Is your great-grandmother”™s 16th-century hutch looking a little worse for wear? Have certain furniture items around the house seen better days? Instead of tossing out your favorite furniture pieces that are showing their age, why not take on a project to give these pieces a little facelift? If you want to extend the life of a dreary-looking piece of furniture, your next step should be to refinish it.
Here are a few options to help you refinish your furniture pieces:
Oil and Wax Finishes
These finishes keep your furniture looking great, while keeping the environment happy, too. If a piece of furniture has a deep scratch, you have the option to sand it down and re-finish it with an oil or wax finish. Most oil and wax finishes are eco-friendly and non-toxic. However, they”™re less durable and require a little more maintenance, but repairing and sprucing up scratches is super easy.
A few great companies that offer eco-friendly products such as oil and wax finishes are Bioshield and Osmo. These companies offer water and clay based paints, as well as a natural polyurethane mix, that don”™t take a toxic toll on our environment or our bodies. These products are a good alternative to over-the-counter stains, and don”™t require a lot of pre-sanding.
Polyurethane Finishes
These finishes are helpful when repairing deep scratches on your furniture pieces that tend to be in high traffic areas, such as your coffee table or your wood floors. They tend to smell and are much more toxic for not only the environment, but for people as well. Most of these over-the-counter products, such as Old English, can be found at grocery stores like King Soopers. These products can last for years and don”™t require a lot of touch up work. However, spruce up maintenance can be very difficult as opposed to the oil and wax based finishes.
Two great products out there are Furniture Renew and Restor-a-finish. You simply wipe the product on with a rag and it instantly rejuvenates any home piece. It works best for very old pieces that have lots of scratches and marks, and can also be used on the floors. These chemicals are extremely toxic so it is important to be cautious while using them. A great perk””they”™re low cost and easy to apply.
If refinishing your wood doesn”™t sound like your idea of fun, give us a call and we”™ll be happy to take care of it for you.