As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All claims are strictly my personal opinion.
How to refinish wood furniture, in order: clean it, repair it, remove the old finish by stripping or sanding, sand the bare wood smooth through 120, 150 and 180 grit, stain if you want a new color, and seal it with two or three thin coats of a clear finish. The stripping and sanding are most of the work and decide how good the piece looks at the end, so that’s where this guide spends the most time.
Below is how to tell whether a piece is worth refinishing, how to choose between stripping and sanding, the grits and the sander for each part of a dresser, table or chair, the finishing steps, and the tools that make it a weekend job instead of a month of evenings.
⚡ Quick Answer
Strip with a gel like Citristrip when there are several coats, carvings or veneer. Sand when it’s solid wood with a thin, worn finish.
Sand bare wood 120, then 150, then 180: a random orbital sander for tops, a 1/4 sheet sander for sides and corners, a detail sander for spindles and moldings.
Finish with stain (optional) and two or three coats of wipe-on polyurethane, sanding lightly between coats.
Painting instead? Don’t sand to bare wood: scuff-sand with 180 to 220 grit, prime, and sand the primer lightly before the paint.
Before You Start: Is the Piece Worth Refinishing?
Refinishing means removing the old finish and applying a new one. It’s the right move when the finish is worn through, cracked, flaking, badly scratched or simply the wrong color. It isn’t always necessary, and on some pieces it’s the wrong call.
Try Cleaning and Restoring First
Plenty of furniture that looks tired only needs a clean and a restorer. Wash it with a mild soap solution on a well-wrung cloth and dry it straight away. Cloudy white rings and faded patches often come back with a finish restorer, without stripping anything: see my guide on how to remove water stains from wood. If the finish is intact under the grime, stop there.
Solid Wood or Veneer?
Look at the edge of a top or a drawer front. If the grain runs over the edge and continues on the end, it’s probably solid wood. If you see a thin line of a different wood along the edge, or the grain pattern on the top doesn’t match the edge, it’s veneer: a thin layer of wood glued over a core. Veneer can be refinished, but it can be sanded through in seconds, so on veneer you strip first and sand only lightly by hand or at low speed.
Antiques and Lead Paint
On a valuable antique, the original finish is part of the value; get it appraised before you strip it. And if the piece is painted and the paint could be older than 1978, test it for lead before sanding or scraping. Even stain makers print the warning: Rust-Oleum’s Varathane data sheet says that if you scrape, sand or remove old paint, you may release lead dust, and that lead is toxic.
Step 1: Prepare the Piece and the Workspace
- Remove hardware, drawers and doors. Bag and label the screws. Flat parts sand far better lying flat.
- Clean off wax and grime with mild soap and water or mineral spirits, so it doesn’t clog paper or smear into the wood.
- Re-glue loose joints and let the glue cure before sanding.
- Set up dust control: work outside or in a ventilated garage, connect a shop vac to your sander and wear a dust mask or respirator. The best respirators for woodworking guide explains which filters to buy.
Step 2: Strip or Sand the Old Finish?
Both get you to bare wood. The choice depends on how thick the finish is, the shape of the piece and whether it’s veneered.
| Situation | Strip | Sand |
|---|---|---|
| Several coats of paint or varnish | ✅ Lifts them in one go | Slow, clogs paper |
| Thin, worn clear finish on solid wood | Works, but messier | ✅ Fastest |
| Veneer | ✅ Safest | Light hand sanding only |
| Carvings, turned legs, moldings | ✅ Reaches every recess | Detail sander for the rest |
| Flat tops and panels | Either | ✅ Random orbital sander |
Most real projects use both: strip the whole piece, then sand. Stripper removes the coating; it doesn’t smooth the wood, flatten scratches or remove stain that has soaked in, and the surface still needs sanding before a new finish.
How to Strip Furniture
- Apply a thick coat of gel stripper with an old brush, working on one surface at a time.
- Wait. Citristrip says its gel stays wet and active for up to 24 hours, which lets it work through several layers in one step. Check a corner with a scraper; when the finish lifts to bare wood, it’s ready.
- Scrape with the grain using a plastic scraper on flat surfaces and a contour scraper on moldings and turnings.
- Clean the residue as the stripper’s label directs, and let the wood dry fully before sanding.
My guide to how to strip paint from wood covers the stripper types and heat guns in detail, and the best paint stripper for wood compares the gels.
How to Sand Off an Old Finish
On solid wood with a thin clear finish, a random orbital sander with 80 or 100 grit cuts through varnish quickly. Once you’re through to bare wood everywhere, stop using the coarse grit and move on to the smoothing sequence below. Keep the sander moving and flat; tilting it to “dig out” a stubborn spot leaves a dish that shows under any finish.
⚠️ Important
Never start a veneered top at 80 grit. Strip it, then sand by hand or with the sander at its lowest speed starting at 150 or 180, and keep the pad off the edges, where veneer is thinnest and goes through first.
Step 3: Sand the Bare Wood Smooth
This is the step that decides whether the finished piece looks factory-made or homemade. The goal is one even, fine scratch pattern on every surface, with no swirls, cross-grain marks or stripper residue. The basics behind every step here are in how to sand wood.
The Grit Sequence
For most furniture: 120, then 150, then 180. Don’t skip grits: each one should remove the scratches of the one before. If you’ll stain, don’t go much finer than 180 on oak or maple, because General Finishes notes that sanding too fine makes stain lighter and less even; if you’ll use only a clear finish, 220 is fine. My guide on how to stain wood has the full table by species, and the sandpaper grit chart covers every other surface.
Which Sander for Which Part
- Tops, sides and drawer fronts: a 5″ random orbital sander. Fast, flat and no cross-grain scratches.
- Inside corners, frames and panels: a 1/4 sheet sander, whose square pad reaches right into a 90-degree corner.
- Spindles, slats, carvings and moldings: a detail sander with a pointed pad or finger attachment, then a sanding sponge or folded paper by hand.
The best sanders for furniture compares the palm, detail and orbital models side by side.
Check Your Work Before Finishing
Vacuum the dust and wipe the surface with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits. The wet wood shows what the finish will: swirl marks, scratches, glue spots and patches of old finish. Sand them out with your last grit, by hand with the grain for the final pass. Fill dents and holes with a stainable filler and sand it flush; the best wood filler guide lists the ones that take stain.
💡 Pro Tip
Draw light pencil squiggles across a surface before each new grit. When they’re all gone, you’ve sanded the whole surface at that grit and can move up. It’s the easiest way to avoid a patch that stays coarser than the rest and soaks up stain darker.
Step 4: Stain (Optional)
If you like the natural color of the bare wood, skip stain and go straight to the clear finish. If you’re changing the color, test on the underside of a top or the inside of a drawer front, which has the same wood and the same sanding. Use a pre-stain conditioner on pine, maple and birch to stop blotching, wipe the stain on, and wipe the excess off at the time the can gives. All the details are in how to stain wood.
Step 5: Apply a Clear Finish
Choose a Finish You Can Apply Well
A wipe-on polyurethane is the most forgiving for a first refinish: you wipe it on with a cloth, so there are no brush marks or drips. Minwax says its oil-based Wipe-On Poly protects against water, household chemicals, food stains and wear, can be recoated after 2 to 3 hours and is dry for light use in 24 hours. Brushing polyurethane builds faster and water-based finishes stay clearer over light woods; both work too, with more care. I compare nine finishes, from wipe-on poly to hardwax oil, in my guide to the best wood finish for furniture.
Coats and Sanding Between Them
Apply thin coats with the grain. Once each coat is dry, sand lightly with a fine sanding sponge or 320 grit to knock down dust nibs, wipe off the dust and apply the next. Two or three coats are typical on furniture; tabletops that see daily use get another. My guide to sanding between coats of polyurethane covers grits and timing.
Let It Cure Before Use
Reattach hardware and put the drawers back once the last coat is dry to the touch, but be gentle with the piece for the first days. Dry for light use is not the same as fully cured: keep heavy objects, hot dishes and wet glasses off a new tabletop until the finish has hardened, as the product label directs.
Refinishing Tables, Dressers and Chairs
Tables
The top takes all the wear, so it gets the most attention: strip or sand the whole top to bare wood, keep the sander flat to avoid dips, and give it an extra coat of finish. The legs and apron need less. For a step-by-step on tables alone, including turned legs, veneer tops and staining, see how to refinish a dining table.
Dressers
Take out the drawers and remove the pulls before you start. Sand the case lying on its back so the sides are horizontal, and do the drawer fronts flat on a bench. Leave drawer sides and interiors unfinished or with a light coat of shellac; a thick film finish there can make drawers stick. Kitchen cabinets follow the same steps with more degreasing and a stain-blocking primer; see how to refinish kitchen cabinets.
Chairs
Chairs are almost all edges, spindles and curves, which is why stripping first saves the most time here. Use a contour scraper on turnings, a detail sander on slats and the flat parts of the seat, and a sanding sponge or cord-like strips of sandpaper on round spindles.
How to Sand Furniture Before Painting
Painting a piece is a different job from refinishing it. You aren’t trying to reach bare wood; you’re sanding so the primer has something to grip and the paint goes on smooth. I’ve refinished dozens of pieces over the years, and the difference between a paint job that lasts and one that peels comes down to that prep, not to the paint.
Do You Need to Sand Furniture Before Painting?
Almost always, but less than most people think. Benjamin Moore’s guide to painting a wood table says sanding is required when the piece was previously painted or finished with a high-sheen product, that a few passes to dull the surface are enough, and that it isn’t necessary to remove the existing coating. Glidden’s furniture-painting guide says the same for glossy finishes and clear topcoats: sand lightly with a medium-grit block so the new paint can bond. Peeling, flaking or chipped paint is the exception: anything loose has to come off first, or the new coat fails with it.
If you’d rather not sand a sound, glossy finish at all, a liquid deglosser (liquid sandpaper) dulls it chemically; it doesn’t level scratches or remove loose paint. And if the paint could be older than 1978, test it for lead before you sand: Glidden prints the warning that sanding or scraping old paint may release lead dust.
What Grit to Use Before Painting
I’ve found that most people start too coarse when the goal is paint. A coarse grit leaves scratches that show through the paint and only creates more sanding. Here’s where to start for each surface:
| Surface | Grit | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Sound varnish, lacquer, poly or glossy paint | 180 to 220 | Dull the sheen everywhere; don’t remove the finish |
| Peeling or chipped paint | Scrape, then 120, then 180 to 220 | Remove loose paint and feather the edges flat |
| Bare or stripped wood | 120, then 150 to 180 | Smooth, even surface for primer |
| Laminate | 220 | Light scuff, then a bonding primer |
| Dry primer | 220 | Knock down raised grain and dust nibs |
| Between coats of paint | 320 or a fine sanding sponge | Smooth, not remove, the last coat |
The 180 to 220 range for scuffing an old finish is what Benjamin Moore recommends for dulling a table’s top and legs before priming. The sandpaper grit chart has every other grit.
How to Sand Furniture to Paint, Step by Step
- Remove the hardware and clean the piece with a degreasing cleaner to remove wax, grease and silicone polish, which stop paint from bonding even on a sanded surface. Let it dry completely.
- Scrape anything loose and fill dents and holes, then sand the filler flush once it’s hard.
- Sand the whole piece at the right grit: a random orbital or 1/4 sheet sander on the flat parts, a sanding sponge on moldings, spindles and carvings, where finish builds up thickest and peeling usually starts. You’re done when no shiny patches are left.
- Remove every bit of dust with a vacuum and a tack cloth. Dust trapped under primer shows through every coat above it.
- Prime. Use a bonding primer over glossy finishes and laminate (Benjamin Moore names its INSL-X STIX for tables), and a stain-blocking primer, such as a shellac-based one, over dark stain, knots or water marks that could bleed through a light paint. Glidden notes that primed projects usually need fewer coats of paint.
- Sand the dry primer lightly with 220 and wipe it clean.
- Paint in thin coats, a fine-finish roller on tops and a brush on legs and details, sanding lightly with fine paper between coats as Glidden recommends, and removing the dust each time. Benjamin Moore warns that heavy coats on horizontal surfaces can crack.
- Respect the recoat and cure times on the can. Benjamin Moore says its ADVANCE paint can take up to 16 hours to dry before recoating and three to five days to cure before a table goes back into everyday use.
Sanding Painted Furniture to Repaint
Repainting a piece that’s already painted doesn’t mean sanding back to wood. If the existing paint is sound and well bonded, scuff it all over with 180 to 220 grit, clean it, prime if you’re changing color significantly, and paint. If it’s peeling, chipping or poorly bonded, sand or scrape until every loose edge is gone and feather the edges of the remaining paint so they don’t show through. Covering failing paint with new paint doesn’t fix the adhesion problem; it only delays it until after you’ve done all the work.
Painting Kitchen Cabinets
Cabinet doors and boxes follow the same prep, with more cleaning (kitchen grease) and a harder enamel on top; the full job is in the kitchen cabinets guide linked under Dressers above. For the paint itself, best paint for cabinets compares the cabinet enamels and the primer for each surface. If you’d rather spray than brush, my guide on how to use a paint sprayer covers thinning, tips and the order to spray doors in.
Common Refinishing Mistakes
- Sanding through veneer with coarse grit or a tilted sander.
- Skipping grits, which leaves scratches that show under stain.
- Leaving stripper residue or wax, which stops stain and finish from soaking in or drying.
- Staining without a test on the same wood and sanding.
- Thick finish coats, which run, stay soft and take days to dry.
- Using the piece too soon, before the finish has cured.
The Tools That Make Refinishing Faster
With these, a dresser or table is a weekend project. Specs are from the makers’ listings.
Citristrip Stripping Gel
Best Stripper for Furniture
Citristrip’s gel stays wet and active for up to 24 hours, so it can strip multiple layers in one step, and it clings to vertical dresser sides and chair legs. The maker says it removes dried latex and oil-based paint, varnish, lacquer, polyurethane and shellac, and that it contains no methylene chloride or NMP. This 40 oz bottle is enough for a dresser or a dining table.
- ✅ Long working time, several layers at once
- ✅ Removes every common furniture finish
- ✅ No methylene chloride
- ❌ Slower than harsher strippers
Best For: Painted or heavily varnished furniture, veneer and carved pieces.
ALLWAY CS6 Contour Scraper Set
Best for Moldings and Turned Legs
Stripped finish has to come out of every curve, and a flat scraper can’t follow a molding. The CS6 has six stainless steel blades shaped for concave, convex, round and flat profiles, a blade file stored in the handle and a storage case for the blades. It saves most of the sanding you’d otherwise do by hand on chair spindles and table legs.
- ✅ Six profiles for curves and moldings
- ✅ File in the handle to resharpen
- ✅ Comfortable offset grip
- ❌ Slow on big flat surfaces
Best For: Turned legs, spindles, picture-frame moldings and carvings.
Bosch ROS20VSC 5″ Random Orbital Sander
Best Sander for Tops and Panels
On a refinishing job the random orbital sander does most of the hours: through the old finish on solid tops, then 120, 150 and 180 on every flat surface. The ROS20VSC has a 2.5 amp motor, variable speed from 7,500 to 12,000 OPM (low for veneer, high for stock removal), hook-and-loop discs and a microfilter canister with a vacuum adapter. My Bosch ROS20VSC review has the details, and the best random orbital sanders list has alternatives.
- ✅ Fast and swirl-free on flat surfaces
- ✅ Variable speed for veneer
- ✅ Good dust collection with a vacuum
- ❌ Round pad misses inside corners
Best For: Tabletops, dresser tops and sides, doors and drawer fronts.
DEWALT DWE6411K 1/4 Sheet Palm Sander
Best for Corners and Frames
A square pad goes where a round one can’t: into the inside corners of a dresser case, cabinet door frames and raised panels. DEWALT’s DWE6411K has a 2.3 amp motor at 14,000 OPM, a foam pad for a flat sanding plane, an improved paper clamp so you can cut your own 1/4 sheets of any grit, and a locking dust port for a vacuum hose. It’s the editor’s choice in my best sanders for furniture guide, and the best sheet sanders list has larger half-sheet models.
- ✅ Reaches 90-degree inside corners
- ✅ Uses cheap sheet paper in any grit
- ✅ Locking vacuum port
- ❌ Slower than an orbital on big tops
Best For: Dresser cases, frame-and-panel doors and final passes.
BLACK+DECKER BDEMS600 Mouse Detail Sander
Best for Chairs and Details
Chair slats, the spaces between spindles and the curves of a carved apron are where refinishing projects stall. The BDEMS600 has a pointed pad, a detail finger attachment for narrow gaps, a 1.2 amp motor at 16,000 OPM and its own dust canister. It’s light enough to hold at any angle for an afternoon.
- ✅ Pointed pad and finger attachment
- ✅ Light and easy to control
- ✅ Dust canister built in
- ❌ Small pad: not for tops
Best For: Chairs, spindles, slats and carved details.
Minwax Oil-Based Wipe-On Poly
Easiest Finish for a First Refinish
Wiping a finish on with a cloth removes the two things that ruin most first refinishes: brush marks and drips. Minwax’s Wipe-On Poly is an oil-based polyurethane with a hand-rubbed look, which the maker says protects against water, household chemicals, food stains and wear, recoats in 2 to 3 hours and is dry for light use in 24 hours. Each coat is thin, so plan on more coats than with a brushing poly.
- ✅ No brush marks or drips
- ✅ Durable polyurethane protection
- ✅ Several coats in a day
- ❌ Thin coats: more of them needed
Best For: Dressers, side tables, chairs and first-time refinishers.
How I Put This Guide Together
The sanding and grit advice follows General Finishes’ preparation guide and the stain makers’ data sheets I cite in the staining guide; the stripper, scraper, sander and finish specs are from the makers’ own listings; the lead warning is quoted from Rust-Oleum’s Varathane data sheet; and the painting prep follows Benjamin Moore’s guide to painting a wood table and Glidden’s guide to painting furniture. The products are on sale on Amazon today; I don’t show customer ratings or prices, which change daily. More on how I choose the sanders I recommend.
🏆 The Verdict
Refinishing wood furniture is mostly getting to clean, evenly sanded bare wood. Strip with Citristrip when there are layers, carvings or veneer; sand through 120, 150 and 180 with a random orbital sander on the flat parts and a detail sander on the rest; then stain if you want and wipe on two or three thin coats of polyurethane.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Is it better to sand or strip wood furniture?+
Can you refinish wood furniture without sanding?+
What are the common mistakes to avoid when refinishing furniture?+
Can you just paint over stained wood furniture?+
Do I need to sand a piece of furniture before painting?+
Can I paint immediately after sanding?+
Can you restain wood that is already stained?+
Can you sand veneer furniture?+
Conclusion
Learning how to refinish wood furniture is mostly learning patience with the preparation: decide whether to strip or sand, get to bare wood everywhere, sand through the grits with the right sander for each part, and only then open the stain and finish. A single good sander and a detail sander turn it from a chore into a satisfying weekend. If your project is a table, the table guide linked above has the step-by-step, and if you plan to paint the piece, go back to how to sand furniture before painting.
