How To Strip Paint Off Furniture The Fun Way!

Heather
by Heather
$11
12 Hours
Easy
Did that get your attention? Good! Too bad it's a lie...lol. There is absolutely no fun way to strip paint off furniture. It was time consuming and hard but very worth the end result.
So...there once was a coffee table that I found on Craigslist. It was different, unique and a great price ($60)! It was also way to big and wouldn't fit in my car. So I asked begged a friend from work to go with me and pick it up, he agreed and I came home with this beauty!
I thought that because it had so much storage it would be perfect for my tiny home and it was! When I got it I knew that I would be painting it, it was a dingy looking off white with tiny chips missing out of the paint. So, fast forward 2 years and after much use out of the coffee table chest it was still not painted. I seriously have far to many projects going on which I love and hate at the same time. Mark is a trooper for not giving me a hard time about it...but then again he has just as many projects going on outside. :)
2 weeks ago while sitting in the den with my feet propped up on the table I noticed a bubble in the paint and the kid in me just HAD to mess with it. It pealed off a little sheet of paint! What does the kid do? She keeps pealing off every little chip that she can get her hands on...for around an hour. I was thinking this is going to be so easy! All of this paint is just going to come right off. Then, out of no where all of the fun was gone! It stopped coming off in sheets and started just chipping in little tiny tiny tiny pieces. :( What sadness...now I had to address the coffee table because were before it had just looked a little..."shabby chic" and now it looked like a mess.
While looking at the wood under the paint I was a little taken with how pretty it looked. Now...I am a paint EVERYTHING kind of girl. So the thought of actually taking paint off? Still kinda blows my mind but I decided that I wanted to strip it down so I could get the full picture of how the wood looked before I decided what I wanted to do with the chest.


So off to Lowe's I went! I decided to go with Citristrip Stripper Gel. It is the only stripper that I found that can be used indoors and I wasn't about to move this beast outside (make sure to pick up gloves while your there). It was very easy to put on and actually smelled pretty good! I just used an old paint brush and slopped all over the table. I think the key to using Citristrip is applying generously. The places on the table where it was thicker were much easier to scrap off. After you have applied to all areas put trash bags on to move the process along a little quicker.



Citristrip recommends leaving the product on from 30 minutes - 24 hours. I left mine on for around 1 hour and this is what it looked like.


It was starting to bubble up so I thought I would do a test spot. The test spot scrapped right off so I thought I was good to go. MISTAKE. Really, I think the test spot just had a thick layer of Citristrip on it because once I took all of the trash bags off and really started scrapping everything it wasn't coming off easy. I decided to get as much off as possible and then go back and do round 2.
At this point...I was wondering why in the world I thought this would be a good idea and by the look on my husbands face he was wondering the same thing. Round 2 pretty much did the trick. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy even after the 2nd coat. So. Much. Scraping.
After the 2nd coat all that was left was just to go back and sand it down a little. It felt a little sticky so I decided to give it 2 days to completely dry out...and give myself a break! After it was dry and no longer sticky I just sanded it down. That part was very easy, thanks to my sister letting me borrow her palm sander!
Love the final product, now I just have to decide if I should paint or stain it?! Any thoughts??? Was this time consuming? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes!


What about you, any furniture that is begging to be striped?! I would love to see your before and after photos!


Now help me decide, do I paint or stain this beauty?!?!?!
Heather
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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 3 comments
  • Tris Smith Tris Smith on Dec 29, 2014
    Wax it or use coconut oil.
    • Heather Heather on Dec 29, 2014
      @Tris Smith Thanks!!! I actually went with a stain! I'll post pictures soon!
  • Molly M Melsbury Molly M Melsbury on Mar 30, 2020

    I have a vintage dental cabinet, beautiful oak under the paint. I want to do this but my husband won’t go away, he thinks he needs to help!

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