Years ago I was given an antique telephone table, this table has traveled with me from my very first apartment to now and its purpose has changed over the years. The first time i painted it I chose a rich, chocolate brown, the 2nd time I layered a turquoise colour over and sanded around the joints so the brown still faded through and it had that antiqued look to it. This time, i wanted to go the opposite direction, lighten it up and make it feel fresh and for the first time utilize it as a plant stand. Now you'll have to forgive me, I hadn't planned on starting this blog when I refinished this piece so I don't have any before or during pictures but I still wanted to share this journey because I think it's a great example of how you can breath life into a piece by getting creative.
My original idea was to sand it down to the raw wood and stain it with a light coloured stain. For some reason, Ben offered to help me tackle this project and we spent probably 6 hours sanding it down and barely made a dent. Layers of paint were harder to remove than I had realized and I was quickly regretting my decision, as was Ben. Luckily, later that week we stopped by Ben's Dad's place and we were laughing about how long the pair of us had worked on sanding that little table when Ben's Step Mom asked "Why don't you try paint stripper?" I had never thought of it, I had never used it before but I was ready to try anything rather than sand the rest of my summer away. She luckily had a big jug of it sitting there and told me to take it and let me tell you when I tried this I realized how this was going to be a game changer for me. If you are refinishing something and there is paint on it, do not be afraid to try this stuff like I was because it is so worth it!
Here's a few tips when applying this stuff- it is extremely hard on your skin so wear thick rubber gloves- I wore latex gloves under heavy rubber gloves just to be safe. It gets messy so I recommend setting up on a plastic drop sheet to save you clean up. You use quite a bit and if you have it on a plastic tarp you can also reuse some of the excess that runs off which will save you in the long run. I poured the liquid on the table and then spread it across the surface leaving it a little thick to really saturate the surface. Let it sit for a minute and then take a putty knife to scrape the paint right off the surface. If you have nooks and crannies that are hard to scrape clean take a rag and wipe the paint off, you may need to take a sharp edge to dig into crevices but it should be fairly easy to remove.
After majority of the paint was removed I let it dry and then gave the entire piece a quick sand with a heavy grit paper (80 grit) to remove any remaining bits. I then took a fine grit paper(120 grit) and gave it a sand to smooth out the surface. There were still some areas that were just too tricky for me to get at so I decided to paint the outer parts of the table where there was still some colour distortion and leave the drawer natural wood. I used a milk paint on this piece so 2 coats of wax finish were added to help protect it, I swapped out the handle and voila! I had a new plant stand and the rest of my summer to enjoy!
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