For many people, the idea of spending hard earned cash on a piece of unfinished furniture is a little amusing. The main reason would be that the purchaser feels that his or her skill level would hinder the process of obtaining a desirable finish. One that would grace any room, and look as elegant as a factory finished showroom piece would. Well in fact, with the right guidance, tools and of course time, anyone can achieve the finish of professionals. The beauty of solid wooden furniture is that it can be re-sanded should you feel that you’re not happy with the result. Although this is a costly exercise from not only a financial point, but also it would also be very time consuming, depending of course on the size of furniture involved.

The benefits of buying this type of furniture are many. Manufacturers often sell this type of furniture at considerably knocked down prices. Often in the region of 35- 50% less than a finished item. Now imagine if you had the knowledge on how to transform this unfinished item to something that would compliment your home, the savings would be huge.

Over the past few years, many retailers specializing in this type of furniture have sprouted up around the country allowing the public to purchase all types of styles to take home & finish to their own tastes. You no longer have to make do with a color or stain you never really wanted in the first place. And it doesn’t have to involve a stain. Many country type residences often get a much warmer effect if the piece were painted. This is definitely the case with say, a Welsh Dresser. That would often be adorned with family crockery, giving the room a cottage type feeling.

A lot of these small retailers are often just a means for larger companies to display their goods. Lets face it. If a company had a manufacturing facility out of town, but had a small retail outlet to push the stock, the overheads are greatly reduced leasing a smaller area. They don’t require a huge showroom to exhibit. They just replenish the small store after sales. Another beauty of the way this works is that most of these companies not only let you finish the product, but most of them will custom make something for you. The choice really does belong in the hands of you the customer.

One other advantage to buying unfinished is that you get to see the furniture in its raw state, thus enabling you to see any imperfections that may be present in the grain. Dents etc. would be very difficult to hide with fillers, as would be the case if it were finished & lacquered.

There may come a time whereby instead of buying unfinished items, you may have a piece that you’ve had for some time, or maybe it was passed down to you from a relative, but has started to show signs of wear and tear. As long as it is made of solid wood, you no longer have to put up with looking at a piece of furniture that no looks old and worn. With the right tools and time and patience, you can revive it to its former glory.

Before you do so, there is one very important thing to consider. Is the furniture so unique that it could be considered an antique? If it could fall into this category, you may wish to seek professional advise, as any work you commence on it could have a negative affect in terms of it’s ability to be of a monetary gain. But I’m sure if the piece you’re considering renovating was an antique, and unique in its appearance, care would certainly have been taken throughout the years.

For the purpose of this article, I’m assuming that the furniture to be worked on is a nice piece, made of solid wood and that you have no desire to part with it, but unsatisfied with how worn and tired it looks.

Whether it was originally painted or varnished, you need to strip the finish. The easiest way would be to apply paint, or varnish remover. There are a number of brands readily available, and most of them can be found in your local hardware store. These solvents generally consist of certain chemicals such as acetone, methanol, but contain other ingredients, but these are the most common. Upon application you leave for a specific amount of time, leaving the product to chemically react with the finish. It can then be scraped off with ease by way of a scraper. These are also readily available. Depending on the toughness of the finish you’re removing, you may have to repeat the process until you can see the natural surface of the wood.

Once you have removed the majority of the varnish/paint, it needs to be wiped down with surgical spirit to remove the residue that was left behind from the stripping agent.
Once clean, it now needs to be sanded down Depending on the severity of the wood, requires a certain grade of abrasive paper, but generally 80-100 grit will suffice. Using a bench, or palm sander, apply an even gentle pressure along the wood. Let the machine do the work. Always making sure to sand along the length of the grain, and never across. By doing the latter, you will end up with deep scratches, which will take longer to remove. So sand in the direction of the grain.

Using 300 grit, repeat the process. By going down in stages, you gently, consistently remove any scratches left from the scraping, or the sander. Once your happy with the finish, the furniture needs to be dusted off, and once again wiped down with a surgical spirit.

You are now ready to apply your choice of finish.