Are you thinking of buying new furniture?
Then we may be able to help you think of a few things you may want to consider. Buying new furniture can be fun for sure. But if you are asking “should I or can I Refinish a wood table or buy new?”, then we help you answer that question in today’s blog.
Things to consider to refinish your existing furniture
How does it look?
- Do you have unsightly water rings on the top of your table?
- Are there issues with stain that has been worn off the edges?
- How about scratches on the surface?
- Maybe you hate the look of it (I can’t help you with that one)
What kind of shape is it in?
- Is anything broken?
- Would you consider it cheap? Is it held together by small cheap nuts and bolts that keep coming apart?
What kind of wood is it?
- How about finding out if it is even wood! If it is particle board or MDF don’t read any further…the answer is NO, buy a new one.
- Maple is a great wood but it is also very hard to refinish with a new stain. Great for painting. We can refinish/clear coat it though!
- Oak is fairly easy to re-stain, refinish and paint.
- Cherry is another one that is great to touch up with stain, refinish or paint.
- If it’s pine you should consider buying new – very soft wood that makes it hard to keep a good finish on.
What is your budget for new furniture?
First question is what is the table worth to you? If you want to really debate refinish wood table or buy new, budget means everything. A quality solid wood table will be hard to replace compared to the cost of refinishing it. Some things they just don’t make like they used too.
I mentioned the wood, older woods just have a look that can no longer be made.
- Older woods had longer to grow.
- They also were grown in soil and growing conditions that differ from what they are today
- The wood being used now has been modified to grow faster and differently. This results in different grains
Custom made pieces from places like Amish furniture stores are great. They will last longer than you. But that comes with a cost.
We ask this question to customers that are debating new kitchen cabinets– if there is nothing wrong with the cabinets and you just want something different then refinish it!
What type of color or finish do you want?
Just like we do for customers that redo their kitchen cabinets you have options. Some of those options are based on the type of wood you have as we talked about above.
- Are you thinking of painting a solid color?
- Maybe you want chairs to be natural wood but the table painted?
- Re-staining the table a new stain can be fun as you can really have fun with colors, glazing, and antiquing.
- Do you want a new clear finish? Now you can decide if you want flat, satin, semi gloss, or gloss!
If you watch HGTV or look at Pinterest, then you will find options for the options.
Why you should not refinish your existing table or furniture
If you have never done this before don’t start with this! Large, flat surfaces will make you frustrated for sure!
Just like our cabinet refinishing process, you must make sure you do all of the prep work so that you will have successful results.
As I mentioned above, if it is falling apart don’t bother unless you need the practice.
There are plenty of ways you can paint furniture so don’t take what we say as gospel. We just want to make sure that you have the results you want. Personally, when I have an image of what it will look like and it doesn’t work out I get mad. That is what we want to eliminate.
If you are not sure what to do call us! We will give you the straight no BS answer. No obligation, no hidden agenda. Just honest information so you can make the best choice on what to do.
Let us know how we can help you love the space you’re in!
