How to awaken tired pine instead of buying new stuff?

benbread

Hey

We're moving home in a few weeks and have a few bits of pine furniture that are looking old and yuck. In true moneysaving tradition I want to have a go at making them more respectable before considering getting new stuff, so does anyone have any tips to make my poor old tables nice again?

I'm going to strip them back to bare wood after several years of abuse from coffee mugs and general stuff, i've seen some ronseal stuff but it's awfully expensive so does anyone have any homegrown ideas?

Much appreciated! :beer:

Gigervamp

You could wax it. One tin of Briwax isn't expensive and will last a long time.

Alternatively, you could paint it cream which always looks nice. Have you seen the shabby chic thread on here? People have posted lots of photos of old furniture that they've revived with a lick of paint which might give you some ideas.

SUESMITH_2

i painted our old bedside orangey pine chests cream and got some new black iron handles and they look fab. total cost less than a tenner

benbread

Thanks for the advice - i don't think painting is really the way forward as they are living room pieces and at one point did look quite nice - just need a bit of sprucing with some nice stain/varnish - I heard something about using tea to colour wood, has anyone tried it?

Gigervamp

I can imagine that it would work, as it can be used to stain/dye fabric.

I've used watered down acrylic paints to stain wood. Just make sure that you make a note of the proportions you use in case you don't make enough in one go and need to make up some more.