How to Make Missing Detail for Paintd Wood Furniture the Easy Way
I'm sure you've been seeing it on a lot of refinished furniture lately. The pretty turned legs of a piece are either raw wood, freshly stained, or given a weathered wood look. The body of the furniture is usually painted, but the legs are usually left in some sort of wood finish.
One of my very first blog posts was on this same finish, but holy moly, it has gotten sooo much more popular again!
And there is good reason! Those turned legs are so pretty! You want to show them off, and they sure make you stop scrolling on facebook or instagram!
But a lot of the times the finish on the legs aren't in very good condition when we find them. And if the legs are, then they most likely are the wrong color or outdated.
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How to get the Look
There are a few ways to get the look though! Some with very little work, and others with a little more patience and elbow grease. Over the years I've used these different techniques to create a wood finish on the legs of furniture.
- Gel Stain
- Sand with Sand Paper
- Strip off the old Finish with a Chemical Stripper
Gel Stain
General Finishes has a great product called Gel Stain. It's not like your typical wood stain that needs to soak into the wood.
Gel stain (my fav is the "Java" color) sits on the surface of an old finish to give it a fresh finish. It usually shows more knicks, dings and scratches, but sometimes it can get rid of them as well.
It's simple to use, but it may take a little bit of getting used to.
First, lightly scuff the old finish with 220 grit sandpaper, making sure to only sand with the direction of the grain. I like to go over the 220 grit with 400 grit to get rid of any bigger scratches the 220 made in the old finish.
Then wipe off all the dust. I personally prefer to just wipe on the gel stain when I work with legs, but you could use a foam brush too!
Wipe the gel stain on in an even coat. Let it sit for about 30 seconds (depending on the temperature), and then wipe off the excess, and blend in the brush marks.
You should notice the wood color deepen just a bit, and you should notice the small scratches and dings almost disappear.
I like to build on thin layers of gel stain for a streak free / brush free finish. But I know others who like to brush it on thick, creating a very very deep wood stained color.
Make sure to let the stain dry for 24 hours between coats, or the fresh coat of stain will remove the layer before it.
Once it's all completely dry, I like to apply a few coats of poly for protection.
See gel stain in action with this tutorial on how to stain wood darker!
Sandpaper
Another option is sanding off the old finish. This is definitely requires the most elbow grease and is the most time consuming way to remove the old finish from wood legs. Especially when they have extra details.
But, it creates a completely different look, as you can leave the old stain in the cracks and corners, leaving a very weathered looking wood.
It's pretty straightforward to sand down legs. You'll need some 80 grit sandpaper and 220 grit sandpaper, cut into small pieces, about 3″ x 4″.
I like to fold the paper in half, and then wrap it around the leg and move it back and forth. Making sure that the sandpaper always goes around the leg (with the grain) and not up and down the leg.
80 grit sandpaper is course and will take off a finish much quicker than the 220 grit. The 220 grit will smooth down the deep scratches from the 80 grit and help with finer details.
So use the 80 grit sandpaper first, to remove most or all of the old stain, and then use the 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the wood and remove any remaining residue.
When I sand down the legs, I like to skip the really tight details like the corners and edging. It gives it a pretty weathered look.
For tight places and curves, I like to fold the paper in half again, without creasing the paper together. It creates a point where the sandpaper can get into small areas.
Stripper
If you're looking to start with fresh wood, my favorite way to remove the old finish is to use a chemical stripper. It may seem intimidating, but it really is a simple process, that doesn't take much elbow grease at all!
My go to stripper is Citristrip!
Simply brush on the stripper, cover the stripper with plastic wrap and then let it sit for at least 8 hours. My favorite is to put the stripper on before I got to bed, and then let it sit overnight.
Once the stripper has done it's magic of lifting off the paint, I wipe everything off of the wood and then use mineral spirits to remove any leftover residue.
If you'd like to learn more about this technique, head over to our detailed tutorial here.
How to Bleach Wood
After you have sanded or stripped the legs, you can bleach the wood to make it lighter! Check out this post on how to bleach wood, to see how to bleach wood legs on an end table makeover!
The Light Gray Table with Wood Legs
For this specific makeover, we used the Citristrip Stripper to remove the old finish from the legs.
The we prepped the top of the table the way we prep every one of our pieces of furniture.
Including cleaning, wood filling, scuff sanding, vacuuming, wiping down, priming for bleed through and taping off areas of the table.
Supplies
- Krud Kutter, 220 grit sandpaper, Wood Filler & Tack cloth for prepping
- Kwikwood
- Dixie Belle BOSS Stain Blocking Primer – Clear
- Tape and Pre – taped plastic
- Country Chic Paint in Simplicity, Dark Roast, Lazy Linen and Sunday Tea
- 220 grit sandpaper & Tack Cloth
- Varathane Polyurethane Waterbased Topcoat
How to Repair Wood with Kwikwood
A small piece of detail was missing from the front of the table, so I molded a small amount of Kwikwood to recreate the detail.
Kwikwood is an epoxy that comes in a small tube. You just cut the amount you need from the roll, and then knead it together with your fingers until it all becomes one solid color.
Once it's kneaded together, you have about 15 minutes to work with it before it starts to harden rock hard.
It dries in an hour and then can be drilled into, sanded and painted, along with some other things.
It worked really really well for this application of recreating the missing detail.
It also works really well for filling in old hardware holes, and fixing small chips in veneer.
Mixing Paint Colors Together
Once the repair was made, and all the prep work for paint was complete, I mixed a few different Country Chic Paint colors together.
I really wanted a light gray color, but I didn't have enough of the Lazy Linen (which is a really pretty light gray shade). So I improvised with a new mix of paint colors.
First I mixed a tiny amount of Dark Roast (deep brown) with a healthy amount of Simplicity (white). It came out to a really pretty warm gray.
Then I added in the small leftovers that I had of Lazy Linen and Sunday Tea (another light warm natural gray).
Also, make sure to follow / like them on Facebook and Instagram to get more painting inspiration!
Mixing paints is such a great way to create new colors AND use up the small amount of paint that is always leftover after a project or two.
If you aren't familiar with mixing colors, or you're scared to mess up, start with a teaspoon or two of the paint to make a sample of what it will become when mixed.
Priming, yes it's necessary
Over the years I've learned to always prime a piece of furniture for bleed through. Even if I don't use a light color of paint.
Bleed through is caused by a lot of things, but it results in splotches and stains that come through the paint, and literally will not go away, no matter how many coats of paint you paint over it.
Bleed through sometimes even waits to show up until after you have finished everything, and months go by.
So I always always always prime to prevent bleed through.
This time I used Dixie Belle's BOSS stain blocking primer. It works really really well and is easy to use. I just brush it on after everything is prepped and before I paint on any paint. It comes in clear or white, and so far, it's my very favorite stain blocking primer!
Spraying Chalk Style Paint onto Furniture
I personally love to use a paint sprayer to paint our pieces of furniture. I love the professional finish it creates, and I love how much faster it is than a paint brush.
I've created a few blog posts about how to use a paint sprayer (the one I used for over 3 years, and still have on hand since I bought a professional paint sprayer).
You can spray a lot of different types of paint in these paint sprayers, and chalk style paint is definitely one that I use the most!
How to Protect from Over Spray
It is super important to cover anything you don't want paint on, because the paint sprayers have over spray that tends to get on anything you don't cover.
So, I wrapped the legs up in paper and plastic, and taped off the inside of the drawers with tape and plastic. You can see more about how to protect things from over spray over here.
Finishing Touches
Once the few coats of paint were on the top of the table, and completely dry, I used 220 grit sandpaper to distress the edges of the table. Then I wiped off the paint dust and removed the plastic and paper from the legs.
The whole entire desk, along with the legs got 3 coats of our favorite topcoat to protect the wood and paint finish.
And then we finished off the table with new hardware from D Lawless Hardware.
I couldn't be more happy with the way this table turned out, and apparently I'm not the only one! It sold within a few days to an amazing customer who has supported our little family business for years now! When this desk gets to her, we both will be living in different states than where we were when we first met! How cool is that!
Anyway, if you found this tutorial helpful at all, please pin it and share it with your friends on your favorite social media! I greatly appreciate it friends!!
<3 Natalie
Related Posts
- Adding Legs to a Dresser
- Best Sander for Furniture
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Source: https://arayofsunlight.com/how-to-sand-or-strip-wood-furniture-legs/
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