How to make an old dining room hutch look new??

Question

My dining room hutch is old, stained and knicked. How do I paint or refinish it to make it look new?

It is a light pine color (finished already). I've had it for 9 years and the kids have beaten it up pretty bad. I want to either stain it, paint it or refinish it to make it look new when we move into our new house next month. But I don't know where to start or how labor intensive this will be. Advice appreciate!!

Answer 1

If you like the color and finish and you want a quick fix for it you may try this. Take 1 to 1 1/2 parts boiled linseed oil and 2 parts low odor mineral spirits. Put it into a container that you can get your hand into you may want to wear a Playtex glove. Dip .0000 steel wood into the mixture and rub it down with the grain of the wood. The spirits will clean it very well and the linseed oil will cover up and hide a lot of the scratches. This work very well to restore furniture and will also make old kitchen cabinets look refinished again.

Answer 2

You may want to wait until after you move so the new finish doesn't get damaged in transit.

Painting would likely be the easiest way to change its look.  You will need to fill in any dents or deep knicks, sand the gloss off and then I would prime it before painting.  You may want to select an eggshell or semigloss finish.  It is easier to clean and shows fewer imperfections than high gloss.  You can always add a clear coat to seal an d protect the paint.

It really shouldn't be more than a weekend project, assuming you don't have a million interruptions.

Have fun with it.

Answer 3

Hard to tell without looking at it.

Is it a valuable piece or is it just a Home Depot/Ikea-like particle-board hutch?

If it's sealed with a polyurethane finish (a shiny, plastic-like coating), you'll have to strip and sand it before you restain it  and reseal it.

Best best is probably to paint it. Buy a good primer, and put a couple coats on it. Then pick a good color and paint it. May need several coats.

Good luck!