I did a fun redo this weekend with the help of many family members (Mom, Dew, Kyle, Aunt Paula, Uncle Steve –thank God for them). I don't think I would have finished it without their help. My dad must have held a spot light on me for an hour while I worked at night.
I got this piece for free, and it was in pretty miserable shape. I generally like to stay as far away from stripping paint as possible, but I knew it would have to be done to this guy. It already had 2 layers of paint and the surface was extremely uneven — not something a good old-fashioned sanding could get rid of.
I thought I'd outline some stripping tips for you guys (not that kind of stripping). First of all, only strip if you need to (this does apply to both kinds of stripping). It is tedious and can break the most patient of people. I always use Citristrip. It's low-odor and works very well. You put it on in a thin layer, but try not to stroke too much. It's not like painting — as much as possible just do one clean stroke. Cover all the paint and let is set for several hours.
Eventually, the paint will begin to bubble up and you can do a test area. If you did it right, it should come off clean with a spatula.
I had to do this process twice to get all the nooks and crannies. But afterwards, you'll see, it looks pretty darn clean. I considered leaving some of the wood showing actually, but it had some pretty nasty water stains on top, so I painted the whole thing.
I used Annie Sloan's chalk paint (the best paint) in Provençe. And I only gave it one coat, because I liked how some of the wood still shows through. It came with this beautiful brass handles and plates, and I hadn't planned on doing anything to them. But then my Aunt Paula showed me that a little steel wool will do for old hardware! Who knew?!
This took many hours of work, and like I mentioned, a lot of help from my family, but I really like how it turned out. And now, every time I look at it, I'll think of an awesome weekend well-spent. Here is my aunt and mom modeling the final product.
