Easy Way To Refinish Furniture Without Stain or Paint

Today, I am sharing the easy way to refinish furniture without stain or paint. 

There are so many different ways to make over furniture. I have tried so many of them, but the easiest methods are always my favorite. DUH!

I don’t thrive on really hard projects and I usually walk away from pieces that need to be stripped, stained and poly’d because I don’t enjoy that work nor do I have the time to spend on them. 

I like quick results and that is why I am so excited to show you what one of my favorite products did to this piece in a matter of minutes. 

When I saw this piece, I fell in love. 

Bringing Old Furniture Pieces Back To Life Is A Frugal Way To Decorate Your Home

This piece has so much going for it. My typing fingers aren’t moving fast enough as my mind is racing with all the goodness about this piece.

The size is perfect. The detail on the drawers is the best part and the fact that it still has both of the smaller drawers on top AND the marble between them… there was no question it was coming home with me. 

Look at the marble!!!

Now that we have talked about all of the positives, let’s discuss what needed some attention. 

The finish was not in good condition and every drawer front had peeling veneer on the raised parts.

The knobs were a definite “NO GO” for me. I am always preaching that you should save all the hardware from the pieces you are working on so you can use them on other projects, but these were kindly given to a friend. I knew I wouldn’t repurpose them on another project.

There was so much more good than bad with this piece. The keyholes are so charming. The detail on the drawers is priceless and the marble is BEAUTIFUL!

I couldn’t wait to get it home and start working on it. 

{Affiliate links are used in this post. Click on any of the underlined links to find the products I am talking about. You can read my disclosure HERE.}

Supplies Used In This Project:

Orbital Sander

Hand Sander 

Restor-A-Finish (Neutral)

Old Rag

Raw Wood Knobs

How To Make Over Furniture Without Paint Or Stain

The first thing I had to do was remove the peeling veneer off the drawers.  I have three ways that I remedy peeling veneer. With this dresser, I used my favorite method that I shared in this vintage dresser makeover. If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you see all of the behind the scenes looks into every project I do. I shared how easy this veneer came off in my stories over there. (If you aren’t following me there, what is going on 😄 ? Go HERE and HERE to see my next projects in action! I would love to see you there).

To be completely honest, I thought I was going to paint this piece when I initially brought it home. I thought the paint would really make the details pop. Then, I looked at the marble, and to be completely honest, I feel like my taste is changing a bit. I have been changing up some things in our home and with 2020, I am really craving calm and simple decor and I thought if I could find an easy way to keep the dresser a wood tone, it would be really pretty against the marble top.

Like I said earlier, I am not one that wants to strip furniture and stain and poly and all those things, but if I can find an easier way to get that same outcome, I am all over it. This piece had such a weird finish that I thought it would be easy to try this to see if it worked.

*** PRO TIP *** When I am deciding between painting or keeping a piece the natural wood color, the first thing I do is sand it. (Okay, let’s be honest, Matt sands it. He likes to do it and I am happy to let him have that part of the process). Sanding shows what a piece is underneath. This piece had the strangest finish on it. I couldn’t tell what the wood was like underneath. The sanding made my decision very clear.

After Matt sanded the entire piece and I ran a damp cloth over it to remove all of the sanding dust, I could see that it could be beautiful if left unpainted. The wood underneath was dry and just needed a “pick me up”. So… I grabbed one of my favorite DIY products of all time – Restor-A-Finish in “Neutral” and revived the wood.

Here is a video showing how well this stuff worked and why I love this product so much: (CAUTION: you may hear the word “unbelievable” a lot 🤦‍♀️).

After I had the entire dresser covered in the Restor, I let it dry completely overnight.

Look at this piece now!!!!!

I was floored after I got it done. It took minutes and this piece looks brand new.

I was able to repurpose wood knobs we had in our hardware stash. 

The wood tone next to the marble is EVERYTHING!

That marble needed a good cleaning itself, but there aren’t any chips or cracks in it at all. It is stunning.

The keyholes are still charming and the details on the drawers make a real statement now.

I can’t recommend the Restor-A-Finish enough. This stuff will make light work of a lot of your projects. 

Like I said earlier, I don’t like stripping furniture, staining, and all that, but if the Restor can work its magic and give me an easy way to refinish furniture, I will happily “refinish” more pieces. 

Hey, if I can’t tell and you can’t tell, we can just keep the secret to ourselves and continue to “WOW” our family and friends with all the tedious work we do. 😉

Would you have painted this piece?

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If you liked this Easy Way To Refinish Furniture post, you will love these easy projects:

DIY Tall Dresser Makeover With Painted Drawers

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