Varnishing Your Furniture

You can varnish and take care of your furniture yourself. You don’t need expensive tools or special skills. It’s easy to do and requires a bit of time, I used my Sunday!

Make sure you get yourself a pair of gloves to protect your skin and nails while varnishing! (I’m not comfy wearing them, so I don’t!)

This is a very simple 2-day process that I list down for a perfect finish.

Follow these steps(no shortcuts, sorry!) and you’ll get a flawless finish every-time!

1. Sanding: a good finish begins by sanding bare wood with a 100-grit sanding paper. This is crucial for achieving a uniform wood surface that’ll absorb stain evenly. It also smoothes out surface imperfections, which might show through the clear coat. You goal here is to eliminate the sawmill “burnish”(shiny surface left by the planer), smooth off rough wood fibres and sand out blemishes.
   For hand sanding I used I sanding sponge, a sanding pad for curves and a folded piece of sandpaper for crevices.
   Always sand in the direction of the grain!
2. Brush on a sanding sealer: brush a sealer in the direction of the grain, always! Shine a strong light on the wet surface to highlight areas you might have missed(they’ll be dull). Immediately “tip-off” the wet finish by stroking the entire surface from end to end with long, light, overlapping strokes of the wet brush. That’ll even out the coat and help eliminate brush marks. If you see brush marks after tipping off, leave them and sand them out later.
   Work quickly; sanding sealers dry fast!
3. Finish up with oil-based wood varnish: brush on the wood varnish with the same techniques you used for the sanding sealer. If you’re working in a clean room and did a good job, one coat will be cool. Let it dry overnight.
   To add another coat of wood varnish, prepare the surface as you did after the sanding sealer, including sanding the finish with extra fine sanding paper l, dusting the surfaces and wiping everything down with a clean cloth(I use cotton painter’s rags- sold at screen printing stores in Goa)Then add another coat of varnish!

Must-Have Finishing Supplies:

High-quality finishing supplies take the pain out of staining. An investment in good tools and accessories will greatly speed up the job and increase the quality of your finishing work.

• Sanding supplies. Buy 100-grit (medium) products for sanding the raw wood and either 240- or 280-grit (extra-fine) sanding paper, sponges and pads for sanding between clear coats, depending on the profiles you’re sanding.
• Brushes. Buy two 2–1/2-in. china-bristle brushes (natural bristles). Use them for staining, dry brushing and applying the clear finishes. Don’t buy cheap brushes. If you take care of it and clean it well, a top-quality brush will last for 20 years or more. A cheap brush is more likely to leave brush marks and bristles in the finish.
• 100-percent cotton painter’s rags. Buy a box at a home center. Don’t use old bed sheets or clothes that contain synthetic fibers. They may leave behind dyes and won’t absorb stain nearly as well.
• Gloves. A box of disposable gloves will protect your hands from solvents, and you won’t have to struggle with putting on reusable ones after coffee breaks. You can get a pair at the local pharmacy.
• Mineral spirits or turpentine. Buy a 1-gallon can to clean brushes and to thin stain if needed.
• Tack cloths. Find tack cloths in the paint department. Use them to eliminate the last specks of dust after you sand between coats.

Devika Martins is an interior designer and co-founder of an interior design studio based in Goa, India.

Have a question? Hit me up @devikamartins on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube & Snapchat. Or visit my website www.devikamartins.com for more information on design and home improvement.