Who hasn’t thought about picking up that dated piece of wood furniture and bringing it new life? Is it worth it? In this article I’ll show you how to refinish wood furniture and breathe new life into it. I’ll show you my process for how I go about refinishing wood furniture.

This project contains a paid product integration from Minwax. All opinions are herein are my own. Visit my disclosure page for more information on affiliate and compensation this site accepts. 

Step #1: SAND!

I know what you’re thinking, “I hate sanding!”. I know. Trust me, so do I. However, if you want to have a quality finish when it’s all said and done, you have to do a good job with your prep. Depending on the piece of furniture you’re working with and the finish you are planning to add on top of the current, this could either be fast or incredibly painstaking. If you’re going to be painting over the current finish, a light sand is probably enough. However, if you’re going to be re-staining, it’s best to get down to the raw wood and that takes time and effort.

I always start with 80-grit and remove as much of the old clear coat and stain as possible. Once I’ve got most of the material removed, then I’ll move on to 120-grit before doing another pass at 220-grit. 220-grit is sufficient for most finishes but I’ll occasionally go up to 400-grit on tabletops and desks.

Paint vs Stain

Paint:

• Painting requires less sanding. Often times just scuffing up the existing finish is adequate to prep the surface.
• Always use a quality primer over the existing finish before adding your new paint finish.

Stain:

• Requires more prep work and sanding. Often sanding all surfaces down to 220 grit and removing any existing stain.
• Occasionally you can stain a darker color over a lighter color without as much sanding.

STEP #2: Pre-Condition

With the majority of the sanding out of the way you’re ready for a new finish….almost! Don’t overlook a quality pre-conditioner if you’re going to be using a stain. ESPECIALLY if you’re refinishing a piece of furniture made out of a soft wood (pine, alder, etc). If you’re going to be staining a soft wood (and even some hardwoods), get in the habit of using a pre-conditioner. For this project, I used Minwax Water Based Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. Pre-conditioning helps even out stains so you don’t end up with blotchy spots. Pre-conditioner can also help with spots you may not have been able to fully remove the old finish. It just helps even out the finish and is a great habit to get into using.

Step #3: Choosing a Stain

Choosing the right stain is essential for the success of your finished product. There are a bunch of variables to consider including the final color of the piece. One of the biggest things to consider is:

Oil-Based vs Water-Based:

Oil-Based:

• Pro: Oil based finishes are typically more durable
• Pro: Oil based finishes usually don’t raise grain require additional sanding
• Con: Oil based have longer drying time and heavy odors
• Con: Oil based are less eco-friendly and require solvents/thinners to clean up

Water Based: 

• Pro: Water-based are easy to work with and clean up
• Pro: Water-based stains are UV resistant
• Pro: Water-based stains are more forgiving and easily fixed if a mistake is made
• Pro: Fast dry time and low odor
• Con: Water-based often raises grain in wood projects requiring sanding between coats
• Con: Water-based are not as durable as oil-based

Choosing the proper finish is largely a matter of preference and what is available. Typically water-based is more forgiving for the average DIY because it requires less patience between coats, and is typically easier to work with.

In this case I’m using the new color stains from Minwax, specifically Minwax Semi-Transparent Color Stain in the color Royal Pine. These stains come in both a solid color and semi-transparent color. The solid color is more like a paint in that it doesn’t show as much wood grain. The semi-transparent allows more wood grain to show through the finish color. What’s really unique about these stains is that you can tint them to over 240+ colors!

Step #4: Applying the Stain

Each stain and finish varies a little bit in its suggested application. Make sure you take the time to read the label on your stain or finish to make sure you are applying it correctly. Some stains suggest a foam brush or rag while others recommend a specific type of brush for best application. Check out this other article to dive into the differences between spraying, brushing, and wiping on. Other things to consider are making sure you are in a well ventilated space and making sure you are staining/finishing in the proper temperature window for your finish. Again, this should all be outlined on the packaging of your stain/finish

Step #5: Sealing or Top Coating

Typically when you’re finished staining a piece of furniture, you’ll want to apply a top coat/clear coat for protection and/or shine. Typical finishes for clear coats are Satin, Semi-Gloss, and Gloss. These are just a matter of personal preference for your project. There are a large variety of finishes for your top coat typically in the form of a “urethane”.

Make sure you choose one based on the location of the finished product (indoor/outdoor), and in the sheen you want for your project. Also, you CAN apply an oil-based polyurethane or similar over top of a water based stain. However, this requires that your water-based stain is COMPLETELY dry and cured. I DO NOT recommend applying a water based finish over an oil-based stain. I used Minwax One Coat Polyurethane.

Waxing 

Occasionally I may use a paste wax as the final finish instead of or in addition to a polyurethane finish. The wax also offers protection to the furniture/finish but it doesn’t harden to the consistency of a urethane top coat. You can apply a paste wax over a urethane finish pending you add it in thin layers and buff between each. Keep in mind that the wax may alter the sheen of your urethane finish.

Step #6: Be Patient

Refinishing a piece of furniture is a lot of work and not for the faint of heart. But if it was easy you wouldn’t be able to find these old wooden pieces for free or cheap. It takes time to get the finish you want. After all, they don’t make them like they used to!

If you enjoyed this content, please check out some of these other articles you might enjoy.

An Idiot’s Guide to Wood Finishing

Restoring a Backyard Playset

In this project tutorial I’ll walk you through how I installed the hardwood floor in my son’s bedroom and show you all the considerations and planning that needs to be done in order to do a DIY hardwood floor install. In this case, we settled on a dark distressed bamboo hardwood. A common complaint with bamboo hardwood floors is that while they’re really resilient to dings and scratches once they’re installed, the tongues on them can be really brittle so installing them typically requires gluing them down rather than nailing them down which can be a little messy and challenging.

Fortunately, Powernail sent me their new Model 2000F 20GA. hardwood floor nailer to test out which they claim is specifically designed to install brittle tongued flooring. This nailer is much smaller than a traditional hardwood flooring nailer and doesn’t require a mallet to hit the nail gun and shoot the nails.

Things to Consider Before Buying Your Flooring

1. Determining Square Footage:

Before you get started installing any hardwood or laminate flooring, you’ll first want to measure the room you’re going to be installing the flooring into and then checking the flooring you’re going to install to see what the square footage coverage is per box. Measure the length and width of the room and multiply them together. I recommend you purchase 10-15% more flooring than you need to account for cuts and waste.

2. Measure the Flooring in Adjoining Rooms

Also, keep in mind the flooring in the adjoining rooms. You always want to try and choose a floor that is roughly the same thickness as whatever is around it so you don’t have a bunch of different height floors to try and dress up later. In my case, after removing the carpet I could get away with a hardwood that was 9/16” thick to keep an even height with the hallway. You don’t want to choose a floor that’s too thick or too thin that you have to try and come up with a fix for later.

Purchase Your Flooring and Acclimate it to Your Home

Once you have your flooring, bring it into the house or the area it’s going to be installed and let it acclimate to the climate in the room for a few days. The humidity of your home can affect the flooring so you never want to install it the same day you purchase it.  

Preparing the Subfloor & Remove Baseboards

Next you need to prepare the subfloor that the hardwood is being installed over. In this case I removed some old carpet and found old tongue and groove subfloor underneath. Check the floor to make sure it’s nice and level and do any necessary work level the subfloor if you have to.Go around and knock down any old nail heads, or remove any staples or things sticking up from the floor, and then thoroughly clean the area with a shop vac.

Also, remove any existing baseboard moldings in the room. In this case the baseboards are old built in baseboards that are plastered in with the walls which I won’t remove because it would damage the walls so I’ll custom make some new baseboards to go over them later.

Laying Out Your Flooring

Next you want to determine the layout of the flooring in the space. I like to start by finding the longest straight run in the room, (or work off the center of the room if it’s relatively square). Working my way off that point, I lay out some pieces or measure the width of my finish boards to determine where they’ll line up. I do this to make sure that I won’t have any sliver cuts or funky shaped pieces to deal with during installation.

Keep in mind that many old homes have walls that are out of square so adjust your measurements accordingly. If you find you’ll have an awkward cut piece, adjust where your pieces will line up so you don’t have any really thin pieces are the end to deal with. Also try and determine what layout will

allow you to cut the fewest pieces. Make sure you plan to stagger each joint by at least 6” and avoid H joints where 2 rows line up that aren’t at least 2 rows apart.

Underlayment

Once you have your layout roughly figured out, next install a vapor barrier on the floor. Red Rosin paper is a cheap product that’s been around forever, but they also make a ton of other products for this. Lay it out in the room and overlap it by 4-6” with every row.

Installing the Flooring

Now you’re ready to start installing your flooring. On your first rows, you may need to face nail the rows in place with a finish nailer to hold them in place. Make sure you leave an expansion gap around the edges of the flooring at each wall. This allows for the flooring to expand and contract with changes in season and humidity. Follow any markings you laid out on the floor during the layout phase to make sure you’re laying the flooring correctly.

Once you have the first few rows installed, you can use the flooring nailer from here on out. I like to use a small piece of the actual flooring as a tap block to make sure the pieces are firmly seated in their grooves before shooting them in place. They sell tap blocks and bars but I find using the actual floor works better and doesn’t slip as much so there’s less chance of damaging the edges of the flooring. When nailed, this flooring recommends being fastened every 4-6” so I’m working my way down each piece.

Alternate Pieces from Different Boxes of Flooring

Colors can vary from box to box so as you work your way through the room, make sure you’re taking pieces from various boxes of flooring as you go. You never want to do half your room and then find out that the next box is a slightly different shade.

Door Jambs

When you get to door jambs, use a piece of flooring to act as a depth gauge to cut off the bottom of the casings at the height of the new flooring and then slide the new flooring underneath. Don’t try to cut the flooring around them because it looks terrible. Also, extend the flooring into the center of the jambs and then later you can go back and install a transition or threshold piece to blend the floors from various rooms together.

Face Nail the Final Row

Work your way through the entire room and when you get to the final row, face nail it in place as close to the wall as you can. You can patch any face nail holes with matching wood putty, or cover them with the baseboard or shoe moulding that you choose. A finish nail shouldn’t be noticeable in the flooring. 

Install Floor Transitions or Thresholds

Lastly install any transition or threshold pieces. These may be additional items you need to purchase as part of your flooring order. Talk to your hardwood flooring retailer and let them know what types of transitions you need. Now you can install whatever baseboard or shoe moulding you choose and you are finished with this project!

Finished!

I hope this tutorial was helpful in teaching you how to install hardwood floors. It can be a little tricky, but I’m confident you can do it on your own and get great results like I did. If you liked this project, here are a few other home improvement projects you might enjoy! 

How to Install Laminate Flooring 

Tile Like a Pro

If you’ve ever tried to buy hardwoods from a lumber store you’ve likely heard the term “board foot” as in “We sell by the board foot.” Okay, great!…What the hell does that mean? Let me try and break it down for you so it’s easy to understand.

When you step foot into Home Depot or Lowe’s and want to buy a piece of lumber, let’s say a typical 2x4x8 for example, there’s a sticker or sign right on the aisle that tells you the price per piece. You know exactly how much that piece costs (+ tax) when you get to the register. That’s because softwoods (pine family, etc) or construction grade lumber are what’s called Dimensional lumber. Dimensional lumber is exactly as it sounds, a piece of wood of a certain dimension (2″ x 4″….well actually 1.5″ x 3.5″ but still) by a certain length (8′ in our example). The dimensions of this type of lumber are standardized for construction purposes and common in any typical construction type of softwood. You are paying for that Dimension of lumber by the Lineal foot (length). So at 8 ft long a 2×4 costs somewhere in the range of $2-$3. When you move up to 10 ft long the 2×4 costs closer to $3.50-$4. Get what I’m saying? You’re paying by the lineal foot. The longer the board, the more expensive it is.

What is a board foot?

Board feet is a little bit different and typically applies to hardwoods (oak, walnut, maple, cherry, exotics, etc). Board feet is a volume measurement of the wood. The simplest way to define a board foot = 1 sq. ft of board at 1″ thick. So  1″ of thickness x 12″ length x 12″ width.  1 board foot is equal to 144 cubic inches. A lumber retailer might have a price listed next to a bunch of seemingly random sized cut pieces of Walnut for example at $8.99/ board foot. Rather than taking it up to the register and being shocked by how much it costs, say you want to know before you get there. If the retailer is nice, they might have already written the board feet total on the particular piece in chalk so you can just multiply that number by the cost per board foot, but sometimes they don’t so a little math is required.

Say a piece of walnut is 4″ thick x 8″ wide x 6′ long and the retailer is charging $5.99/bf. How can we determine the board foot total and thus the cost of that piece? Well the best way to do it is like this.

Determining Board Foot Amount Example:

4″ x 8″ x 72″ (6 ft) = 2,304 cubic inches divided by 144 cu. inches (1 board ft) = 16 board feet

16 bf x $5.99 = $95.84

If you’re going to try to get into woodworking you’ll need to get used to hearing the term board foot and thus understand how it’s priced so you know what a piece costs. Maybe you’d like to try and make a cutting board and you read that hardwoods like maple are the best type of wood for that. Or maybe you just want to see if something on Etsy is seemingly reasonably priced given the type of wood used and how big it is. Understanding how it’s priced is half the battle, just keep in mind that hardwoods are EXPENSIVE! Once you get used to doing the math, you’ll be able to tell when you’re able to get a piece at a bargain and save yourself some money.