Paint to Pine | Chest of Drawers Before & After

10 Materials
$70
8 Hours
Medium

When I take on a new project thats covered in a thick paint, I don't always know what lies beneath.What is the condition of the wood going to be like? What kind of wood is it? Gotta get messy to find out!

I picked up this piece off of Facebook Market Place in the middle of the UVA campus.

I knew it would be a ton of work but I appreciated the clean lines and I could tell that it was a solid piece.

Step 1 | PREP


1st step was pealing off all of the fun stickers. You can tell how easily that coat of white paint was flaking off as well, revealing another golden layer underneath.

There wasn't any point in trying to salvage the old hardware. Most of the knobs were broken or missing so I just tossed them into the trash along with the stickers.

I rarely do this because of the mess that it creates but I decided that I would give stripping gel another chance. I picked up my Citris Strip from our local Lowe's.

Use heavy duty gloves when applying this stuff because it will burn if it touches your skin!

Step 2 | APPLY STRIPPER


I applied a layer of the stripper across the entire piece, wrapped it up in plastic (Dexter style), and let it marinate over night.

You don't have to leave it over night. I just did because I was on a time crunch that day.

Step 3 | SCRAPE OFF PAINT


The next morning, the paint had bubbled up and was ready to be scrapped off. Of course every piece that I decide to strip down HAS TO HAVE at least 5 coast of paint caked on it!Ugh.

Repeat Step 2 & 3 as needed


It took applying a second coat of stripper to get that 4th & 5th layer off.

Always put down a plastic drop cloth first before starting this process! You don't wanna have this stuff all over the garage or driveway.

After I had removed as much paint as I could, it was revealed that I was working with old pine!

Step 4 | SAND IT DOWN


Time to breakout the sander!I used 120 grit sandpaper to finish removing an extra stubborn paint and 200 grit to smooth out the surface.

Step 5 | CLEAN THE PIECE


After sanding I hosed everything down and let it dry in the sun.

I was absolutely thrilled about the condition of the knotty pine and all of it's character. It was a little yellow for my taste soooo.....

Step 6 | WHITE WASH


I mixed up a white-wash consisting of 1 pt Valspar Satin White Interior Paint/2 pts waters.

While working in sections, I applied the watery concoction very lightly with a brush and then wiped it away with a damp cloth after about 1 minute.

Any example of a raw pine drawer on the left and a white-washed drawer on the right. It's not a huge difference but it did help tone down that yellow.

Step 7 | TOP COAT


Final step was covering the whole piece with a coat of Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish in CLEAR MATTE.

Because the piece needed all new hardware, I decide on this set: House of Antique Hardware|Beaded Round Single-Post Pull ( HERE)

I'm so happy with the end result. It was a lot of work but totally worth it!

I would say this experience with the Citris Stripper was a success! I hope you liked this makeover & I already have another in the works. 


My Blog: Amanda's Mercantile.com ( HERE)


My Instagram: @amandasmercantile

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  2 questions
  • Elliebgood Elliebgood on Jun 02, 2020

    Beautiful piece!

    I cant tell you how refreshing it is to see a piece get a makeover without using chalk paint.

    Have a friend that slops it on everything she has, even an Eastlake piece!! 😳

    Whats the fascination with using it as you have to wax it yearly to maintain?

    Anyways..enough of my chalk paint rant.

    I absolutely loved this piece.

    Never tried Citrus Stripper but I do have many pieces in my workshop and a Lowes a mile away. Thank you for the inspiration.

  • Karen Karen on May 19, 2021

    CROZET Pizza? Any chance your in or near CROZET, Va? Got lots of relatives in that area of Va, waving HOWDY from cousin in TEXAS👋👋👋

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  • Benita Berry Benita Berry on May 29, 2021

    Nice job... I like the raw authenticity of the piece.... sure it has a lot of tales to tell...:)

  • Melinda Record Melinda Record on Jun 13, 2021

    I love this dresser transformation ~ your hard work paid off beautifully ~ you did a terrific job! I have used the Citrus Stripper on numerous pieces with "100 layers of paint" and each piece has turned out so nice ... excellent product!


    And I especially like that you did not paint-paint the dresser and simply applied a white wash and a matte varnish ... it's beautiful and has such a nice vintage vibe.


    Thank you for sharing! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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