Detail Sanding | Oak Sideboard

Wondering how to do detail sanding on antique furniture to expose the natural wood? Well, this post is for you! Keep reading!

simple details

This gorgeous oak sideboard has pretty basic details and it’s a great piece to use in showing you how to sand some of the common details found in furniture!

Solid oak wood is one of my most favorite types of wood for furniture. In fact, we love it so much that when we built our home, we chose sold oak kitchen and bathroom cabinets and solid oak floors throughout our home.

So when I see pieces of furniture like this, my heart skips a beat!

extra time

This piece is for our home and it has remained in the same condition as when we acquired it about a year ago. I did clean it well because it was a bit dirty from the years.

I knew I wanted to get my hands on it but with many other projects piling up for clients and customers at our vendor spot over at Wilderlove Handmade and Vintage, I knew that it would have to wait until I had time.

And then the Corona virus came to America. Time no longer was a problem! So my painting brain kicked into gear!

compromise

My better half loves solid oak furniture and the gorgeous grain that comes with it so he wasn’t fond of me painting the piece.

So like any couple who has been married for 37 years, we compromised.

Wait, did I really just say 37 years. Omgoodess. How did that happen??

Anyway, the compromise we settled on was leaving the top and the drawer front in the natural oak wood and then painting the remaining sections – backsplash, legs, apron, and shelf – in Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint, Shutter Gray.

I’ll talk more about the paint in the next post. For now, let’s tackle the sanding that needed to be done on the top and the drawer front.

make things easy

Sanding the top would be alot easier with the backsplash removed. Just a couple of screws and the backsplash comes off easily.

I saved the screws in a labeled ziplock baggie and got out my sanding supplies.

The sanding supplies included:

  • DeWalt Orbital Sander
  • Ginour Detail Sander w/rotating sanding pad
  • 80 grit sanding pads for both sanders
  • 150 grit sanding discs for orbital sander
  • shop vac
  • microfiber cloths

detail sanding video

Showing you how I sand the details of a piece like this is better demonstrated via video. So here is a good visual for you!

After the rough sanding was complete, I switched to the 150 grit sandpaper and thoroughly went over the top and drawer front.

Then I vacuumed the piece and wiped it down with a very damp microfiber cloth.

next post: painting

The painted sections of the oak sideboard only needed a light scuffing with a fine-grit sanding sponge. The piece is painted in Miss Mustard Seed, Shutter Gray. We’ll get into that in the next post!

We’ll also discuss one of my distressing techniques!

so glad you stopped by!

Thanks for stopping by for this sanding tutorial! I hope the video was helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask my in the comments!

You can follow our reinventing journey over on Instagram and Facebook. Follow along on Pinterest for more inspiration!

update!

Here is part two of the Oak Sideboard Transformation! Click the link to see how gorgeous it turned out!

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2 Comments

  1. Such a helpful video! That scrapper tool is a must have. Can’t wait to see the completed makeover!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      The scraper helps so much in the nook and crannies. I believe cabinet makers used to use them almost as sand paper when smoothing out surfaces. They come in lots of shapes and sizes depending on the furniture piece that is being worked on. Thanks for stopping by Karen!