Hoosier Cabinet Top: Strippin'

So I've inherited a Hoosier Cabinet top from my dad who was going to throw it in the dump.

Excuse me?

Thank you, Greer, for telling him to see if I wanted it first.

Is it even a question?

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to start the process of refinishing this baby.  She's not in the best shape but believe you me she is gonna look goooood by the time I'm done with her.


If you want to read about how I strip......read on ...
So the process begins (while the paint and stain dry on my Farmhouse Bedside Table) with stripping!

I was so scared of using the stripping agent the first time simply because my dad said, "If you get it on your skin, it's gonna burn like hell."  Remember that note?  Well, I was wonderfully safe about it because I still haven't had any burns and hope that good streak continues.

...haha...listen to me...stripping and streak....

Anyway.

I started with the doors figuring it's always nice to start with the smaller stuff so I can feel accomplished before tackling the bigger chunk. 

Before using the stripping agent, I used a paint scraper to scrape off any loose paint flakes.  You'll know when there are no more loose paint flakes because the scraper will sound like it's running across a glass plate (i.e. you will shudder).

When all/most/some of the loose stuff is off (or you can't take the noise anymore = me), don those rubber gloves and get ready for some fun!

Use a crummy old paint brush and old container (coffee can, unusable Tupperware) you can dedicate to furniture stripping.  Dump some of the stripping agent into the container and slosh the paint brush around in it. --- I prefer to err on the side of using less because I am not about to try to get the unused stripping agent back into the original tub. ---

Using the paint brush, slap the stripper onto the wood everywhere you wish to take off paint.

Give the stripping agent a few minutes for the chemicals to eat away at the paint.
Pick your paint scraper back up and just scrape away the layers of paint.  It may take a few rounds of applying the stripper and scraping to get off all of the paint.

When most of the paint is off, sand the entire thing.  I start with lower grit paper, then finish with higher grit like 300 or so to smooth everything out.

You're ready to paint!

***This should also be used with furniture that is stained because most likely it has a wax finish.  You'll need the chemicals of the stripping agent to eat away at the wax finish because paint will not stick to the wax.