Damaged furniture surface

[Sara]

I just bought a Pier One coffee table that has been carelessly used. It has nicks, beverage stains, and sticky stuff. What should I do so that I don't damage the paint?

[Frank Ketchum]

Why did you buy it if it is such a POS? If you are asking how not to make it worse, don't nick it, spill shit on it and clean it once in awhile. Or if you are asking how to fix it, sand it down and repaint it.

Frank

[JGS]

[Andy Dingley]

Pray.

Pier One - it's a piece of junk. The implication of "junk" in furniture is very often that it looks fine in the shop, but it doesn't wear well and most of all, that it can't be repaired afterwards.

What was the original finish, and how do you want it to look ? if it's "wood", then I think you're basically stuck - think about draping something over it.

If it was paint, or you want it to be painted, then just go for it (what have you got to lose?)

Clean it first - a squirt of Mr Muscle kitchen cleaner will shift the gunk, then a wipe with white spirit to shift anything oily. Repair nicks with car body filler and sand the surface to make a key for new paint. Then repaint - a matt primer with lots of body to hide surface blemishes, leave it to _really_ dry a few days, then sand gently to get the brushmarks out. For a top finish, either buy a new good quality brush and hand paint it, or else an aerosol.

[MikeG]

Cleaning it comes to mind