Refinishing Wood Furniture

Short story - some time ago, I needed a dresser to house little boy clothes that will soon be worn by a newborn little boy of mine in about 4 weeks.  I dreamed of a Mid Century Modern one but they were far out of my budget.  But, I persevered and found one on Craigslist - for. FREE. It was a magical day, truly it was.  But, this dresser needed a lot of TLC which I was happy to provide.  So, in the case that you might have some wood that needs some refinishing, I thought I'd share my process with you.  Unfortunately I did not have the foresight to take a real "before" picture, but you'll have to use your imagination when I say it was in pretty bad shape.  

Materials you'll need:

Howard's Restor-a-Finish, Howard's Feed-n-Wax, fine grade (0000) steel wool, rubber gloves, and a mask (especially if you're pregnant like me.  And even if you're not.  Fumes are bad in general.) Also not pictured - wood filler burn-in sticks and wood putty in the shade of your wood, and a soft cloth. 

Step 1: Prep Work

Clean your furniture, inside and out, especially if you got it off Craigslist or at a thrift store or something.  Vacuum inside, and wipe everything down with a mild cleaner.  

Prep the wood by filling in any scratches and chips in the wood with your wood filler sticks and wood putty.  When you've filled in all the knicks, make sure the surface is completely smooth and dry before moving on.  

Step 2:

Break out the Howard's Restor-a-Finish.  I had never used this product before and I was a little skeptical since it is a little pricey, but I decided to give it a shot since I bought it at Home Depot and you can return anything you want there.  (Also a side-note - this stuff comes in different colors, and they didn't have one that was close to my shade of wood, so I just went for their "Neutral" shade, and it worked like a charm).  Let me tell you people - this stuff is magic in a bottle.  

Anyway, wearing your mask and rubber gloves, take a section of steel wool and poor a bit of the Restor-a-Finish onto it.  Rub gently in the direction of the wood grain and watch magic happen.  This stuff seriously took out all the minor scratches, water, and heat rings without breaking a sweat.  I was elated, since all the other methods of refinishing wood I looked into required sanding the finish off first and I really hate sanding.  This stuff was super easy and the wood looked brand-new when I was done.  

Step 3:

Wait for the Restor-a-Finish to dry (I only waited a few hours), and then apply the Howard's Feed-n-Wax by squirting a small amount on a soft cloth and rubbing down the entire piece. (I should probably say that I am not getting compensated by Howard's to say any of this. Although that would be cool.)  It's funny though, this stuff has been around forever and totally reminds me of my Mom.  She used to make me use it to dust all the wood furniture in our house, and the second I opened and smelled it this time, I felt like I was about 9 again, getting my Friday chores done.  Anyway, this wax will help preserve the wood finish and keep it looking all shiny and pretty.  

After I had finished the steps above, tah-dah!  This is what the dresser looked like:

That was probably a little anti-climatic since there was no before picture.  But trust me, it looks lightyears better than it did.  And please ignore the random cord coming out from behind the dresser.  I was too lazy to move the dresser to unplug the lamp just for the picture.

So at this point you could be done.  But while I loved the look of the dresser in the first place, I wanted some hardware to make it look extra pretty.  So I ordered these pretty ring pulls to put on the middle drawers.  After very carefully measuring and marking where I wanted them to hang on the backs of the drawer fronts, I forced my sweet husband to drill the holes in the drawers for me.  

After screwing on the ring pulls... 

this beauty was finished!  

A little close-up of the hardware.  

And there you have it - refinishing an old (free!) dresser from Craigslist in just a few steps.  

And just for fun, look what I found on the inside of one of the drawers?

The Escort - charming name, isn't it? :)  After a little googling, I found that this is a legitimate dresser made in the 50's or 60's, and similar refinished pieces from Kent Coffey can go for a lot of cash.  I shouldn't have mentioned this to my husband - he was a little tempted to sell this bad boy and make a profit.  I said no way - it's all mine!