How to touch up vintage brown furniture?

coffeehound

I bought an old lump of dark brown furniture that has a lot of chips, scratches and scrapes.

I might one day get around to sanding it down and doing a proper job, but in the meantime, is there a quick-fix way to cover up the light patches?

It will come into contact with clothes and other fabrics so it would need to be a clean and dry finish. Any suggestions, pls?

Jackmydad

Brown wood filler wax for any serious dents. Liberon are one company who make it.
Briwax polish of the appropriate colour will polish it and cover up a lot of minor stuff.

gwynlas

They sell Wood Reviver in most DIY shops/sheds which is formulated for the job, read instructions and allow to dry. You should be okay,
Otherwise buy chalk paint and up cycle plenty of videos around.

coffeehound

Great thanks folks, will look into those products now.

Think I'll probably go for that mid-century golden colour if I do renovate it.

gwynlas wrote: »

Otherwise buy chalk paint and up cycle plenty of videos around.

Out of interest, does the chalk paint dry 'clean' or does it rub off? I've got some 1980s honeyed pine items that would benefit from that look.

Working_Mum

I recently bought an old wooden footstool and painted it black with self priming paint from B&Q - £14 for the stool and the paint and it looks lovely. The paint was easy to use and is holding up to the wear and tear of two teens!!

coffeehound

Working_Mum wrote: »

I recently bought an old wooden footstool and painted it black with self priming paint from B&Q - £14 for the stool and the paint and it looks lovely. The paint was easy to use and is holding up to the wear and tear of two teens!!

That's an interesting option, thanks. Think that would look pretty good for this item too.

Mistral001

gwynlas wrote: »

They sell Wood Reviver in most DIY shops/sheds which is formulated for the job, read instructions and allow to dry. You should be okay,
Otherwise buy chalk paint and up cycle plenty of videos around.

Yes I would go for reviving the finish rather than making an invisible repair of scratches unless the furniture is a valuable antique. I have used Topps which works well. It will darken the scratches and make them blend in rather than make them invisible. I have tried scratch repair pens and the like and although they might darken the scratch more than the Topps would, they tend to highlight that a repair has been made.

coffeehound

Cheers. Will pop out tomorrow and get some reviver to try first.