The EASY Way to Strip Furniture

Lindsey
by Lindsey
3 Materials
$10
6 Hours
Medium
I know I just published a post showing you how I used two household items to refinish scratched wood, and even after I removed the scratches I still wasn’t happy with the piece. The desk I used for the post looked better after I removed the scratches, but the color just didn’t match the rest of my decor (or my style). So that's when I decided to strip the stain and poly off of this furniture piece.


Like I said earlier I was about to give up on my plans to do anything else to this desk due to, well, my desire for a quick fix. Let me show you a quick before and after.
It’s a solid wood antique table with a cherry finish. I love the style of the desk, but I don’t like the red finish.
I really didn't want to paint it, but I just didn’t want to hassle with stripping it either.  I had made up my mind that I would keep the desk as is; and then I got a tip from a buddy on Instagram (Angie) that changed everything. She said to use spray stripper on the desk and then wrap it with saran wrap and leave it overnight..


Method:
spray the desk with citristrip, cover the desk with saran wrap (there isn’t an easy way to do this), wait at least a few hours or overnight. remove the saran wrap and use your brillo pad or scraper and scrape away the residue. After all the residue is removed, spray a clean brillo pad or heavy paper towel with the after wash solution and wipe away any extra residue. Start sanding and continue sanding until you have reached your desired finish!


And that's it!



After I finished stripping most of polyurethane and stain, it was time to apply the after wash to remove the rest of the residue.
I used the electric sander for the top and some of the flat areas, but for the legs and the drawer, I used regular old sand paper and a little arm strength.
Letting the paint stripper set overnight with the saran wrap made it easy to remove the extra stain without much effort.
I picked up some new hardware from Ace’s Hardware. I wanted to keep with the “vintage antique” vibe.
I was happy with the transformation so far, but the red tones on the drawer and the top still bothered me.
I tried using a dark wax, a “weathered” stain, and a clear wax with no luck! All these products still brought out the red tones.
After doing a little research, I decided to try to bleach the wood. This is new, I had never done this before, but I’m so glad I did.


And thats it! For more information, head to my blog post linked below.


Suggested materials:
  • Citristrip   (hardware store)
  • Sandpaper   (hardware store)
  • Saran wrap   (grocery store)
Lindsey
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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