I have had my fair share of experience with refinishing furniture. Sometimes personally and sometimes for others. I wanted to help others that are looking to flip furniture to either save or make money. Hopefully I can save you a headache or two along the way.
Dresser Refinishing Tip 1: Quality Over Quantity
This phrase rings true in so many facets in life, and it’s the first crucial step towards a successful dresser refinish in my opinion. There have been many times that I had a free piece of furniture cross my path. Most of the time via marketplace or someone I know. Sight unseen it is hard to decipher whether this is hidden treasure or a potential failure.
After years of experience I now only want to work on wood pieces. Although that sounds pretty obvious. It took time for me to better spot the difference between wood and laminated/veneered pieces. Since I do a lot of my searching online, this has become an important skill.
Pieces made with a lot of lauan, Mdf, or laminated pieces are more work than they are worth usually. Sometimes it gets to the point where you feel like you are putting lipstick on a pig. Also they can be so heavy, and my back isn’t up to moving those more than necessary.
Dresser Refinishing Tip 2: Function
I think this is more important when it comes to a piece of furniture with doors that do not close. That can be a bigger pain to deal with. Fixing a drawer is a mixed bag. It can be fairly easy, It is a box after all but if that feels over your head I would make sure to check the drawers before committing to a piece of furniture.
Also if the drawers don’t close it can take a decent amount of time to get that figured out. Sometimes it’s a matter of a little bit of sanding, and sometimes it’s more sanding than you would guess. After all this drawer should have closed at some point.
In my experience the older the dresser the more potential there is. Often times there are water spots or people have written or drawn in the drawers of a dresser. If you want to paint over it, no shame I’ve done that plenty of times. Sometimes to save me some effort if it’s just the bottom of a drawer I will use a peel and stick wallpaper to help cover it up and add some beauty. Amazon often has deals on peel and stick wall papers with pretty patterns.
Dresser Refinishing Tip 3: Hardware
Often times hardware can be really outdated, and be taking away from the overall aesthetic. It’s a very easy fix to switch hardware out. There are lots of budget friendly options.
I like these scoops from amazon. Especially because the holes don’t have to match up perfectly. Often times I can hide the old holes with these scoops, by screwing these in over top. You will want to decide on the hardware early on so that you can fill in holes before sanding and painting your piece of furniture.
Dresser Refinishing Tip 4: Sand Uneven Spots
This is my least favorite step, but it has proven to be very important. Anything you do not get sanded smooth before painting will show itself. The more flat/matte the paint the more these blemishes will stand out. I spend extra time on the most visible surfaces such as the top and front of the dresser and drawers.
After saying all of that if you have a piece of furniture that is already painted, and the paint is in decent shape I would not go through the effort of stripping it unless you plan to stain it. The paint may be hiding a big water spot (speaking from experience). So be warned that you could go through all that effort to strip it just to have to paint it again. All that to say if you do decide to paint over the old paint I would still run a finer grit of sandpaper lightly over the old paint to help the new paint have something to adhere to.
Dresser Refinishing Tip 5: Paint
There are so many options when it comes to paint now, maybe too many. I prefer water based because I like that it’s easy to clean up and reuse my paint brushes.
If I need an extra durable paint say for a more wet area such as a bathroom or mudroom I like to use exterior paint. I’m not really loyal to a certain brand or anything. Especially if the purpose is to save or make money it’s usually not worth spending extra on a certain brand in my experience anyways.
Dresser Refinishing Tip 6: Clear Coat
I can’t believe I skipped this step for so long. I think I just did not know what to use, and was worried it would change the color and shine of the finished product.
Now I apply a matte clear coat on the top of each piece. I do at least two coats. I apply more if it’s going to be in a high use area such as a kitchen or bathroom (as a vanity especially).
Stick around for more diy, design and renovations. If you are new here you can find other diy posts here. If you are into renovations also you can find our kitchen, mudroom and bathroom renovations here. I have more renovations coming, find the design plans for those here.