I Discovered Polyshade by Minwax!

[DawnCt1]

Actually, I am sure that many of you have discovered it as well, but it was a first for me. I have refinished furniture in the past, stripping, sanding and restaining. Time consuming and laborious. That said, we bought a used Bernhardt bedroom set for DS#2 13 years ago that by now had shown so much wear that sending it to the dump was extremely tempting. It has a "rough hewn" surface kind of look, so sanding would not have worked. DH fixed two of the draws, (draw fronts fell off) and what was left was a scratched, scuffed set with water stains in a couple of places. Not pretty! I was in Home Depot picking up stain for the woodwork that I have been refinishing and I saw Polyshade. Unfortunately it doesn't come in Colonial Maple which is the woodwork color, but it does come in Antique Walnut, which is perfect for the worn bedroom set. I bought a can for $6.97 and brought it home. It was the best $7 I have ever spent. I steel wooled the entire surface of the furniture pieces, got off any loose debris, chewing gum, etc and then used a tack rag to pick up the dust. By applying 2 coats 24 hours apart, it made the set look better than the day we brought it into the house. It took such little effort. It still had a dull look in places so I coated it with 3 coats for semi gloss fast drying polyurethane, and it looks almost new. I did the same thing with an inexpensive tall, light oak bookcase that really came with no finish. I used classic oak polyshade, covered the imperfections, and applied two coats of that, and two coats of polyurethane. This is great stuff! I have never restored any furniture so cheaply and with so little effort.

 

[Mom2Satan&Daisy]

I've used it before...it's a great product.

 

[Spinning]

Hmmmm Explain a little more.
You don't have to remove the old finish? Just rough it up a little? I have a few old pieces of furniture, nothing good but needs some sprucing up.

 

[DawnCt1]

Hmmmm Explain a little more.
You don't have to remove the old finish? Just rough it up a little? I have a few old pieces of furniture, nothing good but needs some sprucing up.

That is all it takes. Match the color of the stain to the color of the wood, clean the wood, steel wool it, tack rag it, and away you go. Its a miracle product.

http://www.minwax.com/products/one_step_stain_and_finishes/polyshades.html