So I bought this little dresser many months ago from Craigslist for twenty buckaroos.   It was the perfect fit for my mud room niche by the back door.  I needed its drawers to store all sorts of family things like those gym membership cards I rarely use, or the computer cords that belong to some contraption lost somewhere in my house. 

I also needed it to store winter scarves, hats, mittens and other seasonal items.  This dresser’s proportions were perfect and its price was right !  So I brought it home and tolerated its chippy white paint job for many moons until it dawned on me. 

This dresser was the perfect candidate for a little experiment I call ‘The Patina Project’.   I wanted to transform this little dresser into something with a little more personality and a Provencal feel.  I also wanted to find out just how two strippers would match up in the ring.  Old school chemicals vs. nouveau citrus paint peelers. 

The victim:   

There were several layers of paint all over this baby, and I had no idea what kind of paint it was.  Since my ultimate plan was to give it a rustic antique French country look, I boldly decided to strip all those layers off.   To me, painting over it would have felt like putting on dirty socks after a shower.  Or clean socks on muddy feet.  Or something sort of like that. 

Enter the two contenders.  In the left corner, weighing in at 32 fluid ounces was the old school KleanStrip, famous for its speed and paint crushing abilities.  Dangerous.  Flammable.  Unpopular with the greener public for its toxic reputation and the methylene chloride pumping through its veins. 

In the right corner, weighing in at 32 fluid ounces, was the young newcomer Citristrip.  A kinder smelling non-caustic version missing the methylene chloride, daring to challenge the old school establishment.  

Read the rest of this entry »

I heart strippers. 

No not those kind.  I knew your mind would go there. 

No, I like the kind of strippers that take layers of paint off an old piece of furniture.

Last week, I was working on a dresser and nightstand combo for my brother’s bachelor pad.  I found this set at the local thrift for $25 dollars for the pair.  They’re solid wood !  However, the chipped pistachio green paint job was not the shade we were going for. 

So with the help of a chemical stripper, I took them from this:

To this:

I picked these pieces because of their modern streamlined design and the pewter hardware.  Also because they were inexpensive and the perfect size for his small bedroom space.  He rents in San Francisco where large bedrooms are very rare.  I thought it a good idea to strip the paint off of the pieces to get right to the wood so we could start over with primer and paint.  A chemical stripper was the fastest answer. 

Read the rest of this entry »