Peeling Paint - Pine TV Cabinet Makeover Part 1

It has been all about peeling paint in the workshop today. Follow along on our furniture makeover journey.

We are working on a previously painted, pine television cabinet. Unfortunately for us it has a quite few layers of paint. It was originally painted in Annie Sloan chalk paint and then waxed, this was then painted over again at a later date. The most recent paint, a blue, has chipped through to the white and beneath this the red. 

The only way to properly prepare this for refinishing is to remove the whole lot. Not for the faint hearted some might say! Although with the right tools it is very doable. 

You can see in the picture the many layers of paint.

The Equipment:

• Floor Cover, we used a large piece of cardboard.
• A large scraper - such as the Staalmeester Stripping Tool 
• Chip Brush
• Scouring pad
• Disposable gloves
• Eco Stripper Gel
• Cleaning Cloths
• Furniture Cleaner - such as Dixie Belle White Lightning
• A bucket of hot water

The process: 

Cover the floor area underneath your furniture as it is a messy process and put on your gloves.

Apply the stripping gel with the chip brush, fairly liberally over all areas to be stripped and leave on for approximately an hour.

Take your stripping tool and carefully scrape the paint which should have softened with the stripping gel. Work over the piece in a uniform manner.

Depending how much paint or wax you are trying to remove you may find you will need to reapply the stripping gel. As you can see from the picture, the top is now fully stripped. This was after two applications of stripping gel. The main body of the cabinet has only had one application of stripping gel and you can see the lower layers of paint after the blue paint has been removed. 

Keep going until all or most of the paint has been removed. Then fill a bucket with hot water mixed with a little Dixie Belle white lightning and clean off using the scourer and cloth. The scourer will help remove any stubborn bits of paint that still remains. 

Change the water and rinse off thoroughly.

Do not leave water to sit on the surface during the cleaning process or it can raise the grain of the wood. Wipe all off all the water before leaving to dry.

You will be left with the ideal surface for repainting or if you prefer you can leave the wood natural or stain and finish with some wax or oil. If you choose to do this you may need to give the surface a light sand.

Keep following to see the full furniture makeover journey of this Television Unit.