If you decided to buy unfinished furniture, then you should know that finishing it and bringing it to the look of a new furniture takes time and requires some rules to be reinforced, if you want things to go on smoothly and without unpleasant incidents.

First of all, don’t stain your furniture with the accessories on it. Remove all knobs and handles and if necessary, stain them separately and let them dry very well before mounting them back on your furniture piece.

Before staining or painting your furniture, try to finish a very small area, in a place where it is not visible.
You want to confirm yourself that what you bought is exactly what you want to get at the end of your work. If you paint a whole kitchen cabinet only to realize the next day that the shade of the stain is too dark, you’ll spoil your furniture and you’ll either need to buy a new one or to be unhappy for many years on.

Unfinished furniture usually needs sanding before any stain or paint can be applied. Otherwise, the surfaces won’t be smooth and it will be very visible that you bought raw furniture and did a lousy work in finishing it. Get sandpaper of various grits and use it from the roughest to the finest, until the surface of your furniture becomes smooth and pleasant to the touch.

Remember to wipe the furniture very well with a damp cloth after you are done with the sanding. You need to remove all fine particles from the surface, otherwise the enamel or stain, or paint, won’t adhere equally all over the surface, and you’ll obtain a lot of small bumps which are not that nice to see.

After the furniture dries, you can apply the first layer of stain or pain. Read the use instructions on the label and proceed as they say. Never apply the second coat in the same day. Always allow at least 24 hours to pass before proceeding to the second layer. If you don’t do that, you’ll see that the stain won’t be evenly spread and you’ll ruin all your work.

Make sure to cover your floor with plastic when applying the stain. Try to get those big plastic sheepts and stick them well together with duct tape, making sure that no space remains, where the stain could drip and spoil your floor. It is very important, because in some cases, cleaning can prove to be impossible after the damage has been done.

Natural bristle brushes are better than PVC ones. They don’t leave such visible marks on the furniture, so you’d better use one of those when applying the finish, or the polyurethane coats. If you are careful and work withv patience, your unfinished furniture will end up by being not at all different from a new, luxury furniture item. Besides, you’ll take the pride in telling your friends that your work is in there and that you made it possible. Do it yourself is always fun and rewarding when the results are at least what you expected.

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