5 Furniture Refinishing Hacks

Whether you’re looking to make a little bit of cash and pick up a side hustle, or you offer furniture refinishing and painting as a part of your painting business, I’ve got 5 hacks for you on the best tools, products, and methods to flipping and refinishing furniture. This is a hobby of mine that I love to do during the colder months when jobs and projects slow down, and I can pick up a few pieces of furniture for cheap to work on in my spray booth, and then flip them for a much higher cost. 

But the best hack I can offer you is to purchase the Online Furniture Refinishing Course, which contains over 40 in-depth videos on the process from beginning to end - where to buy, how to flip, and where to sell furniture! This information is more thorough than any content I’ve ever made on my social media, and these courses feature quizzes to test you on the content, a final exam, plus you’ll get a certificate upon completion of the course. With this course, we’ve taken our decades of painting experience to help you learn some more about a popular hobby, side hustle, and job! 

1. 2K Polyurethanes

Now, when you walk into a hardware store or any standard paint store, and ask for a polyurethane product, the employees may have no idea what you’re talking about. But, if you’re able to track down one of these products to use, I promise it will be well worth it when you see the final finish on this furniture. My go to 2K poly is Renner 851.

Polyurethanes, like Renner 851, are products that are usually more readily available through online retailers, as they used to only be used in factory settings, but that is why they are so desirable to get a glassy smooth finish on cabinets and furniture. Polyurethane products may be referred to as either 1K or 2K products, which simply refers to the components - a 1K polyurethane contains one product (just the paint) and a 2K poly contains the paint and an additive, usually a hardener, sometimes referred to as a catalyst. 

A 1K poly is 10x more durable than an average paint, and a 2K poly is 20x more durable. These products make the surface of furniture more water-resistant, chemical-resistant, and scratch/mar/chip/scuff resistant, plus they stop tannin bleed and dye migration. While these products might run a little bit higher price-wise, they are well worth it for the final result and the durability that you’re going to get out of the product. But, polyurethanes are built to spray, so you will need to have either an HVLP or an airless sprayer.  

2. Brushes & rollers

Now, if you are planning on brushing & rolling furniture, you’re going to need the right tools and products to do so. The best option for paint is to use Benjamin Moore Advance, which will be easier to find than a polyurethane. This is simply the best paint for brushing & rolling - it levels out better than the competition by a long shot, but that is due to it’s long dry time, but you’ll be able to get closer to a sprayed-on look than with any other product. You’re just going to have to wait longer. 

For technique, you’ll wait to roll the paint on first and then back-brush, simply because brush strokes are a better visual than the stippling of a roller. While there are a lot of different types and options out there for rollers, you’re going to be the best off using a Premier Woven Pro roller. This is a good lint-free roller that picks up a good amount of paint and won’t give you any issues while you’re using it. A roller being lint-free when doing furniture is essential to help you get the smoothest finish!

When it comes to your options for a brush, I’m going to recommend using the Premier Hampton brush, which is a 100% dupont filament, Tynex brush that has super-soft filaments that will allow you to softly lay on product that will give you the best chance of avoiding brush strokes. Brushes that have stiffer filaments will not be as forgiving or have as light of a touch. 

3. Filling grain

If you’re working on wood furniture that has visible grain, it’s possible that you might be wanting to fill it and get rid of it. If you’re working with oak furniture, which is very common, you will definitely need to get rid of pinholes in the wood at the very least, or the surface will be uneven, and the paint will fall down into pits and gaps in the wood. 

If you’re working with a sprayer, you can buy a spray-on grain-filling primer, but I prefer to use a physical application primer, like Aqua Coat. This grain-filling primer comes in pints, quarts, and gallons and is a thick white paste that you can just scoop out of the container and skim on. You can use anything from an old credit card to plastic spreaders, but just make sure you skim each coat on pretty thin, to fill and press into the grain. 

Skim it on tight and sand once it’s dry. You can apply as many coats as necessary to achieve the desired finish. I’m usually just trying to fill pinholes instead of completely removing grain, but the more coats you apply, the more grain will be filled. With Aqua Coat, you can get a glassy smooth finish - it’s used to smooth out the body of guitars! Use it on bare wood, and painted & lacquered surfaces. 

4. HVLP spraying tips

In the course, I go in-depth on each of the methods for applying paint to furniture - brushing & rolling, HVLP sprayers, airless sprayers, and even spray cans. But here, I’ll talk about HVLP sprayers, which is admittedly the option with the biggest learning curve and the one that people might experience the most hesitancy to pick up and try. 

An HVLP paint sprayer is a high-volume low-pressure sprayer that will give you an automobile-like finish if used correctly and with the right products. This paint application method offers a high-transfer rate from gun to surface due to the low pressure (often around 7.5 PSI), which is going to give you low overspray. An HVLP spray gun is also going to have a lot of versatility in terms of being able to adjust your output and exact fan pattern to paint exactly what and where you need it to. On the gun itself, you’ll be able to use the dial on the bottom at the back to control exactly how much product is being fed through the line as well, at least if you’re using the Apollo Atomizer 7700 gun, which is what I’m always using. 

Other features to know about is that you’ll need to pick a needle, nozzle, and cap that is specific to the type of products that you’re using. I always use a 1.3 needle & nozzle set, plus the B HS cap, which is a gold high solids cap. You can also look into using a siphon cup, gravity-fed cup, or a remote pot when spraying.  

5. Where to sell furniture

There are a lot of resources both online and in person that you can sell the furniture you’re refinishing if you’re not working directly with a client. The option I’ll advocate the most for is going to be Facebook Marketplace. It’s easy - simply create a business page as a part of your profile and then use this page to market your business, post before & afters, sell furniture, and to post customer reviews. 

Facebook Marketplace is easily organized with a lot of different categories so that buyers and sellers are able to find furniture. Depending on your area, there can be a high turnover rate for items, so pieces can be bought and sold fairly quickly. 

Other online resources include places like Craigslist and Etsy. Both of these might just reach different markets and audiences than Facebook Marketplace, so you might hedge your bets on either of these platforms if you’re not finding a buyer for a piece there. Just keep in mind that people on Craigslist might be looking for killer deals and low prices. I also don’t have any experience selling furniture on Etsy, but from looking at the site, I can tell that there is definitely a market for unique furniture on there. 

You can also try your hand at consignment stores, where they agree to put your furniture in their storefront in exchange for a commission/percentage of the profits that the item makes. This can be nice since you won’t have to do any of the work once you drop it off. When it sells, come back and pick up your check! The downside is that consignment stores can be picky and may only be interested in unique pieces that fit their store’s brand. 

Check out the course if you’re interested in additional information, like estimating, painting, and the prep process!