Furniture Refinishing

I love finding old pieces of furniture with beautiful lines, legs, and shape and turning them into one-of-a-kind pieces of art.

I compiled everything I know about different types of paint, and it’s become one of my most popular posts of all time.  If you’re new, or “new-ish”, to painting furniture, you might want to start by reading this post.

What is the best paint for furniture? | comparison of chalk paint, milk paint, latex paint, and acrylic paint | Best type of paint for furniture
The Best Type of Paint for Painting Furniture

Then, feel free to browse through some of my specific projects and my other furniture painting tricks and tips.

Refreshed Furniture

This dining room table only cost $37 at a thrift store! After stripping and bleaching the top and painting the base, it looks like a new piece of furniture! Refinished farmhouse table with natural wood top and painted gray base.

Refinished Farmhouse Dining Table

An old vintage rocking chair gets a new look with stripped wood and a modern black and white fabric.

Refinished Vintage Rocking Chair with a Modern Twist

This is probably the easiest DIY raised garden bed I've ever seen. This would work great for lettuce and spinach.

DIY Raised Garden Bed (from an old sofa table!)

I love the gray dresser with the brass pulls. This dresser started as a dark cherry wood color; it looks so much better now.

Update to a Nursery Dresser and Changing Table

These spindles on this antique bed are gorgeous! It works to paint it since the finish was in pretty bad shape. It can always be stripped later!

Refinished Spindle Bed (with a trick for finding mattresses to fit antique beds)

I love the multi-colored chairs! It's amazing how an old metal patio set can look new again with a coat of paint. This post also gives hints on how to cover up those rust spots!

How to Paint Metal Lawn Furniture

Refinished farmhouse chairs with a whitewash finish and mattress ticking seat

Thrifted Farmhouse Chairs with a Whitewash Finish

A Little Bling on a Side Table

Antique dresser painted with white and turquoise with a natural wood top

Two-Toned Dresser with Natural Wood Top

What can you do with a dresser without drawers? What a great idea to create a refinished dresser without drawers into storage for beach supplies! This would be great at a lake house or beach house.

Refinished Dresser without Drawers into Beach Storage

How to reupholster dining chairs | Painted and Reupholstered dining chairs | Turquoise, navy blue, gray chairs

Painted & Reupholstered Dining Chairs – Mix & Match Challenge

rustic DIY woven bench | take a chair or bench without a seat and make a woven top | how to weave twine into a seat

Rustic DIY Woven Bench Transformation

Reuse an old dresser as a countertop base | Antique Baker's Cabinet Upcycle | How to paint different colored layers of paint on furniture

Refinished Antique Baker’s Cabinet – Reused to Create Custom Kitchen Storage

Dark gray and stained oak dresser | Antique oak dresser with serpentine drawers with a stained wood top

Refinished Antique Oak Dresser for My Daughters

Sew Your Own Chair Slipcover

painted gate leg table

Antique Gate Leg Table with Milk Paint and a Paint Sprayer

Emerald Dresser with Tribal Print Pattern

Coastal Blue Dresser with “Sweet” Accents

easily update an old bunk bed with paint and fabric | how to paint a bunk bed | how to repair a bunk bed

Updated & Painted Bunk Beds

Upcycled Paper Lined Vintage Metal Cart

how to paint a herringbone pattern on a dresser | herringbone tutorial | painting clean lines | painted dresser with stained top

Herringbone Antique Cabinet with Milk Paint

Vintage Sewing Chair Gets a Facelift

DIY Play Kitchen from an Old Nightstand

Simple Milk Paint Dresser Update

jute twine wrapped hardware

Easy & Cheap Update with Rope Wrapped Handles

New Life to a Piano Bench

milk paint and stained table

Distressed Drop-Leaf Table

Buffet Refreshed into Toy Storage with Milk Paint

Painting Chalkboard Paint on Glass

Chippy Painted Antique Children’s Chairs

The Natural Way to Remove Oil-Based Paint from Your Hands

Diamond Patterned Wooden Crate

Grandpa’s Dresser Gets a Facelift

Updating a Metal Filing Cabinet

Dresser update with Miss Mustard Seed in Luckett's Green and French Enamel

Game Cabinet Refresh with Milk Paint

DIY Drop Cloth Slipcover

Mid-Century Modern Coral Nightstands

Grain Sack Inspired Telephone Chair

Transform an old media cabinet into a hidden desk and command center

TV Armoire to a Hidden Office Desk

DIY Play Kitchen

Painting Tips and Tricks

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5 thoughts on “Furniture Refinishing”

  1. Refinishing furniture can be a lot of fun when done right, and all of these look like they have been done right. I haven’t had nearly this many pieces refinished before, but I am sure I will in the future. I’m pretty sentimental so I am going to have a hard time throwing away furniture over the years.

    Reply

    1. That’s so nice of you to say, Sarah! I’m pretty particular about the pieces I choose to refinish, and then I really try to use the refinishing techniques and choice of paint to highlight the piece itself, so your words mean a lot to me. I must say, it’s so hard not to keep them all!

      Reply

  2. Hey, great share…..

    Every home is packed with different types of wood furniture. One of the main reasons as to why you should consider refinishing wood furniture instead of buying new pieces is because it is simply healthier for the environment. I love to refinish our furniture on my own.

    Thanks for sharing this post. Keep sharing more….
    Cheers!!

    Reply

  3. hey Jenny!
    can you tell me how long you normally let your paint /dry/cure before using or even selling your items?
    when i read online it says up to 30 days??

    Reply

    1. Great question, and one I haven’t actually thought much about (although I should). I believe different paints take different amounts of time to cure, but I would really need to read up on this more. I try not to work on pieces too close to a market date, but I would be lying if I said I always wait 30 days after painting to sell a piece. In fact, in my own home I use pieces right away after I paint them and haven’t noticed any issues. If I did sell a piece I had just painted, I would tell the customer to keep large items off of a tabletop, for example, for a little bit. Sorry I don’t have a definitive answer on this one; I should look into it more for my own personal knowledge too!

      Reply

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