Furniture Finishing Tips: Wood Stripping Basics
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I am loving the look of raw wood lately. It is classic and goes with everything. I see more and more of it popping up in catalogs, decorating magazines, and Pinterest. It is a classic country look that style setting retailers have restyled to fit their brand.
Have you been in a Restoration Hardware store since they re-branded a few years ago? Going into the store is like stepping into a dark Film Noir set, but with lots of raw wood and silver mixed in for masculine appeal. Not the look I am after, but when I look past the branding and see something that truly inspires me – like a perfectly designed table, I take note!
I would never want the whole “manufactured perfection” of any style setting retailer – as it is someone else’s style. I don’t want Shake n’ Bake perfection – I want to create a home that is perfect only for me and my family’s life + style.
Taking a few bits and pieces that inspire me from retail style and putting my own stamp on them is what takes the “manufactured perfection” out of the equation.
After being inspired by a raw wood table the brand sells, I stripped my kitchen table recently. I do not like to strip furniture, it is much easier to paint, but to get the look I am after – furniture stripping is required. Having had success with the table along with the little voice in my head that kept telling me “Just Do It” has me in the process of stripping another hand-me down piece. I have improved upon my method and have a few furniture finishing tips to share with you.
Do you remember the post I did on creating your own furniture by combining two non-matching pieces?
I have used these two pieces in many different ways, but they have been in my kitchen like this for awhile. I love the glass fronted cabinet, but not the aged stain that has taken on an orange hue over the years.
I never painted it, because even though I love painted furniture, I also think there needs to be a mix of finishes to create a nice flow and appeal to the decor. Too much of one thing ends up looking like a furniture showroom.
Since I liked the burled design in the wood on the cabinet – it is the piece I chose to stay wood tone.
Recently I pinned the photo below along with many others of pieces with raw or natural wood finishes. They helped make my decision to – go for it! Why have inspiration boards if we are never going to take action and make the inspiration happen to make our style + life the way we envision?
Photo: Country Living
It can always be re-stained or repainted if I don’t like how it comes out, right?
I am not entirely finished with the cabinet, but I will show you how the process is going.
How to Strip Stain and Paint from Wood Furniture
I know why I didn’t do a lot of furniture stripping in the past – it is smelly, messy and you need to be careful as the stripper is a powerful chemical.
Since I still had some stripper left from the brand I used for my kitchen table stripping project, I used it.
If I am going to strip furniture again, I would use CitraStrip. It is more natural and not as harmful to humans and the environment.
I took the cabinet out to my garage and placed it on a plastic shower curtain liner I bought at the dollar store. I opened the garage doors wide so there was plenty of ventilation and went to work.
supplies needed:
- Wood Stain and Finish Stripper
- Eye protection – clear goggles
- Rubber gloves – thick ones or double up thin pairs.
- Scouring pad or steel wool
- Bucket of water
- Old paint brush
- Rag
- Mineral Spirits
- Drop cloth or shower curtain
Make sure to wear eye protection, rubber gloves, long sleeves and pants. If the stripper touches your skin – it burns!
I used a rag and an old paint brush to apply the stripper to the cabinet. I let it do its work which took about 15 minutes.
I then dipped a piece of steel wool into a bucket of water and scrubbed it over the wood until I removed all the stripper along with the stain/varnish gunk. I had to clean out the steel wool pad a few times in the bucket of water while I worked.
I did the drawers first and then worked on the cabinet. After finishing the process, I wiped everything down with mineral spirits to remove any stripper residue.
I brought the cabinet back inside to work on a few detailed areas that still had some stain on them. I put some foil down to protect the top of the sideboard the cabinet is on.
I brushed on a tiny bit of wood stripper, let it sit for about 10 minutes and then scrubbed it off with a wet SOS pad. I rinsed it off with a damp rag and let dry.
I am very excited about how it came out. I may add a coat of paste wax to bring out the patina of the wood.
- To see some tips about how to care for an unfinished piece, check out this post: How to Take Care of Stripped and UnSealed Furniture
As I mentioned earlier – stripping furniture is a messy job – the inside of the cabinet took a beating from the stripper. One step forward for this project and one step back. Nothing a sanding block and a fresh coat of paint can’t fix.
Back out to the garage again for the cabinet to get more clean-up and polish.
Want to see the AFTER of this stripped cabinet? Check it out here:
Have you ever stripped a piece of furniture. Any tips to make the process less messy or easier?
Thanks for posting this (in 2013!). Here it is 2021 and it’s still very relevant. I don’t think furniture makeovers will ever go out of style. Esp the raw wood look. I found a great product to strip furniture recently by accident. I wanted to clean up a chest of drawers husband has that previously belonged to his grandfather. I bought Krud Kutter (I believe at Lowes) to clean the 50 yrs worth of Pledge and smudges. As soon as I sprayed it on all the color ran down the drawers, revealing blonde wood underneath. (No strong fumes either)
It was an orange color when I started which I didn’t care for but didn’t want to paint it bc its very sentimental to my husband.
I sprayed and wiped it several more times and now it is back to gorgeous raw wood. The product is a multi purpose spray that can be used for removing gum or latex paint, as well as a few other uses. I think I will apply wood wax you mentioned in the article to protect it.
I’m so glad I found your article and can’t wait to read more from you!
Hi Angel – I have heard of Krud Cutter, but have never used it. I will check it out. Thanks for taking the time to tell me about it. I love the raw wood look and have a large armoire that I want to strip. It is a big project that I hope I can get to sometime in the near future.
Thanks for reading my blog.
After reading your walkthrough, it doesn’t seem all that hard to strip wood. I do have a question though, would it go by quicker to sand away bits or would that damage the wood? I a have an old desk I’ve been meaning to take care of but I haven’t started to yet.
Hi Caden – Sure you can sand, but the surface may come out uneven if one area has stubborn paint or stain on it and you have to sand that area more. When you strip you are not altering the level of the surface. Since it looks like you have some connection to a sanding booth, that would make it very easy to strip the desk.
I have a solid oak dining table and chairs which cost 5.000 pounds it is stains very dark. Because it’s stained and not vanished I don’t know what to use to gat it back to bare wood. Have you any tips .
I am thinking of stripping my kitchen table, loved the whole driftwood looked and want to try, but my husband keeps saying it can’t be done because it’s not real wood like your table. It’s like a faux cherrywood table.Have you stripped a table like this? Thanks for any info
Hi G Evert – I didn’t think I could strip my table either. I thought it was laminate, but it turned out to be real wood. I was quite surprised. Try stripping a small area to see what is under the finish. If it is wood, you can strip. If it is laminate, you could make it look more like driftwood by sanding the surface to provide “tooth” and then use Minwax Stain in Driftwood. You can see the color in this post: https://inmyownstyle.com/2015/06/repurposed-mirror-coffee-table.html and this one: https://inmyownstyle.com/2015/05/how-i-changed-the-color-on-rush-seat-chairs.html
Experiment on a piece of wood in the color of your table to see if you like how the stain will look. That would be the best way to get the stripped wood look for on faux wood furniture.
I read you frequently, but never saw this gorgeous piece. The raw wood is something I’ve been working on with some pieces, too, and I love the look. Antique doors, reuse center kitchen cabinets, and a few pieces of furniture. I completely intended to paint, but when stripped, the wood is SOOo pretty! I find it almost funny, that under all kinds of finishes, there is this “new” look we’re (re)creating!
I have to 2nd the Citristrip recommendation. Leave it on overnight and the stuff squeegees off into a plastic bag. No space suit, no flesh-eating chemicals, nada. When removing stain, as already mentioned, it gets gooey, like BBQ sauce. However, you neutralize it with WATER — no stinky, dangerous mineral spirits — and again, wash things off with a scrubbie. If you get the goo on your hands, don’t freak. :) Just rub some Citristrip on like lotion, wait a minute or two and wash your hands. Done.
So at this late date, I hope you’ve tried it or SoyGel. Totally worth every penny, in that you use 1 coat for paint (leave it on overnight) and a 2nd if you really want to get the last pits of stain out of it. I do a door in a 24 hour weekend. Done. Time, money, product and safety. Yeah!! All saved.
use citristrip it is the best – can be used indoor very minimal smell, safe, takes off layers of paint and varnish with a plastic scraper . can be left to “work” for up to 24 hours, I left for about 8 hours and was amazed how layers and layers of paint just scraped off!
This is really very interesting. I will try this method today at home. Thanks for the post.
Hi,
I’ve stripped a 15×16 dinning rooms molding in a 160 year old home using ready strip. Why do people paint that beautiful molding :0(
During my trial and error time, I tried the heat gun and never saw a slower process. I tried those horrible, stinking chemical strippers that had to have plastic placed on it to work and hated it. The smell was awful and trying to get the plastic wrap just right was a pain, plus they didn’t work as well.
12 years ago or more I found Readi strip and feel its the easiest to use and honestly doesn’t smell.
I guess I had 5+ coats of paint and varnish below that to remove. The varnish was impossible to remove with heat. It just made it gooey and just moved around without really coming off. I was really frustrated, but the Readi strip had a spray for that and I swear it worked. I was thrilled!
A local big time painter told me there are paint remover strips out there that work great, but I can’t find them. He said you just put them on the paint and walk away till morning than just pull the strip off. If anyone ever heard of these I would love to know, but as of now I love and highly recommend Readi strip.
I wish everyone luck in their stripping adventures. It’s so much fun to see what’s beneath all that paint.
My next move will be to try and strip furniture. It has to be easier than decorative molding :0)
Oh, on a side note, I recommend an old butter knife for those deep recess’ some decorative wood has.
Kath
I like that you refinished this piece. It looks awesome.
A few months ago I refinished two hardwood floors in my home. Using gunstock stain and polyurethane. Being a first timer it has blemishes bc of the floor sander leaving start and stop marks. This was not visible till after all was dry. Stripping is a much better idea from sanding. Keep posting, I’ll keep reading. Thanks
Hi Diane!
Love your blog and I wanted to let you know that within the last month I had to strip an old maple desk from the 50’s that had a couple coats of paint, some oil based. I used Smart Strip which you can buy online or at Sherwin-Williams and I was awesome!
It has a fluffy pudding consistency to it so it easily stays on vertical surfaces and they say it stays moist for up to 24 hours, but I didn’t wait that long. It’s water based, there’s no odor and best of all, I didn’t even have to use gloves! Can you tell I love the stuff?!
The downside is the price, it is pricey, but if you wait for it to go on sale at SW you’ll save some cash. If you’re planning on doing more of the raw wood thing, which I love, especially wood and paint on the same piece, check into it, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Hi Suzanne – Thanks for sharing this. I will be buying Smart Strip for my next furniture stripping project.
Ive looked again at what I managed last night with the Nitromors, its taken off some of the finish, but its not great.
Thanks for the tip Vivien. I’ve ordered Homestrip by Ecosolutions from website Toolstation. Looking forward to trying it out on Monday when it arrives. Hoping the environmentally friendly version is more effective- (plus it has the advantage of me being able to work indoors- which is benefit in our British climate)
I have no experience. But gosh, you make it sound so easy….. eccckkk. I am a coward.
Love what you did with the dresser. Here in UK we have a paint stripper that is non-toxic, I didn’t even use gloves! it has no smell and no fumes it is the best stripper I have ever used, it removed several layers of paint and a layer of varnish! produced in EU by Eco Solutions Ltd
Hi Vivien – Sounds wonderful, I will have to look for it or maybe order it online. Thanks
I like to use Ready Strip Plus and Citristrip. I found both at Home Depot. The Citristrip works well with paint (still messy), but I found that it became more liquidy when I used it to remove just stain. My favorite for stain removal is the Ready Strip (green container). It has a slight sweet sent that’s not too overpowering when used in a well ventilated area. You have to leave both of these products on longer than the harsher chemical strippers, but they are better for the environment and easier to deal with in my opinion.
Thanks Janet -I will check out both on my next trip to the home improvement store – which will probably be tomorrow, as it seems I am there just about everyday :)
Hi Diane,
I recently ran across your blog when searching furniture makeovers on google. I was immediately hooked! We have very similiar styles. I will be moving into a new house in June and I will be stealing some….well, most of your ideas once we are settled! This furniture stripping post is so helpful. We have a terrible little dresser that is half stripped and now we are trying to forget it exists. Because we didn’t know the right way to do it, the project was a nightmare. I now feel I can start again and do it right. Thanks for the blog!
Thanks for taking the time to say hi Julie. How exciting to be moving into a new house in June. I bet your mind is on overload about now. Enjoy the process of decorating your new home.
You may want to try Soy Gel by Franmar. It is non-toxic. You can order online or find out what local retailer carries it. I bought it at Woodcraft. I used it on a small intricate table that I had bought on craigslist. It had 3 different coats of paint on it and came out great!
Hi Desi – I will check it out now. Online shopping is the best. Thanks for sharing what you know with the rest of us.
I have used Soy Gel by Franmar also. It works slower than the toxic strippers but it doesn’t dry out as fast. You can apply it, cover the surface with saran wrap, and leave it alone for a while, even overnight.
Thanks for the top Susan, sounds like a great option. I will look for it and give it a try.
Hi Diane – Love the look of the raw wood….and I love reading your blog! Call me crazy but I kind of like the “distressed” look the inside has now. I think it adds to the charm of the piece. Can’t wait to see the finished product!!
Hi Tonya – The photo does not show how bad it really is. Bubbled up with a brown orange tinge – not a pretty distressed look.
This post has come at the perfect time- I am new to furniture stripping too. Im renovating a dresser for our barn, and getting nowhere with sanding, so I’m going to strip it instead. Ive bought Nitromors this morning- will be trying it tonight when the kids are in bed. It seems pretty toxic!
Hi Abi. It Nitromors a brand that is sold in the UK? I have not heard of it before. How was it to use?
Yes- I’m in Devon in England. Ive got to say the Nitromors was
a)Very stinky!
b) Not very effective. I had read conflicting reviews on the product, but decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Though it was relatively simple to apply, it just didn’t blister at all like it was supposed to.
I only had what I thought was a thin layer of varnish to remove, but now I’m wondering if it is actually a stain….being new to furniture renovating, I’m making it all up as I go along.
Love the mix/matched look of the two cabinets! I have stripped (furniture) before and I use the Orange stuff…Citristrip. It works well but is gooey and gross. I want to try those heat guns that are supposed to make the paint bubble up. How are you going to treat the raw wood after it’s stripped? I’m curious to see! PS you have a great collection of white china!
Hi Heidi – I am going to use clear paste wax over it. I may add some liming wax – but am still on the fence about that. The photo with all the white ironstone is from Country Living. I do have a collection in my dining room, but only about half of what is the CL photo :)
I have used the orange stuff on delicate pieces and regular wood. It is great. Less smelly and I feel much safer using it. I actually used it indoors with the back door open and fans going to stay out of the rain and humidity.
I just read this blog today and they were removing paint. It seems rather costly, but if you use it enough it might be well worth it. Here is the link to the blog: http://anurbancottage.blogspot.com/
Hi Claudia – That is a very cool paint remover. I am not sure it would work with sealer and stain removal, though. I will have to look into in more detail. It would be worth it if it did. Not as messy, less smell, and zero chemicals.
Love the basket as well atop your hutch full of faux hydrangeas.
Can’t wait to see the finish!!
Looks good so far. I am in the process of learning tips about painting furniture. I have several painting projects I have been working on lately so I have been reading lots of post about painting. What is paste wax??
Hi Sheena – Paste wax is a protective finish you put over chalk paint. When you buff it with a soft cloth it brings up a protective barrier and shine. You could also use clear non-yellowing polyurethane to protect the finish instead of wax. Wax works best on unfinished or stained wood as well as chalk paint. Most latex paints alone are not porous enough to allow the wax to penetrate. You are better off using Polyurethane to protect painted pieces done in latex paint. Oil based paints usually don’t need a protective finish.
I am familiar with stripping and and painting with lots of products, because my dad was a painting contractor. But one thing I haven’t had experience with is stripping a piece and keeping its natural wood finish. I just stripped a solid wood cherry buffet that I plan to use as my bathroom vanity with a vessel sink. So my question is, how do protect the surface from water but still keep it the natural wood look without being shiny? I’m thinking 4 to 6 coats of something and have purchased a BM oil based poly, but worried that’s it will be too shiny. I have 9 grandkids that will be washing hands a treat this sink and vanity! ?
The Benjamin Moore poly is a satin, but still afraid it will be shiny and compromise the beautiful natural wood look. They said they did not make a matte finish. But I know oilbase is the best water protection.
Hi Cynthia- Polycrylic by Minwax comes in a matte formula and so does Rustoleum Chalked. You can find them here: http://amzn.to/2xkhhNU
Hi again Cynthia – I responded to your other comment with the products you could use, but I also wanted to tell you that around the sink in my powder room, I used paste wax. It is semi-shiny, but does dull with time. It protects the wood very well as any water that gets on it simply beads up and stays on top. When it does wear, all I will have to do is rub and buff on another coat.