Wood furniture is beautiful but it tends to dry up and crack after some time. Wooden desks often develop dark splodges and rings, giving the surface a dull and soiled look. This ruins the beauty of your furniture, and spoils the neat appearance of your office or den.

Refinishing enhances and preserves the look of the wooden desk and also protects the wood from decay. It accentuates the looks of the wood. The desks are usually made of cherry, walnut or mahogany wood. Refinishing shows the grain contrasts that exist in these woods.

When you think of refinishing it, start off with cleaning the old and dirty layer first. Now, this cleaning should not be done with water in any form. For example use only wood friendly solvent and not water based ones. The refinishing begins with stripping the old finish. Wood friendly remover is used for the purpose. You buy a good one from any home improvement store or specialty shop selling fine furniture. Then use mild solvent to clean the residue. If the desks you are working on are rough, it may be necessary to sand the surface.

After cleaning everything off, removing the old finish and any paint, sand the entire desk down. You can use an electric sander to make this
process easier.

Once the desk is free from the old paint and the surface is smooth you have to decide on a color and sheen for your desk. It is entirely up to you whether you want to refinish the desk close to its original color or make a color change. It depends on the stain that you use. However, before you do the entire desk, test the color of the stain on a portion of the desk that is less noticeable. This is to make sure that when the stain dries, it is the color of your choice.

You could settle for a shiny high gloss sheen or matte finish for your desk, depending on your choice and preference. While some people like the shiny appeal of the high gloss finish others prefer the more natural look of the matte finish. You can get a variety of sprays for furniture finish from home improvement or furniture specialty shops. You can choose between the varieties of glossy levels depending upon the kind of finish you prefer.

If you want to add a coat of paint, then you can paint the desk also. However, most wood desks look very beautiful without paint. In fact, it spoils the look of the desk.

Before applying paint, make sure you have a good finish on the wood. This will not only protect the wood but make it easier to revert back to natural wood, in case you change your mind after some time. Finally, apply a clear-coat on your desk's paint after the final coat of paint dries.