Ridiculously Easy Way to Refinish that Old Wood Dresser with Paint

Time: 3 Hours

Cost: $50

Skill: Easy

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Let’s face it.  Moving is expensive. 

While I am a sucker for a gorgeous, sturdy, and NEW piece of solid wood furniture, it simply wasn’t in the budget this time.  Thankfully, with the help of a Facebook marketplace obsessed sister, and a little persistence, I got my hands on a perfectly sized wood dresser for our new master bedroom.  Albeit wood veneer, but it will do.

The problem…it was a dark brown stain with boring (and of course matching) wooden knobs.  It absolutely needed a facelift if it wanted to earn a place in our master.

Unfortunately, there was some minor damage to the top of the dresser, which I was not able to resolve, but this is the issue with wood veneer. It is not coated in any type of surface polish which makes it more susceptible to water damage, as the spilled liquid will be absorbed and likely cause bubbling. Which is exactly what happened according to the seller. That repair is going to be for another day. For now, the plan is simply to cover it with décor.

This article will walk you through how to easily refinish a wood dresser and give it a little update in style!

The Basics of Refinishing Wood Furniture

Updating old furniture is ridiculously easy if you keep in mind these simple steps for refinishing wood furniture.

Before Getting Started

Before you break out those paint brushes and throw some paint onto that old dresser, you are going to need to take a few notes and come up with a plan.

Understanding the Basic Difference between solid wood, wood veneer, and wood laminate.

Before you jump into refinishing your next project, you first need to understand what type of material you are working with.  This is admittedly more difficult when you get into the world of wood veneers and laminates, but there are some simple tricks I have found to help answer this question!

Solid Wood

In my opinion, this is the gold standard.  Solid wood gives a lot of leeway for sanding, and it opens up endless possibilities of staining, sealing, and painting.  Making it ideal for refinishing.  However, some people may not want to deal with the heaviness that often accompanies a solid wood piece, particularly if it is large.  Weight is often a dead giveaway that a piece of furniture is constructed of solid wood.  Age can also help you identify the “wood” material, as many older pieces were constructed prior to the creation of veneers and laminates. 

Wood Veneer

Wood veneer is the next best thing if you can’t get your hands on an affordable piece of solid wood furniture.  The reason being that wood veneer is created through a process that uses a thin layer of real wood.  Meaning, wood veneer furniture can be sanded!  You will just want to be extra careful not to over sand the piece of furniture, otherwise you will start to see cardboard fibers come through.  Leaving a not so clean paint job in the end.

The downside is that you may not be able to get a good stain on an already sanded down wood veneer.  If this is the type of furniture you are using, paint is probably your best bet!

Wood Laminate (Walk Away!)

While there are great options for paints that will stick to slick surfaces, I would only recommend this as a last-ditch effort to rehab a piece of furniture you already own. 

The reason being wood laminate is in no way wood related.  It is simply a synthetic material that is made to look like real wood grain through a printing process.  (Think Ikea…) It is visually noticeable because of the almost perfect repeating of “grain”-like wood pattern.  Shiny, smooth finish with no variation.

As a result, there is no option for sanding it or properly preparing it for a new finish. 

If you are looking for more information on the differences between these types of “wood” furniture, this article does a fantastic deep dive and shares even more information! She even breaks down some of the pro’s and con’s to consider when picking a piece of furniture based on these three categories.

What You Will Need

Step-by-Step Instructions

Follow along to see exactly how I refinished this wood veneer dresser…

01 Prepare the Wood Dresser for Refinishing

Remove hardware: Perhaps the easiest step, simply use the appropriate screwdriver to remove each piece of hardware.  This is a great feature to affordably update, but if you plan on keeping them set them aside!

Clean: Once you have removed the hardware you are going to need to give your piece of furniture a nice clean.  I find that warm water and a rag work just fine, but you may need more aggressive measures depending on how old and dirty your piece of wooden furniture is!  Cleaning will give you a good base to start with and will give you an idea of spots that may need to be repaired.

Repair:  This is not a step I completed, but now would be the ideal time!  I prefer to find furniture that is functional and doesn’t require much repair.  As such, I did not need to repair anything in this project. For me, there is a perfect balance of all the drawers work, the surface is mostly undamaged, and the seller is practically giving it away for free.😊

Fill original knob holes (Optional): Using a wood filler of your choice (or even spackle if the hole is tiny) fill the original hardware hole on both sides.  Then simply sand it down to create a smooth finish that is ready for paint!

Drill new holes (Optional): Using a drill bit that coordinates with the size of your hardware screws, drill two holes equidistant apart.  This can be a little tricky, but we used our trusty cabinet hardware tool (seriously the best product you can have in your home), another option is to create a paper template, mark the distance and then tape it to the drawer to guide you.  Some hardware may even come with one!

02 Sand a Wood Dresser, or Wood Veneer Furniture

Work your way down in grit.  I used sponges because I didn’t have my electric sander.  Sponges (in my opinion) wear down a lot faster than sanding sheets.  But it was what I had available to me.  I also didn’t bother to get my electric sander because there is such a fine line between appropriate sanding of a wooden veneer dresser and “oh shit” I did too much.  I wasn’t looking to test out where that line was. Short on space?  I had no choice but to sand this in one of our two assigned parking spots.  After sanding outside over the course of two days I opted to relocate inside for painting.

03 Prepare for Paint

If you want a shiny and smooth paint finish you NEED TO remove dust and debris using a tack cloth.  This sticky bugger will collect even the most stubborn particles and ensure that you are left with a perfect base.

A little patience here will give you the best finish!

04 Paint a Wood Dresser

Prime: It is SO important to select a primer that will help paint adhere, especially if you are working with any type of non-solid wood.  Despite getting a decent sand on the wood veneer, it certainly wasn’t as deep or perfect as it would have been when dealing with solid wood. 

Keep in mind, if you are painting solid wood, this won’t matter, and you can use a primer of your choice. Zinsser All-Surface Primer is my favorite go to, but unfortunately it was out of stock at my local hardware store, so I went with this similar product. 

Topcoat Paint: In order to get a nice and smooth finish, I thinly applied my topcoat of paint.  While you can sand between each one, I felt that it didn’t make much sense and I could easily do it just before the final coat.  I went with 4 thin coats to get the best coverage, however, keep in mind that your furniture may be different and could need less coats. 

I typically go to Sherwin Williams for my paint, but necessity forced me to go to Home Depot.  I purchased this Cabinet Paint by Behr.  Overall the product dried quickly between coats, sanded nicely, and gave a smooth finish. 

FAQ

Is it worth it to refinish wood furniture?

In my opinion (obviously because I took the time to write this article) YES!  There are so many good pieces of furniture out there waiting for a little love.  If you can score one, it is totally worth it!  As the price increases it may be worth looking at new furniture, but if you love a custom look, and you are like me and have an appreciation for sustainability and reuse, then it is absolutely worth the little bit of time to refinish wood furniture!

How do you clean wood furniture before refinishing?

Warm water and a rag can work wonders but if you need a little more grime fighting power, mix in a little dish soap!  This will help loosen any oily or stubborn dirt.

Does sanding furniture make a mess?

It can.  If you are new to sanding it can feel a bit intimidating.  Let me reassure you that when sanding furniture…particularly wood veneer furniture…the purpose of sanding is more to create a scuffed surface than a perfect entire removal of any evidence of prior surface coverage.  So don’t stress too much!  Even if you are staining vs. painting and you need that perfect sand job, sanding can be managed with minimal mess.  Following a grit sequence and working your way down in grit will help achieve this, and being outside will make clean up easy!

Can you refinish wood without sanding?

Paint has made some remarkable progress in recent decades, and companies are constantly trying to create products that simplify a specific process. This includes skipping the sanding step. Products like the Universal Bonding Primer by Rust-oleum do make it possible to refinish wood without sanding, however, be warned…. there are some things worth simplifying, and there are other things worth doing the extra work. To me, sanding is one of those. Don’t skimp here!