Do you find difficult to identify the restoration techniques, decoration and relooking of a piece of furniture? Here are the basic rules to guide you in your first achievements and avoid some missteps.
Choosing the right wooden furniture
No doubt, you love this furniture that you just discovered in a flea market but before spending crazy money to acquire and restore it, remember to check if it is really worth it.
First step: make sure the assembly holds, especially if you are not particularly handy. Remember to return the furniture to assess the condition of the wood. Open the drawers and doors to make sure they open well as the hinges work over time. Also check the stability of the furniture and if it is not too much attacked by parasites.
If only a few holes show the presence of small animals, do not panic! A treatment with a suitable product will be enough to get rid of it. On the other hand, furniture that is too worm-eaten will certainly be a poor investment.
Finally, look at the surface of the piece of furniture to evaluate the work you will have to do to restore it. Avoid, for example, furniture that is too varnished and that takes a lot of time to strip.
Materials needed to renovate a wooden piece of furniture
Remember to bring from the shop:
- a big sponge,
- laundry,
- brushes and rollers for painting,
- paint sprayer for cabinets (this will make it much easier!)
- a big hard brush for dyeing
- two models of sandpaper, coarse and fine grain,
- glue,
- gloves
Last recommendation: always wear a mask when sanding and applying treatment products and paint. Vapors, sometimes harmful, are even more concentrated if you work on the interior of a piece of furniture or in an enclosed space.
Strip the wooden furniture
Start by stripping your furniture, putting it back in its raw material for then getting dressed again. If it is varnished or waxed, it must be sanded, using coarse sandpaper, or even the electric sander if it is bulky.
On the other hand, if your furniture is painted, a simple sanding will not be enough: it will have to be stripped. For this, get a universal cleaner. Apply the product with a brush, wait for it to work then remove the pieces of paint with a scraper. Finally, wipe a cloth to remove small paint leftovers.
Clog cracks, nicks and holes in wooden furniture
If the sanding has removed the rough edges, you now have to pick up the pieces that were eventually detached (wood glue), fill the missing parts and reseal the slots on the surface. For that, choose the right product.
To hide the cuts, use with freeze-dried coffee. Form a thick paste with a little instant coffee and water, and push it into the small flaws with a soft cloth. For a longer camouflage, mix the coffee granules with a little beeswax. You can also buy a cheap wax pencil to match the color of your furniture. Finally know that a pastel pencil for children, brown, can do the trick.
To restore the missing parts of a piece of wood furniture, choose wood putty.
Decorate the wood
If you want to create decorative effects you can choose to apply a simple paint with a paint sprayer or embellish it with friezes or stencilled patterns. But you can also work with paintings to create the desired effects. Some decorative paints and varnishes, which apply in two stages, can create a crackle effect.
