Unfinished Furniture

A Fun and Economical Hobby
Most interior decorators know that one of the best kept secrets for saving money on furniture is DIY …Do it Yourself. With unfinished furniture, that is. Old pieces of secondhand furniture are especially fun to finish and the cost and beauty that results is pretty amazing. As a hobby, interesting pieces of furniture can be found nearly anywhere. The trick is to develop a good “eye” for finely crafted furniture that just needs a loving hand. Or, there are numerous unfinished furniture collections, newly crafted in stores designed especially for that purpose.

The Simplicity Is In The Doing
There really isn’t much to purchase when new unfinished furniture is to be stained and finished. Generally, with very new pieces of unfinished furniture, the sanding is already done. Merely remove any dust, choose a color stain, suitable brushes and begin. Remember to allow plenty of air drying for the first coat of finish. A regular paint dryer, similar to a hand-held blow dryer for hair is available in most hardware stores. There are several techniques with unfinished furniture that produce interesting designs such as “antiquing”…staining one base coat, allowing it to dry and then staining with a second darker coat to create an “antique” look. Be sure to wipe away any excess for the best and smoothest surfaces. Don’t forget to change the finials on the furniture to suit the “antique” look. Other types of designs like “caning” an be created with kits that are available wherever unfinished furniture supplies are sold. “Caning” simulates a kind of rustic appearance with the addition of a weblike network of “canes” to the outer finish that’s applied with wood glue.

Unfinished “Old” Furniture
Unfinished old furniture has the most potential for value. There’s a bit more work involved. But, the end result is well worth it. Many hobbyists of unfinished furniture, complete a project and sell their work at antique shops and to furniture stores that purchase this type of furniture. With older furniture, removing all old stain is important. The easiest way to do this is to use a stain remover specific to this purpose. One caution, however, be sure to provide plenty of ventilation with the use of stain removers as the chemicals may be strong. Once all of the original finish has been removed, the next step is to sand the surface, using a fine sand paper. For a more antique effect, sand with a more coarse sand paper. Make sure all dust and sand residue has been removed before applying the finish.
Unfinished furniture can be fun and the end result is very rewarding.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Unfinished Furniture Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.