French Provincial Buffet

We have a friend that cleans out homes after estate sales. He ended up with a full French Provincial dining set.  This buffet was the first piece that we decided to tackle. This piece had a few scratches on the top, but all in all the piece was in pretty good shape other than some loose internal sliders for the drawers (we wood glued those back in place, and now they are completely solid again).  

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This is the first buffet that we were able to refinish.  We decided from the outset that we were going to do a few different designs on the French Provincial dining set.  For the buffet, we decided to do a classic white paint on the body, with dark grey detail work, and red mahogany stain for the top.

We used the following supplies on this dresser:

• Purdy 3-Pack Polyester-Nylon Blend Angle Sash Paint Brush Variety Pack
• Minwax Red Mahogany Oil-Based Interior Stain
• HGTV Sherwin Williams Mercer White - HGSW4054
•  Minwax 40910 Wipe-On Oil-Based Poly, 1-Pint, Clear Satin
  • The wipe-on poly gives you the opportunity to have more control over the application process over that of spray-on poly.  It also does not leave brush strokes like paint-on poly.  Not to say that either of the other options are bad, but we were extremely pleased with the easy application of the wipe-on poly, and the finish that it provided.
• Stain and Polyurethane Brush
  • There are many options for applying stain to the wood.  However, we have found that using a stain brush allows for more control over the application process.  Please make sure that you have an old rag around so you can wipe up any excess stain that may have dripped on to areas of the dresser that you do not wish to have stained and any stain that may have dripped on to the floor.  
• Bosch 2.5-Amp Orbital Sander
  • Just remember, this is a staple item that will continually be used, so you can utilize this on a ton of DIY projects after you make the purchase.  We decided on the Bosch sander because of the quality of the Bosch brand; however, you can probably get away with a cheaper option if you don't want to invest in a nicer sander, and if you only plan on doing a few DIY projects with it.  
• Gator 50-Pack 80-Grit 5-in W x 5-in L 8-Hole Hook and Loop Sanding Disc Sandpaper
  • Depending on the type of stain that the original manufacturer of the dresser used, you may be able to get away with just sanding down the dresser without using any type of stain remover (This is huge, because stain removers are a pain).  Just keep in mind that if the dresser is not solid wood, then you may want to go with a more gentle approach; i.e., a combination of stain remover and hand sanding.  
• Pro Grade Precision 9 in. x 11 in. 60 Grit Coarse Advanced Sanding Sheets
  • You will need to purchase some sandpaper for hand sanding purposes.  We like the 60 grit sand paper for more precision stripping, and it seems to be more effective than 80 grit (in terms of hand sanding, not to be confused with what we use on our orbital sander).  Make sure to get a pro grade, because it will last much longer than the cheap sandpaper, and the price difference is truly just a few dollars.  We also recommend that you purchase the sandpaper in sheets, because you can cut them in half and double the amount of sandpaper per purchase (this is preferred over purchasing the thinner strips of sandpaper; most hardware stores will sale both options).  Finally, if you plan on doing a lot of DIY projects, then buy the contractors pack (bulk pack), this will save you money over time and the frustrations of having to go back and forth to the hardware store for sandpaper. 
• Pro Grade Precision 9 in. x 11 in. 120 Grit Medium Advanced Sanding Sheets 
  • A lot of what we said for the 60 grit sanding sheets apply here.  However, we use the 120 to smooth out the wood after it has been stripped to give it a smoother surface before applying stain.  
• Pro Grade Precision 9 in. x 11 in. 320 Grit X-Fine Advanced Sanding Sheets  
  • This sandpaper will be necessary for smoothing out the surface between coats of polyurethane.  This will definitely help you to accomplish a great final product.  
• 3-2/3 in. x 9 in. Imperial Wet or dry 800-Grit Sandpaper Sheets
  • You want to use 800-grit sandpaper for wetsanding after the polyerathane has been applied in order to give the piece a silky smooth finish.
• Frog Tape Trim Painter's Tape
  • Frog tape is a life saver if you are going for a more professional look.  Generally speaking, it is a time consuming task to tape up the dresser, but you will be happy that you did when you see the finished product. 

We started with a CitriStrip stripper, but it really wasn't necessary.  We found that it would have been easier to just skip the stripping process on this piece and move right to sanding it down.  The reason that we say that is because we spent more time trying to get the CitriStrip stripper off of the buffet than we did removing the original stain.  As we usually do, we start our sanding process with our orbital sander using an 80 grit sandpaper.  Then we use 60 grit sandpaper to make sure all of the original finish has been properly removed.  Finally, we hand sand with a 120 grit sandpaper to get a smoother wood before applying stain or paint.  However, being that the drawers and parts of the buffet body were not completely flat, we only used the orbital sander on the top.

After we sanded the dresser down we went ahead and stained the top using red mahogany stain.  Stain generally takes longer to dry, so we generally do the stained surface areas first before we start any painting. 

Before we painted the body of the buffet we made sure to tape the inside of the of the body and the inside of the drawers.  It is always important to remember to tape the inside of the body where the drawers slide in and out, and the inside portions of the drawers where paint might drip/or paint brush might touch.  We will admit that this is not a necessary step, but if you want to have a re-purposed dresser that looks professional grade, then every detail matters.

After we were finished with staining the top of the buffet we painted the body with mineral paint.  We usually do two coats of paint to make sure that everything is sufficiently covered. However, we ended up doing three coats on this project.

After we finished painting the body of the buffet we were ready to start doing the detail work on it.  We used a grey Behr paint to accomplish the accents that we wanted.  Paint generally dries pretty fast, so we were ready to apply a coat of wipe-on polyurethane to both the body of the dresser and the drawers after a couple of hours (a couple of hours is not indicative of how long it takes to dry, it's more us playing it safe). ​

Poly does two things: (1) it creates a layer of protection for the drawers from everyday abuse; and (2) it creates a smooth finish.  We typically apply two coats of poly, but some projects may require more. After the poly has dried we use a wet sanding technique with extremely fine sand paper to ensure that the stained areas are smooth to touch.  The wet sanding process is really simple, just spray on some lemon oil and lightly sand over the stained areas with an 800 grit sandpaper (you can also do this over the painted areas, but you need to be careful not to sand too aggressively over the painted areas or you will end up with a distressed look).  

We were very pleased with the result!