The Ugly Truth about Refinishing Furniture

I follow many blogs of ladies that refinish, refurbish, and repurpose furniture. Many of them have a new item(s) weekly. I don't know how they do it. Week after week they produce masterpieces. Today I started the process of stripping the paint off the desk I bought at Goodwill two months ago for bedroom redo #3. I honestly don't know why I even bother to refinish furniture because stripping a piece of furniture, for me, is the worst job ever. Evvvverrrr. I can only hope the end result will make the effort worthwhile. Here's the little beast before I began the process. Now I know why she came partially stripped. This little floozy had far too much makeup on -- four layers of glopped on paint. Blue. White. Pink. Turquoise.

One thing made the job easier, however, so I would like to give credit to a wonderful product. It has been recommended on many blogs, and by golly for once I took a piece of advice. I'm so glad I did. When I refinished a chair earlier this year I used a gobbily gook stripper that dripped all over everything and made a disastrous mess. I hadn't ever refinished a piece of furniture, so I didn't know how awful it was.

Citristrip is a must-have product for stripping paint. It's thick and stays put. It smells "pleasantly" citrus-like. And, most important, it works. My guess is it's nuclear waste, so you best wear gloves. You just paint it on and whaaalaaa...

And if you wait longer...

Best makeup remover ever. Why that paint practically got up and walked away. Just kidding. I had to work like the devil. Lands sakes it was torture! Nobody ever shows pictures like this next one. Here's the ugly truth about refinishing furniture...

Yup, nasty stuff. Three hours later I had almost all the paint off the drawers and most off the dresser itself.

Hats off to you ladies who do this on a regular basis. I don't know how you do it. I'm so sore it may be another month before I get the rest of the paint off. Till later. I need good, long soak in the tub...

PS - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that is burl wood. That was a nice surprise!