Change Colour/varnish Of Wooden Fixtures

[cactus_79 0]

My wooden furniture (fixtures) look rather old and has scratches. I wish to give them a new lease of life with a fresh coat of varnish, and would also like to change the colour of the furniture to a darker shade of wood. Would it be possible? Thanks in advance for any form of advice!

[yokine9a 1]

Yes, it is possible. Pay a visit to the Homefix stores or DIY stores. They sell clear varnish paint & different colour of wood paint. The sales person should be able to advise you further on which to choose.

[cactus_79 0]

Yes, it is possible. Pay a visit to the Homefix stores or DIY stores. They sell clear varnish paint & different colour of wood paint. The sales person should be able to advise you further on which to choose.

Thanks for your advice! I was advised to just sandpaper the wooden surfaces, then paint a coloured varnish over. Nippon Timberlac. However, when I spoke with professional painters, they told me Timberlac and normal manual sandpapering cannot change the wood colour much... is this true? I saw the colour catalogue for Timberlac and apparently there are a wide range of coloured varnishes to choose from. I was advised to use 3 coats of varnish, with 2 hours drying time in between.

I was quoted $600 by a professional antique restorer to change colour of some wooden furniture. but subsequently realised that manual sandpapering and painting by Timberlac may acheive the same result (advised by Homefix DIY) but none of the staff at Homefix has personal experience with this.. they could only teach me in theory.

Would you have done this before?

[kewin 0]

you really need to spend alot of hrs to sand... how big yr furniture...

[cactus_79 0]

you really need to spend alot of hrs to sand... how big yr furniture...

Not many pieces of furniture. some of them are just a wooden ledge between dining and living room which sits on top of a glass partition (waist height). The biggest is probably a wooden dresser with wooden framed mirror on the wall. The dresser doesn't have legs.. wall mounted. just 1 drawer (pull open type). Total suface area is at most 4 times of that wooden dresser...

how long do you think it will take?

[yokine9a 1]

Can't advise on changing wood colour using the wood paint, though I am a bit doubtful about what the the professional painter told you. DIY in western countries is very common, not bcos those angmohs like it, simply bcos getting a service man is very expensive. Simple things like sandpapering & painting their furniture is not hard to do, just time consuming. And you probably won’t achieve the perfect result compare to professionals.

I bought a can of clear varnish from HomeFix to give a layer of coating to my shoe cabinet, it is an untreated wooden cabinet. Maybe what I bought was the quick-dry varnish paint, it is not as thick as what I expected. I did 2 layers of coating but the feeling is still a bit rough. Will just leave it as it is. Might use sandpaper to smoothen the surface when I can find time to attend to the cabinet again.

[cactus_79 0]

Can't advise on changing wood colour using the wood paint, though I am a bit doubtful about what the the professional painter told you. DIY in western countries is very common, not bcos those angmohs like it, simply bcos getting a service man is very expensive. Simple things like sandpapering & painting their furniture is not hard to do, just time consuming. And you probably won’t achieve the perfect result compare to professionals.

I bought a can of clear varnish from HomeFix to give a layer of coating to my shoe cabinet, it is an untreated wooden cabinet. Maybe what I bought was the quick-dry varnish paint, it is not as thick as what I expected. I did 2 layers of coating but the feeling is still a bit rough. Will just leave it as it is. Might use sandpaper to smoothen the surface when I can find time to attend to the cabinet again.

thanks for the advice.. we'll prob try it. just not too keen to pay $600 for the antique restorer cos not sure if it's overkill.