The finish on it was terrible. It was creamy white with brown flecks. The top layer looked like it was tobacco stained from years in a smokers home but didn't have any smoke smell. Not sure what it was. On the top of the dresser, there were several layers of paint. The very top layer was very strange. It was almost like a sprayed protective plastic of some sort. Beneath that was another layer of tan paint and then a layer of mint green. It had definitely been well loved.
When I started to strip the paint from the top, it began to melt and stretch and I could actually lift it and pull it off in large sheets. Hopefully I didn't expose myself to some freakish chemical. I've refinished a lot of furniture and I've never seen anything like it before. Weird.
A friend of mine thought she may want this dresser for her bedroom. She wanted to do it in a gloss black. We started with that idea in mind. She later decided the space she had planned for the dresser was much to narrow and we had to use something else. The dresser sat half painted and looking terrible in my kitchen (storing art supplies) for a while until one day when my friend Kristin called and told me she was looking for a dresser.
We pulled the half painted beast out into the yard and started to strip her down. Kristin wanted to learn how to strip furniture (doesn't that sound scandelous hee hee). Diet Cokes in hand, we got started.
Heres a before shot
We gloved up, put goggles on and got started. One word of advice, when using chemical strippers, ALWAYS wear chemical resistant rubber gloves (stripper will eat through regular thin rubber gloves)and protective eye wear. We both got stripper splashed on our glasses. Stripper burns like CRAZY! Be careful!
Here's the stripper we used
I wouldn't recommend using the black foam brushes. The best thing to use is a cheapo bristled brush. Stripper melts the foam brushes.I like this stripper because its very thick and tends to stay put better than some of the other strippers out there.
After you remove all hardware, put a piece of tape on the back side of each drawer covering the screw hole from the hardware. This will prevent the stripper from dripping through the front of the drawer and making a mess on the inside back of your drawer. Its also a really good idea as you remove drawers to grab a pencil and mark the bottom of each drawer with a letter or number denoting which order they go back in so they'll fit back in correctly when your done.
Brush on the stripper covering all painted areas. I lay it on kind of thick so it doesn't dry too quickly especially in the summer since I live in a very hot climate. If you lay it on to thin on a hot day it will still loosen the paint but then lay right back down and dry solid. At this point, be patient. Let the stripper work. I usually wait about 15 minutes then try to scrape the paint off in a small section. If it sticks, wait a while longer. You should be able to get almost all paint off and have very little to sand if you wait long enough. Use a putty knife to scrape the paint. Make sure to use a glass or metal container to put your scraped paint in the stripper will eat right through stryofoam and some types of plastic. You can see the stripper working well after about 10 minutes
The stripper was working well but the temperature outside was rising fast. We couldn't get all the drawers stripped before the stripper dried and we ended up with this
Not a huge deal if this happens, just reapply stripper, wait a few minutes and scrape again while its still wet. Don't waste your time trying to muscle through it.
Its really pretty easy to remove paint from the flat areas. The nooks and crannies can be a little tougher. The easiest way I've found to work with irregular spaces and detail work is to use a scrub brush or even a toothbrush in the smaller areas while the stripper is still wet. Be very careful to move the brush back and forth VERY slowly so you don't run the risk of flicking stripper up on your skin or in your face. Once you've loosened the paint from the nooks and crannies, grab a wet washcloth and wipe the paint particles and the stripper paste from the wood. You should be able to get it very clean. What you can't get off now you can lightly sand off later but its much easier to get it off while its wet.
If you decide you want to use the orginal hardware you can skip this step. If you want new hardware that won't fit the holes that have already been drilled, you'll need to fill the holes with wood filler at this point. This is the filler I usually use.
Its pretty sticky stuff. Try to use a putty knife (or even an old credit card) to press it into the hole left from the hardware. Run over it again with the side of the credit card or putty knife like you would if you were leveling off a cup of flour with the backside of a butter knife. You want it to be as flush as you can with the surface of the wood. As the filler dries, it will shrink just a bit. Add a bit more filler until it is flush or just higher than the surrounding wood. You will sand it level when you sand the rest of the dresser prior to priming it.
Every once in a while I run into an applique on a piece of furniture I just don't like. I wasn't really excited about this one and neither was Kristin. Most appliques are made of a mixture or resin and sawdust. They will soften a bit when cover them with stripper and let them sit for a few minutes. I usually give it about 10 to 15 minutes then very gently try to lift a small area with a putty knife. This one popped right off after about 10 minutes.
When we started this project, we weren't sure how we wanted to finish it. We debated completely stripping it and staining it. Once we had it stripped, we stained one of the drawers and immediately changed our minds. This dresser was born to be painted!
I love finished look of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Its fun to work with, has very few (if any) brush marks and has a unique finish I haven't seen with any other products. In Tucson, we don't have any Annie Sloan stockits but my parents are driving down from Utah in a few days and have agreed to pick some up for me. If you don't have it near you and want to give it a try, you can order it online from drab2fabpaint.blogspot.com They'll deliver right to your door.
We decided to paint the dresser in Annie Sloan Chalkpaint in the color "Primer Red." We should have the paint this weekend and will post pictures as we work. Thanks for looking!
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