LESLIE: Now we’re going to talk to Robert in Ohio who’s doing some refinishing. Tell us about this dresser you’re working on.
ROBERT: Yeah, I actually built a dresser and was wondering what type of finish I should use; like a polyurethane or a lacquer for a durable finish.
LESLIE: Well, how would you like it to look? Do you want to see a solid color? Do you want to see a hint of the grain to come through? Do you want to just keep it the natural wood color?
ROBERT: That’s what – I’m just looking for the natural wood color.
LESLIE: Then I think definitely a polyurethane coating. What do you think, Tom?
TOM: Yeah, absolutely. Either that or if you don’t want to have that level of sheen, you could use something like a Danish oil finish which has more of sort of a hand-rubbed look; although it does have a polyurethane component to it.
ROBERT: OK.
LESLIE: Because you want to seal the wood and you want to give it a good, durable finish and both of those will do that. It just depends on the level of shininess, like Tom said; you know, the sheen.
ROBERT: Alright. Well, thank you.
LESLIE: Man, there are so many things Robert could do with that blank canvas.
TOM: Absolutely.
LESLIE: I’m like, “You could decoupage it. You could use a colored stain. You could use a gel stain.” I’m like, “What do you want to do. Let’s crackle it.”
TOM: I know. People don’t understand how many options there are today. And you do a lot of neat things with these on some of the TV shows that you’re in.
LESLIE: Well, you know, a lot of the times, because you’re working on such a limited budget, you’re forced to repurpose furnishings that are already in the space. And sometimes going with straight-forward color, though interesting, you know, doesn’t really offer a lot of opportunities. You can do a chalkboard paint in a kid’s room on the drawer fronts. You can decoupage with fabric scraps or interesting paper. There are so many, many things you could do.
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