How to Refinish Furniture with a Raw Wood Look

Are you looking to update vintage, antique or dated furniture? See how to refinish furniture with a raw wood look for a fresh modern feel. Learn how to get this rustic modern furniture makeover in just 3 easy steps!

Not only will you learn how to quickly and easily strip off paint, but we will also share the best way to bleach wood. Then you can show off the natural beauty of the wood.

For years now we have seen the trend to paint all wood surfaces. But now I’m loving the trend, getting back to the natural wood look. It’s so refreshing!

Have you been wondering how to refinish furniture? It may look like a daunting task, but with the right products it can be done quickly and easily.

Just follow along and see how we transformed this old dresser into this beautiful natural wood look.

If you are look for tips for evenly staining pine wood click here.

And if you love to re-imagine old furniture pieces like us,then you’ll love our Modern Desk Makeover.

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Dresser Before Makeover

At first glance, you may think that this dresser is great just as is. Steph purchased this dresser for Little Miss’ bedroom makeover, but on closer inspection we realized that the paint finish was not up to par.

Before photo of this thrift store dresser. The lines of the dresser were beautiful, while the paint job had terrible.

The dresser was painted poorly, brush marks every which way. It would need to be sanded down or stripped, even if it was to just be repainted.

After some thought, Steph decided she would like to try a natural or raw look finish. I’m so glad she did, we love the results!

Supplies: How to Refinish Furniture

Strip Off Old Finish

Between the two of us we have probably refinished more than 100 pieces of furniture. It is something we love to do!

To take an old discarded piece of furniture and turn it into an heirloom is so rewarding. Not to mention the thrill of the hunt at flea markets and thrift stores.

Woman holding a quart of Citrus strip. on a piece of furniture with the stripping product on it.

Are you wondering how to refinish furniture for a special piece in your home?

We have tried many products over the years for removing old paint finishes. However, we decided to try something new this time, Citristrip™ and we are thrilled with the results.

If you are looking for an easy way to remove an old painted finish, this is the product to use.

This is not an endorsed post, we genuinely loved the results we got and want to share it with you.

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Safety First

When working with chemicals be sure to use protective gloves and goggles. Even though Citristrip™ smells citrusy and doesn’t have any strong fumes, it is still important to protect your eyes and skin. A chemical burn really hurts, trust me, I know.

We would also suggest that you wear long sleeves and pants. If it flips and hits your arms or legs, you’ll be glad you did.

If you’re new here, welcome! We’re so glad you’re here.

Let us introduce ourselves, we’re Michelle and Steph, a mom and daughter team who love to DIY and decorate our homes.

Not only are we passionate about making our homes warm, comfortable and unique, but it’s our mission to help you create that same feeling in your own home.

You’ll find ideas for repurposing, creating, decorating and making your home truly yours, while always mindful of a tight budget.

Undoubtedly we love finding ways to make your home look high-end on a small budget.

Plus you’ll also find a recipe or two as we share our family favorites with you.

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If you are more of a visual learner, we have created a short video of how to refinish furniture. Just click on the link below.

Apply Paint and Varnish Stripper

Woman Applies the Citristrip liberally with an old paint brush to the painted piece of furniture to refinish furniture

Apply Citristrip™ generously with an old paint brush. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

If you let it sit longer than 30 minutes, cover the furniture with plastic wrap. This will keep the product moist and actively lifting the old paint finish.

Once the Citristrip is applied the woman covers it with plastic wrap and let it sit for several hours.

We let the stripper sit on for 2 hours.

Test an area with a plastic scraper and see if the paint has softened and lifts easily from the wood.

How to Refinish Furniture with Citristrip: The Citristrip is already working at lifting that old paint finish right off.

You can see here that the paint is already starting to pull away from the furniture piece.

Using a plastic scraper woman removes the loosened paint.

Once the paint has softened and has lifted from the wood, take a plastic paint scraper and scrape off the old paint in the direction of the wood grain.

Look how much of the old finish was removed with just one application of the Citristrip.

This is what one of the drawers looked like after one application of the Citristrip™.

This is that the dresser looked like after one application of the Citristrip was removed.

The dresser had many more curves and grooves where the paint finish remained. However, we will show you how this is easily removed as well.

Sand Furniture

How to Refinish Furniture: Woman using a palm sander we removed any remaining paint and stain from the drawers.

On the areas of the drawers and dresser that did not have grooves or curves we used our palm sander with medium grit sandpaper to remove any remaining finish. This was really quick and easy to do.

Another way to remove the remaining finish would be to reapply the stripper, wait for it to soften the paint and scrap with the plastic scraper.

This is what the drawer looked like after sanding with the medium grit sandpaper.

One of the drawers had a raised molding, additional stripper is applied and then a wire brush is used to remove the remaining old paint finish

We did have some areas that had molding and curves that we were unable to sand.

To remove the paint from these areas apply more stripper. We ran out of Citristrip™ and used Jasco paint remover for this part.

Wait a few minutes for the product to dissolve the paint then scrape with an old toothbrush or a wire brush. Brush in the direction of the grain of the wood, then follow up with a medium grit steel wool pad.

We prefer to use a wire brush. It quickly pulls out the paint from the grooves.

Bleaching Wood

Solution A is applied and left to sit for 5-10 minutes to bleach the color of the wood.

Bleaching the wood is totally optional. Steph wanted a lighter natural wood finish for this dresser. We believe this dresser is cherrywood and that was not the look she was going for.

We have bleached wood a couple of other times using household bleach. But, did you know there is a specific bleach for wood?

Wood bleach is easy to use and much more effective. Usually you will achieve the desired look in just one application, instead of multiple applications with household bleach.

It also does not have the strong smell associated with household bleach.

Pro tip: You will want to wear protective clothing and eye coverings with this also. Believe me, I was just the photographer for this portion of the project and some of the solution flipped onto my hand and it really burns. But, it is easily neutralized with vinegar.

Solution A

We used Zinnser Wood Bleach, which is a 2 part solution. We were unable to find this at any of our local hardware stores, but you can find online. A link for it is in our supply section.

Do not mix solutions A and B, the instructions say you will get an adverse reaction. We don’t know what that is, but be safe! Also use a seperate sponge for each when applying.

Wearing chemical resistant gloves, pour solution A into a container. Apply solution A with a sponge over the entire wood surface to be lightened.

Let this solution sit on the wood for 5 minutes for a soft wood and 10 minutes for a hard wood.

We let it sit for 10 minutes. You do need to keep it wet the entire time, so you may need to reapply.

Solution B

After 10 minutes, it is time to apply solution B.

Apply wood clean Solution B over the entire surface. Let dry.

Pour solution B into another container and apply to the wet wood surface.

The top drawer has not been bleached, the bottom drawer has had one application of Wood bleach.

Here you can see the difference between the drawers. The one on the top has not been bleached. The drawer on the bottom has had one application of the wood bleaching solutions.

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Touch Up If Necessary

This is the result we achieved after one coat. We did have a couple of spots we missed with the solution.

Somehow we had 2 spots that did not get one or more of the solutions.

Spot that was missed with the wood bleach solutions.

This was a quick fix!

Woman Re-applies wood bleach to any spots that were missed.

We reapplied solution A and let it sit, then reapplied solution B just on the spots that were missed.

Neutralize the Bleaching Solution

Once solution B has dried apply a neutralizing 50/50 combination of vinegar and water.

Once you are happy with the results from bleaching the wood, the surface will need to be neutralized.

To do this make a vinegar mixture of 50% vinegar and 50% water. Wipe down the entire piece with this mixture and let dry.

Top Coat

Once all of the wood is bleached to the desired color, sand with a fine grit (220) sand paper.

To prepare the wood for the topcoat, sand with a fine grit sandpaper. We used a 220 grit sandpaper.

Once you are satisfied, wipe down all the surfaces with a tack cloth or a damp cloth to remove all the dust.

There are several different options for a protective topcoat. Each will have it’s own pros and cons.

You can apply an oil-based polyurethane. My favorite is Minwax™ Wipe On Poly. However, an oil-based product will yellow on lighter finishes, so we didn’t want to use this.

A water-based polyurethane would also provide great protection. We love Varathane™ Triple Thick Polyurethane in a matte finish. This will need to be applied with a brush and is a little more time consuming.

However, this time we wanted the beauty of a hand rubbed finish, a more natural look. We chose to use a clear wax. We like to use Behr Clear Wax.

To see this raw wood a woman applied a clear wax with a brush.

Apply the Behr Clear Wax with a stiff bristled waxing brush using a circular motion. This will ensure that the wax is worked into the grain and grooves of the wood furniture.

Take a clean cotton cloth and gently wipe off any excess wax. Let dry until it is no longer tacky.

Once the wax is dry, woman buffs with a clean soft cotton cloth.

Using a clean cotton cloth, buff to a beautiful hand rubbed finish. We like to use old cotton t-shirts for this.

Reveal Refinished Furniture with a Raw Wood Look

Final reveal, How to Refinish Furniture with a raw wood look.

Isn’t she beautiful?! I love the beauty of the natural and light wood grain.

We cleaned up the original hardware, which had been spray painted silver. Also, the top drawer had a few challenges, you can see how we removed the spray paint from the hardware and fixed our dilemma with the top drawer here.

The natural wood look is a gorgeous contrast against the navy wall.

This dresser really did have lovely lines that really didn’t stand out in it’s former state.

We’ve also made a round coffee table that has that beautiful raw wood look.

You can see our technique for it here.

Do you feel confident now learning how to refinish furniture?

Do you have an heirloom at your home that needs an update or facelift?

It’s so rewarding to bring back your old furniture and antiques back to life.

Love this idea? Then take a look at even more furniture makeover ideas:

More DIY Projects in This Bedroom Makeover

To see more highlights from this bedroom makeover click any link below.

We hope you found some inspiration for your home today.

Please share your tips and ideas with us.

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How to Refinish Furniture: Final reveal of natural wood finish dresser.

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This blog’s content is for entertainment purposes only and is not professional advice. By reading this blog and attempting to recreate a project, you assume all responsibility for any injuries or damages incurred. Read my full disclaimer here.

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2 Comments

Amanda says:

at

Can this technique be done with a cherry wood finish?

1. Stephanie says:
  
  at
  
  Yes, the wood bleach will remove the red tones of cherry wood. We believe our dresser is cherry wood and we wanted to remove the red tones and lighten it up and it does a great job. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

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How to Refinish Furniture with a Raw Wood Look

Dresser Before Makeover

Supplies: How to Refinish Furniture