How to Strip Furniture with Citristrip

A few weeks ago, I announced that I’m helping my sister, Carli with redoing her kitchen. We’ve had a few delays and set backs (typical for a kitchen, I guess), but I wanted to share where we are at. Then, I share some tips for how to strip furniture with Citristrip!

kitchen progress

The kitchen started off as a 1950’s yellow closed off space. It definitely had charm, but my sister wanted to open thing up and modernize them. She decided to keep the upper cabinets (they’ll be repainted), but the rest of the cabinets will be replaced to maximize the space and so a dishwasher can be added. Here’s where we are at now-

It looks way worst at first glance, but that’s the reality of renovations. The new floors look amazing, the walls are down that really closed this space off, and a beam is up that is supporting the ceiling. Can I just tell you how badly I can’t wait to paint?! It’ll change everything in here! We’ve actually done a lot of progress from here, keep reading for a sneak peek.

As a reminder, here’s the look we’re going for-

distressed chandelier / blue kitchen inspiration image / faucet / inspiration window with trees / wallpaper / hardware  / blue dutch door inspiration 

how to strip furniture with Citristrip

My sister Carli had a solid wood table she painted white with chalk paint. It was adorable, but showed every crumb at meal time. She wanted to go with a natural wood look. I thought it’d be fun to refinish the table for her! 

Let’s start with the video tutorial so you get an overview on what I did. Then, I’ll dive in with more details below:

If the video doesn’t work here, you can watch it on YouTube here. P.s. I’m trying to build that page up, so if you’d subscribe, I’d really appreciate that!

SUPPLIES

• Citristrip
• Paint Brush
• Gloves
• Wax
• Wire Brush
• Scraper

step 1

Start by working in a well ventilated area. The Citristrip container says you can use this inside, but if you do, make sure to turn on a fan and open a window. This stuff stinks! Next, put on some gloves. Citristrip eats through paint (or stain) easily so it’ll eat through skin too.

After everything is nice and safe, use a paint brush to brush on the stripper SUPER thick! The thicker, the better. Note, I use an old paint brush that I’m about ready to through out and then dispose of it after I’m done.

Second note, since I was working in the sun, I covered my stripped with plastic wrap (from my kitchen) to keep the stripper from drying out. That worked like a charm!

step 2

Next leave the stripper to work for at least 2 hours. Longer is better. Honestly, I’ve heard of people leaving it on for 18 hours! You want the Citristrip to work it’s magic. If you try to scrap too soon, you’ll have a lot of work on your hands. But if you leave it alone for longer, it’s easier to remove. 

After 2 hours, I used my scraper and the paint came off crazy easy on the table top. It literally peeled off. It was amazing!

The base was trickier, especially with the curves. I actually had to do a second coat of the Citristrip on the base. I should have done a thicker coat on the base and leave it alone longer at the beginning. It was easy to see that the top was ready, but the base wasn’t quite there. Be patient- it’ll save you hours of scraping with this project!

Another caution, make sure to dispose of the chunks of peeled off paint/stripper. Some of the stripper can be wet and will eat through whatever it lands on. Or if you step on it, you could damage the floors in your house. I just put it all in a baggie and throw it away.

step 3

And now, it’s time to give the table a quick sanding. This’ll give a soft surface and make sure the wood is paint free. On this table, some of the paint really soaked in and I couldn’t get it off with the stripper or sanding. But that distressed/weathered is exactly what we we’re going for, so I figured it was fine!

For the finish, I gave my sister 3 different options- white, brown and white, and brown. For these samples, I used white stain and brown glaze. My sister decided she just liked the natural finish. So I sanded off the samples to get the base back to all wood.

step 4

Finally, to finish off the table, we used some wax as the top coat. This stuff is SUPER easy to apply. Just spray it on, making to cover every inch of the table, and then rubbing in with a clean cloth. The finish is super soft and it doesn’t change the color.

after

Here’s the table in the dining room. You can even see a sneak peek of how pretty the chandelier will look over the table! I can almost squint and imagine blue and white wallpaper in here, gingham cushions on the bench seating, and tufted chairs. This corner will be SUCH a statement!!!

There’s the table all stripped. I love how it turned out. I’m using IKEA bookcases to create banquette seating with storage. It’ll be a cool hack! Give me a few weeks and this corner will be magical! 

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