The average cost to refinish a table is $250, but prices can range from $150 to $400. A pro decides the cost depending on the type, size, and level of finishing required.
Even the sturdiest wooden table gets worn down by daily wear and tear. And when that happens, it's time to give it a new, fresh look by refinishing it. By refinishing, you strip down the old, worn surface of the wood and use a stain to give it a flawless surface and like-new shine. On average, getting your table refinished will cost $250. But this varies depending on the type and size of your table. Here’s what you can expect to pay.
There’s no one-price-fits-all for each and every table. So, the type of furniture you have plays a big role in how much it costs to refinish it. Here are some common prices:
| Type of Table | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Dining Room Table | $400–$700 |
| Coffee Table | $150–$250 |
| Side or End Table | $80–$150 |
Dining room tables are typically the largest wood tables you’ll find in a home, and as a result, they’re the most expensive, at $400 to $700. This is a sizable range because dining room tables have a lot of size variation. Typically, the larger the table, the more you’ll pay.
Coffee tables fall between dining room tables and side tables in terms of size. Therefore, you can expect to pay $150 to $250 to have one refinished.
End tables are the smallest types of tables, typically only with enough surface area to support a lamp, a stack of to-be-read books, and a coffee mug or two. As a result, these are the least expensive to refinish, at between $80 and $150.
There are three main costs associated with a table refinishing project: There’s the cost to strip the table, the cost to stain it, and the cost to paint it (if you so choose). Here’s what each step will cost you.
| Cost Factor | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Dipping and stripping | $100–$400 |
| Sanding | $20–$300 |
| Staining | $150–$300 |
| Painting | $50–$100 |
| Sealing | $80–$300 |
| Labor | $40–$100 per hour |
You'll pay between $100 and $400 to dip and strip your table, which involves stripping off the old paint and finish. Typically this involves dipping the table in a vat of solvent. After a few minutes, the table is removed and then scrubbed, rinsed, and allowed to dry. This can be very hard on the furniture, so you may want to consider having it hand-stripped as an alternative.
To ensure a strong bond for your paint or stain, you'll first need to sand the surfaces of your wood table. You can pay a pro about $300 to sand a table for you, but this is a simple enough task for DIY enthusiasts. You can rent a small palm sander from your local home improvement center for about $20 per day.
It costs $150 to $300 to stain a table. Stain protects your furniture more so than painting, and it also preserves the wood's natural look. You'll want to use an oil-based stain for a wooden table, as they penetrate deep into the wood and leave behind a rich color.
Expect to pay about $50 to $100 for furniture paint. Like with stain, you'll want an oil-based enamel paint for a wooden table. This will give the table a smooth finish, and it will last a lot longer than other types of paints.
Sealing is often done alongside staining, as both are helpful ways to protect wooden furniture against moisture damage. Expect to pay $80 to $300 to seal a wooden table.
A professional furniture refinisher charges between $40 and $100 per hour to refinish a table for labor alone. While this can mean paying at least twice as much for professional refinishing, the benefit is that a pro will handle every step and deliver a top-notch result in less time than it would take the average DIYer.
A gallon of stain costs $20 to $120 and will cover about 200 square feet. So, as long as you have the tools to do the job (like brushes and a sander), it may only cost you that much to stain a table if you do it yourself.
That makes this a good project for a homeowner who likes to take on DIY projects. It's relatively straightforward, there are no major safety concerns, and you can save a few hundred dollars.
However, if you’re short on time, you can always hire a professional to do the work for you. This also ensures that you get a perfect finish. Contact a furniture refinisher near you for a quote.
By far the best way to cut the cost of this project is to simply do the project yourself. If you have the know-how and the tools, all you'll need to pay for is the gallon of stain or paint. You can’t dip and strip a table yourself as that requires a large vat of solvent and the equipment to do it, but you can hand-strip a table using a thick paste finish remover or liquid stripper, and then scraping off the finish with a putty knife or steel wool.
Other than that, the only way to save money is by shopping around for a stain with great value. There's a wide range of prices for a stain based on brand and quality, so you might be able to find a gallon of relatively inexpensive stain if you look hard enough.
Home is the most important place on earth, which is why Angi has helped more than 150 million homeowners transform their houses into homes they adore. To help homeowners with their next project, Angi provides readers with the most accurate cost data and upholds strict editorial standards. We extensively research project costs to develop the pricing data you see, so you can make the best decisions for you and your home. We rely on reputable sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic journals, market studies, and interviews with industry experts—all to ensure our prices reflect real-world projects.
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It's perfectly fine to just refinish the top of your table instead of all of it. In fact, that's what most people do. After all, why finish the bottom of the table that nobody ever sees? Of course, depending on how exposed the legs of your table are, you might at least consider refinishing them.
It is possible to refinish a table without stripping and sanding it by repairing small dents. You’ll use a gel stain, and then put on a wipe-on finish. The downside is this won't result in as smooth and as deep of a finish as if you had stripped the table. Also, any blemishes on your table will remain.
A good way to determine that a table is not worth refinishing is if it's painted. Often they are painted to cover up flaws with the wood you won't be able to fix. You want a good, solid wood table that just needs a facelift rather than a rickety wood table with a lot of problems.
It takes the average person four to eight days to refinish a table. This sounds long, but the work time is only two to 10 hours. If you have prior experience, each step, including dipping, stripping, sanding, staining, painting, and sealing, can take just 30 minutes to complete. The wait time between each step results in a longer total time.
