two mediums. And since it was the most simple piece, it also took the least amount of time.
Mediums Used:
- I didn't sand the headboard, but did prime it with the same Zinsser product. I believe I applied two coats, and they dry pretty quickly.
- Then I used Rust-Oleum Multi-Purpose Paint in Semi-Gloss Black that most likely didn't even need a base-coat primer, but I wanted to make sure it stuck. The headboard was covered in a varnish, after all. I used two or three coats of this, and only to make sure that it fully covered the base coat and original finish.
Time Spent: Around 1 hour. It was mush easier to paint because it didn't have nooks and crannies and multiple sides. And honestly, I didn't entirely wait for each coat to dry to glob on another. I knew that it would look good when it was done, and wasn't intended to be a statement piece anyway.
Lessons Learned: Again, just sand a bit in between coats, at least between the primer and gloss.
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The third piece is a set of nightstands. I also found these on Facebook Marketplace, and also for $40. I wouldn't have spent more than this because they're the cheap kind of MDF that every piece of furniture is made with, and it doesn't last forever. But I wanted to get new ones because my existing set was far too big for the space, and it was time to get rid of them.
I'm sure you've all had (or still have) furniture like these: they're MDF (in case you didn't know, that stands for medium-density fibreboard, and it's just sawdust bonded together with glue) and finished in a kind of vinyl or plastic wood-look. Nothing about these is wood, to be honest. But hey, they were a good price and the right size and all it took was some time to make them nice.
Mediums used:
- I also did not sand these because, again, MDF cheap crap with a vinyl finish. But Zinsser came to the rescue!! I did sand in between coats, a bit, but missed a few spots because I'm a messy amateur. I even primed inside the drawers because I had a plan to paint them too. I cannot stress the fact enough that they are MDF...
- I also used the Beauti-tone Semi-Gloss white paint for these and did 2-3 coats based on what I felt they needed.
- I painted inside the drawers this time! Not mentioned previously, but apparent from the photos, the room is a black, white and red theme. The outside wall is red, as is the closet (see the dresser photo above), so I wanted to bring a little more colour into the furniture. Inside the drawers seemed like an obvious choice, because it's hidden away but a nice little surprise. For this, I had leftover red paint from Dulux X-Pert. If you want the colour name, I'll look it up!
- Then to ensure these new-to-me nightstands retained their finish after some use, I applied the Varathane clear coat to the top, using a full two coats.
- Lastly, the brass handles that came with the nightstands were in great condition, just an ugly colour, so I used the same Rust-Oleum metallic spray paint on them. They turned out great!
- ***Not yet applied, but planning to: some Minwax Finishing Wax Paste to try to make the drawers run more smoothly. They don't have slides; they're just grooves, so the painted drawers now run a bit sticky. This finishing wax leaves a more shiny coating, without the stick, so I'm going to give that a try before we have guests over. I'll rub it inside the groove and hope for the best!
Time Spent: Best guess, including the handles? 5-6 hours. I found these pieces a bit more finicky because of the finish. You'd think it would be less, but I am an amateur and was learning as I went!
Lessons Learned: Primer is your friend when you are using a cheap piece of furniture. You'd never know they were MDF by just looking at them. And sand, sand, sand! Biggest lesson learned overall!!
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Last item!! This one was, by far, the most interesting. I knew I wanted to put a chair in the room and the universe found me one -- for free! -- one Saturday morning. Again, Facebook Marketplace was the locale, and the owner just wanted to get rid of it. It's a nice chair, with an ugly fabric, and perfectly-sized for my guest space! I consulted the internet the most before starting this one, and even got advice from a friend who has also done a lot of work on furniture. With my newfound knowledge, I set to work on it.
Mediums Used:
- No sanding, yet again! I went straight for chalk paint on this one, using a spray version by Rust-Oleum. Actually, this was a bit of a fail because I used the entire can and didn't even cover the whole chair (less the fabric) with one coat. So I sanded down the terrible job I made with the spray, and went straight for the white version of the same semi-gloss used on the headboard: Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch Multi-Purpose Paint. Surprisingly, this teeny, tiny can was all I needed, and I still have some left.
- With that done, and finding out that I didn't have to recover the chair with new fabric, I painted it with the semi-gloss black! Yes, I painted the fabric! This took quite a bit of time because the fabric was quite thick. I did water it down to help it soak in, which worked really well AND saved me from using too much paint.
- Then I tried using the Minwax paste on the fabric when it was dry. That was a mistake, because it left a weird finish from the cloth I used. So I painted it over with one more coat of the black, then left it that way.
- To finish the chair's arms and keep them from being damaged, I used the Minwax Finishing Paste. Actually, I finished the chair second but wanted to leave the writeup 'til last here. So I had tried the paste on the chair before realizing it wasn't my best option for leaving a clear finish! That said, I did use it on the arms and am happy with it.
Time Spent: Including the bad start on this, it probably took 4-5 hours. I got lost in the amount of time it took, to be honest, as I painted it entirely outside on some beautiful weekend days, and I enjoyed the time quite a bit.
Lessons Learned: Don't bother using spray paint on a piece with so many nooks and crannies! I should have gone straight for the Zinsser primer, or even just used a chalk paint that doesn't require priming. And again, sand a lot. I did need to sand this piece more because of the grooves, but you can still tell, by looking at it up close, that I'm an amateur. That's okay, it has charm! I also learned that the particular type of fabric on the chair was too long to paint directly. I should have trimmed or shaved it down first, as the end result isn't exactly what I'd planned. If the chair was being sat on regularly I'd care more, but it's not, so I don't.
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Check out the pattern on the finished product! Since the fabric was a fairly high-pile, it retained the print afterwards!
Other stuff: I used the paint I had to finish a few other accessories, like hooks I picked up at Walmart, and a plastic tray from Dollarama. I also put the same floral adhesive paper inside a little shelf that's on the wall by the door.
I spent a little bit of money on these projects, but not as much as you'd spend buying new. And now I have a personal stamp on nearly everything in the room!
Curious what's next? Me too! I'm not quite finished the room, and got sidetracked with a few other projects elsewhere, but I'm thinking about what else I can do. I even had a few asks about doing pieces for other folks! Once I'm more settled into our home and finished with my own things, I may take them up on it!
My family was a little surprised about what I was undertaking, until I explained the reasons why and it was clear how excited it got me. I don't think I'll ever perfect this art, but I can at least enjoy it. I could never get into arts & crafts projects with my family because none of them meant anything to me, but as soon as I had a little motivation and a lot of time, it made sense to try something new. My husband helped a bit, when needed, but I otherwise did everything on my own.
Like anything a person starts and finishes on their own, there's a great sense of satisfaction that comes with it. And God only knows how long we'll be in a pandemic, so I might as well learn a new skill and keep myself entertained!
