r/furniturerefinishing

I have a set of nightstands that were really heavily damaged on top. I knew going into it that the wood might not be salvageable, but I needed to strip the damaged finish off no matter what, so I figured I’d see what I ended up with.

This is after stripping and sanding with 120 grit. This is veneer, so I know I cannot sand any further besides a clean-up with 180 grit. My next step would be to hit it with an oxalic acid treatment to see if I can lighten those stains up any further, but I’m just not sure if it’d be worth it. I would be doing a dark stain on this, but I’m concerned that it’s just going to end up splotchy and terrible.

So, is it worth continuing to the oxalic acid treatment to see if I can lighten things up a bit, or should I just call it and paint?

I used wood epoxy putty to rebuild some edges/corners on a dresser. My question is, does the putty need to be sealed before I start adding color to match the existing stain, and with what? Shellac?

I have used the putty before but only in applications where I painted it over.

My plan is color blend/match to the existing stain and then spray lacquer over it. This is just to practice blending/layering the colors.

Hey all. I had an original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/furniturerefinishing/s/lAuMAdtigf On a dresser I pulled off the side of the road. Thank you to everyone for their thorough advice. I have stripped it, sanded, removed the awful stain from the last owner, and applied many coats of shellac/varnish in the form of French Polish (I have limited options where I am in Australia). It is not perfect, but is a lot more pleasant than it was a few weeks ago. Yes I am going to stain the interior of the drawer supports once I sort out the repairs.

I am now after hardware, the original brass hardware was all missing the pulls, seems that at some point these huge holes were drilled in for replacement hardware, then half filled.

Does anyone have a lead on where I can get some appropriate pulls that won't break the bank?

As far as filling in previous holes, would an "antique walnut" food filler be acceptable?

Also..there are pretty shoddy repairs to the interior, looks like cheap pine. I am on a tight budget at the moment, should I leave as is, or I can replace with some dark Jarrah wood I have.

Again thanks for all the tips.

This dresser was outside on someone’s deck for three years and I’m trying to save it. It was under this coat of black paint but with a lot of stripper, acetone, and sanding I’ve been able to get it to this reddish color that just won’t come off. I was able to get the bottom left area finally looking good but the rest just won’t come off no matter what I do!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am new to refurbishing and haven’t encountered a difficult job as this yet.

My dream chair was delivered today, but sadly the wood tone of the arms is way too cool and clashes with my midcentury furniture and wood paneled living room walls. Is there an easy way to warm up the wood color? Not looking for an exact match. I've read about gel stains but have no real experience. Any advice appreciated!!!!

I’m wondering about this dresser, if I get it for $25 what do you think I can flip it for, should I paint or refinish. I’ve never flipped furniture just started painting and refinishing pieces I’ve had around the house. I absolutely love it and since I’m not doing anything right now I’m wondering if flipping furniture could event be profitable, I’m not worried about making a ton of money just wanna mostly get practice and make up the $ I put in. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

I purchased a dining set off FBM. The young guy who sold it to me said his parents got it when he was a kid so at most it's 30 years old. The body of the table is wood, but I'm certain the top is veneer, given that there's a pattern and the grain on the side is perpendicular to the grain on the top.

Overall, the tabletop is in decent condition; it scratches fairly easily but it seems like the previous owners took care of it so there's nothing deep or egregious.

The big issue is that one corner has what I assume is heat damage. The areas in pics 1 & 2 are rough to the touch and the pattern in pic 1 shows indentations not stains. Note: The light is catching those areas and making them look far more visible than they actually are. Pic 3 shows a small area where the finish has chipped off. [Pic 4 shows half the table just to provide a general idea of what it looks like.]

My questions are these:

1. What kind of finish am I looking at here? It blooms when I put a coffee mug directly on it, but those blooms fade when it cools (note: I use coasters now). Based on the chipped area, it seems quite thin.

2. If I wanted to fix/refinish the top myself, what's the best course of action? I've read through the sub and since this is veneer, it looks like chemical stripping is the way. But I'm confused as to the specifics of that, particularly since a) I don't know what the current finish is and b) how stripping would affect the color of the veneer.

3. This table gets a lot of use - it's effectively my desk, we often use it for meals, it sometimes serves as a sewing table, and when we have parties, it's the buffet) - so the finish needs to be durable. What would be the best option in a finish?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hello furniture refinishing friends.

I am trying my hand at refinishing some Mersman side tables. I stripped the finish on both, and carefully hand-sanded the veneer to 150 grit. After, the wood on the top left table was a noticeably different color.

After staining with General Finishes Candlelite gel stain, the difference is still stark. I will try a second coat in a small, inconspicuous spot, but am skeptical it will work, as the veneer below is so different in tone to begin with.

I’ve only refinished a handful of pieces, so this is a new conundrum for me. Does anyone have any advice as how to proceed? My only idea was to buy a different oil based stain to mix in with Candlelite to attempt to warm and deepen the color (GF Georgian Cherry?), but I wanted to check with this subreddit before doing anything.

The first photo was after sanding. The second photo was after stain.

Does anyone have any suggestions before I go down the stain matching rabbit hole? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi I am new to this subreddit, but I looked up the cost for a replacement and it’s not even made anymore + resale is over 500$. I got LETS RESIN on it when my excess resin leaked through my paper towels onto the table. How can I fix this and make it look new again? The first image is the type of resin I used, the second is the paper towel resin mess and the third is I guess more resin I didn’t see??? And the last is just the full image of the pice I messed up in case some were curious. Any advice??? Online it says the table was made from wood and lacquer finishing polish.

These came in with zero finish on them. Like genuinely bare wood, no stain, no topcoat, hardware sitting in a bag. Someone had already done the hard part of stripping them and then just... stopped. Happens more than you'd think actually. People get halfway through a refinishing project, realize it's more involved than they expected, and the furniture sits in a garage for two years.

So we had a clean slate basically, which is kind of a nice problem to have. No old finish to fight, no color to work around. Just bare Ethan Allen hardwood waiting to become something.

We went with a rich warm brown, the kind that really pulls the grain movement out rather than flattening it. Getting that kind of depth on a stain isn't just slapping color on, you have to build it up in stages and keep checking it in different light or you end up with something that looks fine under shop lighting and weird everywhere else. The topcoat on the surfaces has that thing where it almost looks like the grain is under glass, like there's real depth to it. Hard to photograph honestly but it reads well in person.

The original bail drop pulls cleaned up really nicely. Ethan Allen hardware from that era is actually pretty solid, no reason to swap it out. Against this color they look better than they probably did originally.

Anyway two nightstands, matched set, ready to go. Nothing fancy about the project really, just good prep work and not rushing the finish. We do this kind of thing out of our shop in Fort Collins pretty regularly. G. Michaels Restoration has been doing furniture refinishing since 1985 so bare wood starting points don't really intimidate us at this point.

Anyone else have a half-finished refinishing project sitting around? Curious how common this actually is.

I bought this coffee table (the lighter one) off Facebook marketplace because I love the midcentury modern style and it was about $200 less than the other darker wood ones I’d been seeing (like the picture on the right). I figured I could stain it to be more warm toned and a little darker, but I’ve never done a project like this before.

From what I’ve researched I know I need to sand to remove the finish, then stain, then seal. What products are the best to use for those steps? I don’t have access to a sander so I’ll have to do it by hand. Any tips are much appreciated!

Any help/advice/suggestions on how to refinish would be greatly appreciated.

Picked this up at a moving sale. The wife said it’s been in her family since they lived in Korea in the 1970s. Would love to get it looking better so I could send her a picture.

Just added this luxury sofa collection to our showroom at Quality Rugs & Furniture Melbourne and the details look even better in person.

Soft textured fabric, gold accents, modern curved design, and deep comfortable seating. Perfect if you want a living room setup that feels clean, luxury, and modern without going over the top.

Available as full sofa sets with matching pieces.

• 3 Seater
• 2 Seater
• Accent Chair
• Modern coffee tables
• Custom styling options

Available now at our Dandenong and Hoppers Crossing stores.

What do you guys think about this modern luxury style? Too much gold or balanced nicely?

Hello! I have to convert my old solarium/tea room into an office (had to convert my old office into a nursery). I would love to salvage my adorable table and put it on my covered porch to have afternoon tea or dinner when we get some nice weather! I live in New England, so even though I have a covered porch, I think I will need to brace the wood for the humidity and/or potential bugs? How do I weatherproof it? Or is the paint sufficient? Should I just touch up the paint or should there be additional steps taken? I know that I won’t be able to use the fabric chairs, but I’d love to keep the table! I’m a total novice, so I am grateful for any advice! Ps. The porch is much larger than it looks and the table will fit well, I already measured 😊

These are my friend’s grandmother’s end tables from the 1920s. Her mom currently owns them and wanted them fixed up. One table had the finish failing the other was scratched by probably children and had two cigar burns. I am a hobbiest refinisher and I told her I would try my best. Her mom wanted something as close to the original finish as possible.

Was cleaning some painted cabinets in my home and found that unfortunately the product I was using was a mild abrasive. Didn’t realize until way too late and now I’m unsure how to fix it. It didn’t hit full wood but there are very clear light areas in certain sections over others. How should I fix it if possible?