Small furniture projects can be deceiving. A table can appear as a fairly easy weekend project until you get close and look a bit more carefully. You may discover that an old finish has a water ring on the top surface, the corner of one tabletop has chipped, the drawers have stuck, and the legs feel a bit loose once you move the piece. Inspection allows you to assess what furniture is in need of before you grab the sander, stain, paint, or filler.
First off, observe the piece from an arm’s length away. Is the piece sitting level on a flat surface? Do the doors or drawers meet properly? Are there any areas that appear misshapen, cracked, or improperly repaired? Get closer and assess the condition of the finish on the furniture. You can take a closer look at the surface by using good lighting, especially from a raking side light. The raking light highlights any scratches, scuffs, dust, dents, old brush strokes, patchiness, or other imperfections on the top surface that are hard to see from above. The objective is to distinguish between surface problems (or surface problems only) and more problematic areas which may require deeper repairs.
Before sanding, run your hand over the piece. The finish may feel dull and dirty due to old wax, grease, sticky polishing wax or cleaners, or other residue. This is especially common on kitchen tables. If the surface feels sticky or caked on, rather than sanding it to get to the wood below, start by cleaning a small hidden area with a mild approach. Sanding a dirty surface will merely gum up your paper, spread grime around, and make your assessment more difficult.
Next, inspect all edges and corners as well as carved or other details. These areas usually show the most wear but are also prone to being damaged by the force of sanding. If you are working with thin veneer, you must take extra care because it can sand through in record time. Look for lifted veneer, chipped corners, blisters, or previously repaired spots that are already visible under the damaged layer. If you are not certain whether you are working with veneer or solid wood, assume the former and be careful until you are sure.
Hardware inspection should also be a separate step. Open and close all drawers and doors to check the functionality of hinges. Inspect all knobs, pulls, and other hardware for missing or mismatched screws. A sticky drawer may not need sanding or forcing to make it work, but may need to be cleaned and its runners checked. A loose handle may only require careful re-tightening, whereas a stripped screw hole or chipped piece near an attached piece of hardware will require more extensive and careful repair. If you choose to remove hardware to facilitate work on the main body of the furniture, make sure to label the screws, hinges, and pulls and store them in a small bag so that you don’t have to guess during reassembly.
Also examine all joints. Gently wiggle the leg of a chair, a tabletop leg, a frame rail, or a drawer front. Loose joints should not just be filled in, but should be cleaned, clamped, or re-glued. Sometimes it will be necessary to get outside help in fixing some furniture. Some beginners may be tempted to focus solely on the outside appearance at first, but furniture repair must be stable enough to be worth undertaking.
Your inspection should culminate with a simple written plan. It could read something like the following: Clean first, test area not seen, protect veneer edges, label all hardware, chip to fill, sand light in grain direction, test color and finish samples, wait for drying time. You don’t have to make it any fancy. The point is that you’ve stopped the process from taking off too quickly in the wrong direction. Once you know what each piece needs and you’ve thought it through, it’s not about guesswork, but rather a more measured, thoughtful process.