Home Home Organization Lifestyle

Buffet Table Makeover (+How To!)

Have you seen our kitchen makeover? If not, you absolutely must! It’s (in my opinion) one of the best oak cabinet makeovers!

So, now that our kitchen is fresh and bright, our furniture doesn’t really match. I knew I didn’t want to spend a fortune on new furniture, so we opted to refinish our buffet table, and just leave our kitchen table as is for now. I went through a bunch of furniture refinishing tutorials on Pinterest, but honestly there are so many methods! I decided to ask the man who finished our cabinets for pointers. He suggested we use the one and only primer he uses for everything, called STIX. He warned me it was a bit pricey, but definitely nothing like the cost of buying new furniture, so I went for it. 

Truth be told, the sanding was a lot of work. A LOT OF WORK! He told me to just scratch the surface, but this baby had so many coats of polyurethane or something similar, it would not scratch. Finally I convinced Mr. Kirk to take his belt sander to it, and it was ready to be primed in no time. 

Buffet table makeover | How to paint furniture | The best furniture primer | Refinishing furniture easily | GinaKirk.com @ginaekirk

He’s such a good sport 😉

Here’s what we did in detail…

  1. Wiped down and cleaned out the entire table (this is a given I think?)
  2. Removed all of the hardware. Hinges, knobs, closing devices etc.
  3. Sanded! I started with a medium grit sandpaper, but we soon went to the belt sander. Highly recommend if you have a stubborn piece of furniture.
  4. Wipe down really good! You want to use a wet cloth and remove any little particles of dust.
  5. Prime away. Like I said, the STIX primer came highly recommended from a professional painter, so we went that route. I actually ended up only doing one coat of primer, because the paint I used had primer in it as well, and the STIX covered really well.
  6. Paint. So I’m not sure what the experts recommend here, I purchased a gallon of Sherwin Williams Alabaster White in interior satin. We ended up doing three coats. I brushed the first coat, and Mr. Kirk used his paint sprayer to spray an additional two coats. I didn’t use wax or poly or anything on top and it’s holding up fine! I’d like to think that’s because I used a good primer and went with a Satin (easy clean) finish. 

Here’s a before shot… (in front of our faux reclaimed wood wall!)

Buffet table makeover | How to paint furniture | The best furniture primer | Refinishing furniture easily | GinaKirk.com @ginaekirk

And here are some afters…

Buffet table makeover | How to paint furniture | The best furniture primer | Refinishing furniture easily | GinaKirk.com @ginaekirk

How to hang the perfect gallery wall! GinaKirk.com

Some up close decor details, because I love them so…

Buffet table makeover | How to paint furniture | The best furniture primer | Refinishing furniture easily | GinaKirk.com @ginaekirk

Buffet table makeover | How to paint furniture | The best furniture primer | Refinishing furniture easily | GinaKirk.com @ginaekirk

So there you have it! I hope this method is simple and works like a charm for you just like it did for us! If you haven’t seen our kitchen makeover, faux reclaimed wood wall, or gallery wall tutorial, I’d love for you to stay and look around! 

Buffet table makeover | How to paint furniture | The best furniture primer | Refinishing furniture easily | GinaKirk.com @ginaekirk

You Might Also Like

2 Comments

  • Reply
    Ginger
    March 16, 2016 at 8:35 pm

    Your husband looks like Jim Carey in that shot lol
    The buffet turned out great.

    • Reply
      Gina
      March 18, 2016 at 1:00 am

      haha that is not the first time I’ve heard that! And thank you!

    Leave a Reply