Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Refinishing wood furniture?




strawberry


I have a white painted bedroom set that was mine when I was a little girl (I'm 28) before that it was my Moms. I'm having a baby now, well in december and would like to update it and keep it in the family. It is a bit worse for wear, for a long time it was the guest room furniture.
I would like to be able to sand the white paint off and then stain the wood a natural color. Any one know how long it may take and what I need to do? Is it something I should just get a professional to do? Cost and time wise what may be better?
thanks for your help!
thanks - BTW, hoping to get teh boyfriend to do it, not good for me and the baby...



Answer
hi Mary:
it's good to see that people are thinking about Furniture Restoration more and more these days. you are right to take a look at the furniture with an eye towards putting it back in service, especially if you've got a good story to go along with it like you do. Let's walk through an evaluation just make sure they were on the same page. As I understand it, you have a nice set that's been your family for quite a while, prior to you, your mom used it, you like it, and you want to put into service in your new baby's room with the idea that you're going to be continuing a family legacy.


With that in mind, there are a few things to take into consideration. First of all is the sentimental value and importance of being connected to our families. Having pieces around the house that we can talk about with our kids can be a really great way for them to grow a feeling that they have "roots". I've got several pieces that I hold dear that were once owned by departed family members, adding that stuff around reminds me of them and stories that I know the bless my heart of hearts of those in my family.


So with regard to your family's legacy and the importance of teaching and carrying on in that respect it's not possible actually quantify a value other than to say it may be one of the more important things to consider. Every week I talk with people who want to restore things for the exact reason I just talked about, and although it never really say it out loud, I can tell, that they wonder if that's a good enough reason to spend the time and effort on a project. You probably tell by what I've just said that I certainly think it is.

Second phase and evaluation is the serviceability that the items will provide. Simply stated, give a place to use the stuff? And if you do, if it wasn't available to, which after purchase pieces similar to fill that use? Given that you need some furniture for the baby's room I would say you probably would.

And thirdly would be the construction and materials that the items are made from. From your description I'm not sure whether these pieces were originally finished in a wood tone, or if they've always been painted even from the factory.

That might be some knowledge that would be worth spending a little time to find out. Typically, older pieces of furniture were constructed of better materials than you find in furniture today.

One of the reasons for that, is that furniture manufacturers have spent most of the time in the research and development trying to figure out how to make things that they can sell for less money, and in that endeavor have discovered all kinds of things that they can make furniture out of that hitherto for were not known.

Stuff like, plastic, medium density fiber core, particle board, and a whole host of other stuff that would make old-school cabinetmakers uncomfortable. So go ahead and pull out the drawers and take a look at how it looks inside.

If the drawers have wooden slides, if they have dovetail construction, but they still operate well after all this time, chances are it's a pretty good deal. On the inside you might actually be able to get a little bit of a hint about the original finish too. A lot of times you can see overspray or some evidence of an other finish in there.

After you evaluate your potential project and determined that you still want to continue now we can talk about how long it will take or how much it will cost.


With regard to the actual work, there are health concerns that you want to be aware of before you even begin. Up until recently almost all paint contained lead. Let us highly toxic and attacks the nervous system in ways that are not very good. It's not like a lot of other toxins you might come in contact with in your life that your body can metabolize and eliminate. Lead sticks around in your system and stealthily steals away your health. I know this from firsthand experience with family members, take it seriously but don't be paranoid just be careful not to breathe or consume any dust that you make.

That's another reason why sanding paint as a method of removal is not a very good idea. Usually a proper chemical stripper "another health concern" is a better idea. remember to ventilate well and stay away from the stuff when you're pregnant.

If one of the pieces that you have is a chest of drawers this is what you can expect on that particular piece.
1. get some kind of container and remove all the hardware handles and any other kinds of metal that you can remove and stow them away till you finish the project.

2. Take all the components and separate them, what that means is, take out the drawers and treat each one is a separate part.

3. Get some paint stripper from the store all your directions as to how to handle a particular product. It will go something like this. In glass or plastic container that's compatible with the stripper. Pour some stripper into your container and prepar

Refinishing Old Oak Bedroom Furniture ..help!?




Amy B


I'm a 20 year old girl (I like modern and bohemian themed rooms) that is opting to switch my new oversized bedroom furniture with older furniture (that actually fits in my room) from my guest bedroom...The only problem is that the furniture is this hideous 80's style oak furniture with lots of curlicues, cheesy faux-marble (i think its plastic) and frost mirror finishing. I'm thinking of refinishing it with my Dad, but I don't have a lot of experience..(he's decent with power tools). Any ideas to refinish/remodel it ..and overall change it? Or should I just give up now, and keep the oversized new furniture?


Answer
That sounds like a lot of work and like it will be hard to visualize the results.

I suggest looking in thrift stores and want ads for a new set of used furniture and then painting it.

I got a nifty 50's oak bedroom set from a thrift store for $50 and painted it two different shades of blue. Anyone can paint and then you have a better idea of what your results will look like.




Powered by Yahoo! Answers

Title Post: Refinishing wood furniture?
Rating: 94% based on 1258 ratings. 4,3 user reviews.
Author: Unknown

Thanks For Coming To My Blog

No comments:

Post a Comment