Refinishing Furniture

[SoonerTexan]

Any advice on refinishing furniture?

We just purchased a beautiful round pedestal hardwood table off Craigslist that was painted white and I plan to repaint it. Same with an 80stastic, but beautiful rolltop desk hand-me-down my mother gave us. I also have a collection of cheap laminate bookshelves I want to paint since I cant stand 80s oak laminate. I plan to paint everything the same brown/black color with a sprayer our awesome neighbor/landlord is lending me.

I could care less about the finish on the cheap bookshelves--I just want them a different color. I do care about the quality of the paint on the rolltop and especially the table, as I plan to keep it for a long long time.

Since the table was already painted, I planned to simply sand it, maybe give it a quick spray of primer (though I plan to use Behr Premium Ultra, which apparently eliminates the need. My parents have had good luck with it and so has the Home Depot paint dude, who used it to paint his dining room set).

The rolltop I'm not sure about, because it has a varnish on it. I realllllyyyy don't want to strip it--it's beautiful, but it was garage sale material, so I'm not sure it's worth it. Would a coat of primer suffice here?

Any advice on sealants or anything else I might be missing? I've got the rest of the week to kill before I start my job and "real life"

If the roll top has varnish, you'll need to strip it, and it will be a huge PITA. My dh stripped a dresser that had been in my family for 40 years, and it took ages - and it didn't have any of those roll top things. Stripping furniture is truly a labor of love.

[diggitydot]

Any advice on refinishing furniture?

We just purchased a beautiful round pedestal hardwood table off Craigslist that was painted white and I plan to repaint it. Same with an 80stastic, but beautiful rolltop desk hand-me-down my mother gave us. I also have a collection of cheap laminate bookshelves I want to paint since I cant stand 80s oak laminate. I plan to paint everything the same brown/black color with a sprayer our awesome neighbor/landlord is lending me.

I could care less about the finish on the cheap bookshelves--I just want them a different color. I do care about the quality of the paint on the rolltop and especially the table, as I plan to keep it for a long long time.

Since the table was already painted, I planned to simply sand it, maybe give it a quick spray of primer (though I plan to use Behr Premium Ultra, which apparently eliminates the need. My parents have had good luck with it and so has the Home Depot paint dude, who used it to paint his dining room set).

The rolltop I'm not sure about, because it has a varnish on it. I realllllyyyy don't want to strip it--it's beautiful, but it was garage sale material, so I'm not sure it's worth it. Would a coat of primer suffice here?

Any advice on sealants or anything else I might be missing? I've got the rest of the week to kill before I start my job and "real life"

While oil-based coatings are a pain, they're the best to use for furniture since they dry with the hardest film. The highest quality latex-based coatings still have a softer film than oils-- even those specifically designed for trim or furniture -- and will dent when you place items on the surface.

The best adhering and sealing primer on the market is a white-pigmented shellac. Yes, again it's a pain and stinky, but it gives the best adhesion between previous coatings and whatever you'll be putting on top of it. Cleans up with denatured alcohol.

Whatever you do, DO NOT use wall paint on any of the pieces. Ever. Wall paint is an exceptionally soft film and will not hold up to even moderate furniture wear and tear.

Behr makes very good products, some of my favorites. Just make sure it isn't a wall coating and is designed to have a very hard film if you REALLY want to use latex. From our experiences, the personnel at HD or Lowes aren't terribly well trained and won't know the difference between a wall enamel and one intended for use on trim and furniture. You'll be better served by finding a local stand-alone paint store for help with these projects. Sherwin Williams, Dunn Edwards, Benjamin Moore, etc.

I'm thinking abour refinishing a dresser we have for the "french antique look" It's painted black so I think I just need to sand it and paint it white. Has anyone heard anything about crackle paint? That's what one website suggested.

[diggitydot]

Has anyone heard anything about crackle paint?

They're very cool. But attempt the treatment on a smaller item to test, first. Some of those crackle finishes can be a little difficult to work with. Make sure you let the different layers dry VERY well before moving to the next step in the process. That's crucial with the crackle finishes.

[SoonerTexan]

After the hell I put myself through this past weekend, I swear I'm never doing this again. Except for the table top, shelf, and dresser I still have to finish...

The best adhering and sealing primer on the market is a white-pigmented shellac. Yes, again it's a pain and stinky, but it gives the best adhesion between previous coatings and whatever you'll be putting on top of it. Cleans up with denatured alcohol.

Can you paint this shellac over any stain or paint? I need to repaint our dining table as it's got some pretty good scratch marks on the legs. I was gonna look into a soy paint stripper I heard about on This Old House, but if I could use the shellac over it that would be a ton quicker. I've done several pieces in our house, and sanding them down to the wood was tiring!!!!