am wanting to redo this cabinet

Jackie H
by Jackie H
.I am wanting to restrain it or maybe paint it black , but do not know how to redo it, lots to sand down is there an easier way please help . bambam6257@gmail.com
  14 answers
  • Taunnie Taunnie on Aug 18, 2012
    Hi Jackie. I have done both and I think painting is easier. The quickest and easiest (and most foolproof) paint is chalk paint. I hear milk paint is very easy too but I have not used it yet. You don't have to do much prep work. I just clean my piece really well. Then apply one coat of chalk paint. Let it dry. You can distress it a little if you like. If you don't like the distressed look you can apply a second coat of chalk paint. To protect, apply a thin coat of paste wax, let dry to a haze and then buff.
  • Donna R Donna R on Aug 18, 2012
    We just painted over the stain on our stairway and used an adhesive primer from Sherwin Williams. I learned about it on Hometalk from someone who painted their stained kitchen cabinets. NO SANDING this way, which was music to my ears! It's a good, hard primer.
  • 3po3 3po3 on Aug 18, 2012
    If you search for "refinishing" at the top of the page, you will find a lot of ideas and tutorials for refinishing wood.
  • Jackie H Jackie H on Aug 18, 2012
    thank you for the answers
  • Jackie H Jackie H on Aug 18, 2012
    1more Question about it .it has a shine on it do I also need to sand it some so what ever is going onto it will stick??
  • Shari Shari on Aug 18, 2012
    If you decide to paint this piece with latex paint and the existing finish is in pretty good condition, you can probably get away with no (or minimal) sanding. You can wipe the buffet down with a liquid sandpaper, also known as "deglosser," and follow up with a good primer before you apply your paint color of choice. I am no expert or professional but I have painted probably no less than 30 pieces of furniture in the past 5 years with really good success. Here's a link to how I do it: http://mycottageofbliss.blogspot.com/2009/06/furniture-painting-101.html As Taunnie mentioned, "Annie Sloan Chalk Paint" is all the rage right now and it requires no prep work whatsoever--you just jump in and start painting. However, it is recommended you apply a wax and buff it out after you use chalk paint. Personally, I hate waxing and buffing furniture more than I hate pre-painting prepwork so I haven't tried chalk paint yet...plus I have a very hard time justifying spending the $35-$40 they charge for a QUART of chalk paint.
  • Z Z on Aug 18, 2012
    It looks like hard maple, which is a quality wood with a soft pretty grain. Though I normally prefer staining wood of this quality I understand there's allot of extra work to do so. Personally I feel it's worth it, but not all will agree with me. I prefer using a power (mouse) sander. For me it's a great stress reliever. However I do think this piece would look nice either stained dark or painted black.
  • Recaptured Charm Recaptured Charm on Aug 20, 2012
    It's always easier to paint then strip it right down to bare wood and restain. I redid a cabinet similar to this, If you paint you'll have to sand it down to take the shiny finish off which is a lot better then taking it all down to raw wood. There are some tips here @ http://www.recapturedcharm.com/2011/04/early-20th-century-hutch.html
  • Ellen H Ellen H on Aug 20, 2012
    On HGTV, they sometimes use something they call 'gel stain' to apply over a stained finish. Does anyone know what product this might be? They brush it on without stripping or sanding.
  • Z Z on Aug 21, 2012
    Ellen, that's a type of stain. It's thicker than regular stains and unlike them is not penetrating. Which is why it could possibly work over non porous surfaces. Personally I've never used it over an already stained piece so I can't give my personal opinion. As far as I've ever found the manufacturers of gel stains don't recommend using them over pre-finished wood. My guess is because the results vary. I found an article about gel stains from Wood magazine. http://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/finishes/gel-stains/?page=1
  • Donna Bradbury-Duffy Donna Bradbury-Duffy on Jun 27, 2015
    lot of people using Chalk paint no sanding
  • Diana Deiley Diana Deiley on Jan 21, 2016
    What a beautiful piece of furniture. I like wood, but, you can use a liquid sander to degloss the piece or try applying a primer called Gripper first. Still, I would wash the piece with TSP prior to anything. (Always follow manufacturer instructions!) A black finish would be gorgeous. Whatever you do, enjoy your new piece. Thanks for sharing.
  • Zan Welch Zan Welch on Apr 27, 2016
    Use chalk paint, no prepping
  • Alice Jones Alice Jones on Jul 10, 2016
    Is it antique? It looks like mine which is antique.