Too Much time on my hands: Virgin Stripper

Paint stripper that is!

I have a super fun paint job in my living room, but it was feeling too dark and dungeonish.

I was thinking about repainting the walls, creating big bright art work, or painting my coffee table and dresser that are in there.

My mom came to visit last weekend and gave me the courage (and time) to strip some of the paint off of my furniture. I have always been way too scared to go there. The chemicals, the fumes, the mess, the time..ugh. So, after reading my favorite blogs and getting some stripping tips, I jumped right in.

My coffee table and dresser were both black. The table was a great thrift store find and solid wood. The dresser belonged to my husband's Oma and is very special to us
(read- do not ruin it).

Against all internet recommendations I bought cheap paint stripper. The Ace brand, and it worked wonderfully.

The table had 4 coats of paint over the original varnish (I change my mind a lot, what can I say) and two treatments with the stripper had every bit of paint off, and with minimal scraping.

Some sanding and three coats of polyurethane and everything looked BEAUTIFUL! I painted the base of both pieces a creamy white, remember I wanted to brighten the room, and I was not ready for the task of stripping both pieces in their entirety.