How to Refinish a Wood Table with Paint

In this video, painter Mauro Henrique demonstrates how to refinish an old piece of furniture with the help of Kevin O’Connor. Mauro’s client has a table that belonged to her grandmother and she would like to spruce it up so it can come out of the basement and be showcased in her home.

Mauro decided it would be a great opportunity to teach the proper technique in painting old furniture. He goes through the steps of reviving the table and what tools to use. With a little bit of work and a little bit of paint, any old furniture can have a new life.

Start with Prepping the Wood

Prep work is key to any good painting job. Mauro and Kevin started by lightly sanding the table with 220 grit sandpaper, which can be done with any type of power sander, and cleaned up the remaining dust with HDX Tack Cloth.

Steps for Refinishing a Table:

1. Remove any hardware from the furniture.
2. Give everything a light sanding. Just enough to rough up the old paint and/or finish to give the new paint something to adhere to. Mauro used 220 grit sandpaper.
3. To clean up the dust, Mauro used a HEPA vac. To make sure there is no trace left on the furniture, tack cloths can be used.
4. Paint the primer on using a paint roller. Mauro suggests a roller because it will give a nice, smooth finish. He uses a mini roller with a 3/8 inch nap. Medium naps are good for semi-rough surfaces.
5. Wait about 2 hours for the primer to dry.
6. Start painting with the same technique. a. Mauro’s client wanted to see some brush strokes in the final texture. He uses the roller to get full coverage with the paint and then takes a brush and back brushes (without dipping it in paint) to create a modest brush stroke.
7. Wait for the first coat to dry, then add the second.
8. Once dry, add the hardware back on.

Resources

To prime the table, Mauro used Zinsser BullsEye 1-2-3 Interior/Exterior Water-Based Primer, which is manufactured by Rust-Oleum. For the paint, Mauro used PPG Timeless Acrylic Interior Paint, in “Naval Blue” in a semi-gloss finish.

Materials

• Tack cloth
• Paint roller tray
• Water-based, regular primer
• Water-based, regular interior paint

Tools