Fear...

Think of all the things you could achieve if fear wasn't a factor. Fear steals our dreams and eats away at our confidence like nothing else can!

This is true in SO MANY areas of our lives!! But for the purposes of today's post...


Sounds silly, right? To be afraid of something so benign... and after all, I have painted lots of pieces...so I must know something...but refinishing? Uh, never.

Fear was holding me back saying, "It's too hard, you can't do it". "It smells and it's messy". "You're going to mess it up, better leave it to the pros".  "Sure Miss Mustard Seed makes it look so easy, but you're not her", "blah, blah, blah".

My project: A $20 dressing table from the thrift store. Overlooked by others for obvious reasons...but all cosmetic. This is a well-made piece by Brandt furniture, with the label inside. I knew I could  make this piece beautiful! So I decided to go for it.



I really, really wanted to refinish the top and paint the base. The top had a lot of scratches and marks on it.

The plan was to try to sand off the top layer and see if I could remove all the scratches and get to nice, smooth solid wood, which I would then stain a rich, dark walnut. To be honest, I had no idea if I would be successful. Plan B was to paint the top if I messed up :)

I did have an ulterior motive to learning how to do this. I have a dining room table that is badly in need of refinishing and I hope to do it myself (the table top and all 3 leaves that came with it). I wanted to experiment on a smaller piece first.

I started sanding the top with my palm sander, and was seeing results. Within about an hour, I had the entire top sanded. I changed my sandpaper to a finer grit and went over it again to smooth things out even further. I really didn't think my little palm sander was up to the task but it totally surprised me. I didn't even need to change out the sandpaper. One sheet was enough to cut through all the poly. All those scratches? Gone!

You can see here the progressions of depth after adding each coat of stain. I first conditioned the wood and let that dry overnight. Then I used Min Wax Gel Stain in Walnut. Each coat was brushed on fairly thickly, let to sit for only 3 minutes or so (about the time it took me to finish the piece) and then the excess wiped off with a rag. It had to dry 8-10  hours between coats and I did three coats total. See how in the third picture, the side pieces are a different shade? I think they might actually be a different wood altogether than the main piece. I was really worried that they wouldn't stain uniformly...but they did. And I think that's where the conditioner really helped.


At this point the temperature dropped so I brought it into the house to paint the base. I mixed up a creamy white homemade chalk paint and brushed on three coats. After sanding and lightly distressing, it was time to wax. I used two different waxes for this piece. My favorite is Min Wax Furniture Paste, which I used on the top, two coats. The reason I used something different for the base is that over white, many waxes can harden to a yellowish tinge. The SC Johnson Paste Wax is the best cheap wax on the market that stays truest. It also has a very strong smell so I try to only use it when absolutely necessary because I get a headache from it.

If you've never waxed a piece of furniture before, it is so rewarding! You either rub it on with a cloth (Min Wax because it's more solid) or brush it on (SC Johnson) because it's goopy. Each wax gives its own instructions for time to wait between buffing but it's only 10-30 minutes or so. Buffing is a great workout! You use a lint-free cloth (like an old cotton t-shirt) and just start rubbing and buffing. You will instantly notice the areas you buff will take on a beautiful soft shine (not glossy like poly).  As the wax 'cures' over the next 3 weeks, it will continue to harden and create a nice protective surface for your piece. Try not to place anything on the top for about 3 weeks {I staged my piece for a few quick photos and then took everything off and it is now curing}.Wax is not as protective as a poly and does need to be redone - maybe once a year or so.

Do you want to see the finished piece??? I am dying to show you!