Stripping paint or stain off an old piece of furniture can seem daunting. It is a bit of a messy job, but it’s not too difficult though. This post will walk you through step-by-step of how to strip furniture and then how to restain the wood – or paint it if that’s the route you want to go.
I knew there would come a day when I would want to strip the paint off a piece I had so meticulously painted.
I didn’t know that day would come so soon.
Don’t get me wrong.
I still love my boldly colored painted pieces. But…
After the black and white gallery wall in the living room was completed, I knew the finishing touch would be to make the red buffet stained once more…
When I announced to Grunt Labor that I was stripping the buffet, he nearly fell out of his seat. He – A. couldn’t believe that I wasn’t just painting it a different color and B. couldn’t believe I would actually be able to get off the multiple coats of paint that were on this piece.
Never doubt a woman.
Never, ever, ever.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?
When this buffet first came into my possession, it was in its original stain job. It was part of a dining room set that belonged to my great aunt and then my father and now me. When we moved into the beloved foreclosure, I opted to paint it a blue color – almost periwinkle.
At the time, I loved that color. Also, at the time, I had no clue really what my decorating style was.
The buffet eventually got painted red…
The red was bold. I loved it. But then the black and white gallery wall happened and I didn’t want the buffet to take away from the wall.
So here we are now:
And here is how we got there…
Disclosure: This post was a collaboration with HomeRight. All opinions are 100% mine.This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
How to Strip Paint or Stain off Furniture
(with less mess!)
What You Need:
- Heat Gun – This makes stripping furniture so much easier with much less mess. I used my HomeRight Heat Gun.
- Metal Scrapers – Mine came with my heat gun.
- Sander – You will have to do a bit of sanding after the stripping to smooth everything up. I highly suggest using a power sander. I used my Dewalt Sheet Sander. If you aren’t familiar with using power sanders, I’ve got a How To on them here.
- Tackcloths
- Wood Stain
- Lint Free Rags (Optional – I prefer to use them when applying stain.)
- Topcoat (I would go with either a Polyurethane or Polycrylic.)
- High Quality Paintbrush
- Breathing Mask
Step 1 – Stripping Paint From Wood:
The first thing you want to do is move the piece you are stripping to a location that can get messy and is well ventilated. I do this kind of stuff in my garage. Remove all doors and drawers and take off any hardware. Plug in your heat gun.
I turned the fan speed up to 2, and the temperature to high.
**Note: This heat gun has been discontinued at HomeRight and replaced with the Digital Temperature Heat Gun. It works basically the same way – I even did a post on how to use it here.
You may not need to turn the heat up that high for your piece. I knew that I had two different paint colors with multiple coats of each, so I would need a lot of heat to power through it.
Put on your breathing mask – you don’t want to inhale the fumes.
Now, get a metal scraper. Place the nozzle of your heat gun on your furniture, with the scraper just behind it.
Slowly, but constantly move both the heat gun and scraper at the same time. Your paint should come off like butta’. In the photo above, you can see a few little remnants of paint – that’s ok, it will sand right off in the end.
Be sure to not leave your nozzle in one place for too long – this can cause you to burn your wood.
Step 2 – Removing Paint From the Nooks & Crannies:
Stripping the flat edges on furniture is pretty easy, it just takes some time. The nooks and crannies are a bit more complicated. For those, instead of a flat metal scraper, you need one with more points. I used the triangle one that was included with my heat gun.
Use it exactly the same way you did with the flat scraper. Place the nozzle of the heat gun right in front of your scraper and move them both at the same time slowly, but constantly.
Step 3 – Sanding Paint Remnants
This is what one of the doors looked like after I had stripped the paint off with the heat gun:
To get rid of those remnants of paint, sand your piece with a medium grit sandpaper. It will come right off. You will probably have to do a little hand sanding in the nooks and crannies. Here’s what it looks like after sanding:
Notice the little dark spots in some of the nooks and crannies. That’s ok – you won’t really see them once the new stain is on. There were a couple spots that I sanded too much and the stain didn’t adhere there as it did on the rest of the piece. You’ll see that in a minute.
Step 4 – Clean the piece
Wipe down the piece with a wet rag and then go back over it with a tack cloth to pick up any extra bits of dust.
How to Restain Wood
Step 5 – Restain the Wood
I prefer to stain with a lint-free cloth, instead of a paintbrush. Just open up your stain, dip your cloth inside (don’t need much at all), and wipe the stain onto the furniture.
Work in small sections. Go back over the area with a clean cloth after a minute or two to pick up any excess stain.
Step 6 – Protect it.
While I haven’t done this yet (I know – I’m so bad), you need to protect your piece. You can do this by giving it a coat of polyurethane or polycrylic with a good quality paintbrush.
Here’s a closeup of the piece now. Its looks lighter than what it really is, as the sun was shining right on it at this time.
It took a while, but stripping and refinishing this piece of furniture was so worth it.
It works perfectly by lending a vintage / rustic feel to the very modern wall.
You can see a couple of small spots on the top and bottom edges of the small drawer where I sanded too much. Be careful not to repeat that mistake. 🙂
Have you ever stripped and restained furniture before?
Looking for more staining and stripping tips?
How to Refinish Wood Furniture & Cover Stains without Sanding or Stripping – a great way to update stained furniture if it’s not in too bad of a condition.
How to Use a Heat Gun and 15 Things to Do With It – more things that you can tackle with a heat gun.
Why your paint is peeling and how to stop it! – Peeling paint on a furniture makeover? This post will walk you through what might be happening and how to fix it.
You know you don’t wanna miss any of this crazy.
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Just bought a piece similar to the one mentioned on this post at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago, and I need to remove the paint and stain it. This would work wonders.
I have a little upright chest that my great grandfather made from fruit crates, probably in the 30s. It has been painted many many times, and the current pink is not cutting it. I’d love to be able to clean it up and finish it for my girls with a new heat gun!
I would use it to help me antique my hope chest!
Good Gravy! It looks Ah-Ma-Zing! Love love love all of it!
We live in a hundred year old house. Everything has MULTIPLE layers of paint! The possibilities are endless. lol
I need to remove some paint off a side table, this would help so much!!!
Love how you’ve used the same piece for so many different looks! Like the wood look with the black gallery wall!
My solution. Call my talented daughter. Leave it to the professionals. Great article.
I want this, I want this, I want this!!!! I have several projects this would work with – including my current redo – an old rocking chair.
Great giveaway!
Laura
To strip all of my woodwork of layers of paint!
The gallery wall and stain sideboard look amazing! I’d love to try the heat gun on a piano I inherited
Wonderful job! It looks beautiful.
I really want to make a snake bowl! And I could strip some old furniture too.
My son has a dresser that was my husbands and was his grandpas before that, I would love to use the heat gun to strip and redo that dresser!!
It’s perfect! And I’ve always been too scared to strip a piece, but I think I could do this! I’d love to win!!
This transformation is incredible. Well done. You make it look so easy. Now I believe that even I could do something like that!
Oh wow Jenna !
How long did it take you?
I went slow with it, Windi. I knew if I didn’t, I would get stressed out. I spent about 2-3 hours a day working on it over the course of four or five days. That’s stripping to sanding to staining. 🙂
Awesome job, Jen! I love the red but the stain is better with the black wall. You have a lot more patience than I do to remove all that paint and then stain. 🙂 I won’t enter the giveaway as I know others need it more.
xo
Pat
I would use the heat gun to strip paint off our railings before we repaint them
Love your makeover, but I also liked the red too. You were right the right just wasn’t working with the black and white wall. I know this was soon grunt work to get all of the read removed. You did a great job on this makeover project.
What a great tutorial! It turned out beautiful! I hope you’ll share this project over at the Motivational Monday link up this week.
Wow…I’m super impressed, I thought that’d b waaay more difficult! Thanks 4 the tips!!
I tend to mainly buy furniture that isn’t painted already, but if I had the heat gun I would be inclined to rescue pieces with bad paint jobs!
I would use the heat gun to repair the tear in my screen.
I would use the heat gun on an old cabinet that is in need of a paint job!
I would use the heat gun for all future stripping projects! I am working on a dresser right now that it would have been perfect for. Sadly I am in the middle of a mess with Citristrip 🙁 A heat gun would be much more sensible for clumsy ol’ me LOL Thanks for hosting this giveaway, and I LOVE the buffet in all of it’s previous colors, but especially restained! Great job!!
I have 3 dressers I would use it on.
I’d like to try using it for stripping wallpaper.
I would use it to strip a painted cabinet in my bathroom. It wasn’t done well the first time and it’s chipping!
The tv hutch in the living room. Been planning on re-doing for awhile so this would be perfect!
Holy cow, your redo is stunning! I would use the heat gun for stripping about 20 coats of lacquer off an old dresser of mine. I have grand plans of turning it into a bathroom vanity. We also have some 40 year old linoleum tiles to pry up, I’m sure a heat gun would go a long way in making the job.. slightly less difficult.
I need to strip paint off some trim and crown molding, my heat gun just died so this would be perfect timing.
I have several NICE Danish made kitchen chairs. Which I have been meaning to stip and do something else with for.. 8 years now? LOL Time I did them
I would love to have a heat gun so I could strip an old trunk. I’d love to strip it down to bare wood and a heat gun would really speed up the process!
Looks like a lot of work, but well worth the effort.
I would use it to peel off wallpaper,Everybody knows how that stuff is to get off walls.
I love this gun!!! I would use it for all my DIy projects for my mother
My bathroom has OLD UGLY fake tiles and they are a booger to get off. I have tried everything to get the glue off that is left behind after pulling that stuff off. So I will use it to get that off of the walls in the bathroom.
I would use it to refinish furniture that I buy at garage sales. This would be great.
I would use it for arts and crafts for the kids .
I would use this to strip the painted cabinets in my home so I can refinish them.
Taking off the adhesive left on the hardwood floor after pulling up the nasty peel & stick tiles that were down there when we moved in.
I’ve always wanted to try one of these — seems much better than using chemicals. I have a curb find dresser that could use a stripping. 🙂 Thanks!
I would use it on an old door we found in our attic when we bought our farm. Thank you
I have the most adorable thrift store find that probably has about 5 layers of different colored paint that could use a facelift and I know the HomeRight heat gun would do wonders for it 🙂
Love this piece
I am enjoying reusing furniture peices. I recently refinished a coffee table and I cure could have used a Heat gun. Stripping was tedious!
I just got a larder cabinetfrom a local thrift store i want to restain. I will be following these instructions.
we have a bathroom remodel coming up so maybe for that
I would use this to strip down a table that I bought at a garage sale.
I would use it to strip the paint off some of the woodwork in my 90 year old house. And play with furniture!
I would use it for crafts.
Girrrl, love your style!!! I would use that heat gun on an old chair and anything else I could find.
Thanks for the step by step! I can’t wait do this with an old dresser.
Awesome renovation! If I were to be the lucky winner, I would use this heat gun to fix the peeling paint on my front porch. Then, I’d probably have fun with some furniture redos. 🙂
Looks great, luv it! Though, I have to admit I like the red. I have some similar projects-actually inherited some of my dads furniture when he moved-currently sitting in garage until I can redo it! So winning this would be perfect! 🙂 🙂
We’re re-doing all the rooms in our house – we have a lot of paint to strip!
I’d love to use the heat gun to strip and refinish a couple of pieces of furniture that my mom found for us at garage sales. I’d also like to try it when winterizing my windows in a few months.
I have a night stand just waiting to be refinished. This would make that process so much easier.
I’d love to see if this would work on a couple spots on our deck that need to be repainted!
That looks absolutely amazing Jenna!!
Thank you, Jenn!
I’m redoing the bathroom vanities that have layers of paint. This would be ever so helpful!
I have a garage full of projects, old dressers, book shelves, desk, coffee tables, hutch, etc that I would get great use out of the heat gun!!! It’s not within my budget right now to purchase so winning would be amazing! Fingers crossed! 🙂
I would use it to redo my vanity that i have repainted several times and is currently black and I’m tired of it!
I do not have a project now, but after reading this I am going to look at the furniture at the thrift store for a project.
I like to bring old furniture back to life,which is my own special projects and this amazing tool would help me to do so.
My daughter has become quite the DIYer and her next project is to tackle some inherited furniture. This would be great for her!!! 🙂
I would use this for my kitchen table and buffet. Thanks for a great giveaway!
I would use it to remove paint from furniture before repainting.
I would use it for a dresser we are refurbishing and to help remove wall paper.
I have a hutch I got my my parents house that is in desperate need of some tlc and a major redo!
I have a dresser that I would love to use it on
I’m renovating an estate older colonial home and would love to have this.It would assist with wallpaper removal. I have even found a fireplace in the home that had been boarded up and wallpapered over.This would be very helpful and truly get a lot of use.
Running costumes for me
We have during furniture of many colors, nothing consistent. I would like to strip the furniture and make it all one color.
I have an end table I need to take the old paint off of and repaint.
I love to redo furniture. I would use the heat gun to strip furniture to redo it.
I still have my childhood furniture and would love to strip and repaint it. The Temperature Heat Gun would make the stripping part so much easier.
I have a lot of different furniture that I need to work on. This would help so much.
I have an antique armoire that was passed down from my great grandmother and I would love to strip it to its natural wood.
I need to redo some end tables.
I want to strip down and repaint the stools for my husband’s work bench area. They are in the garage, but I still have to walk past them every day, so they should be pretty.
I would use it on a couple of old dressers we have in the guest room.
I promise the first thing I would make is a snake bowl 🙂 But then my standard answer applies: the furniture hoard in my garage!!! there are several pieces out there that need stripped before they are refinished. OH, AND my old, old, old fashioned wooden screen door – it DESPERATELY needs stripped and refinished. I usually just use that nasty chemical stuff. Obviously I need to try out a heat gun, after seeing these amazing results…WOW! Thanks for sharing Jenna!
hahahaha!! You better make a snake bowl – they are pretty awesome from what I hear! 😉
I have a wash stand that belonged to my great grandmother. I would love to strip all the layers of paint and refinish it with a light stain.
I like to make hair clips so I could definitely use this!
It seemed like all the cabinets in our bathroom were painted and painted. I would love to have another option to redo them without having to purchase new ones!
I have a window sill that I need to redo. Thank you
I would use it to strip some painted furniture so I can bring it back to how it should be.
I would use this heat gun to strip paint off and for my dressers that need some work on it
I would use and need it for crafts.
Thank you so much for this idea! I am in the middle of stripping my great grandmother’s dresser that I painted 3 times but now want to bring it back to its original look. I had no idea a heat gun would work so well. Thanks again!
You are welcome, Katy! Glad it was helpful! Yes, a heat gun is much less messier to use than liquid stripper and I find that it takes more of the paint off as well.
will this remove varnish or varathane also?
Hi Kelly! I haven’t tried removing that, but I would think that it would.
Hi! came in via Pinterest.
I’m a Citristrip devotee and absolutely enjoy its fast, easy results. That said, I recently picked up a heat gun for some doors that had paint loosening from just summer heat. Thought I’d give it a try. I’d not read anything about using it, so now I’m thinking I’ll just get it out and give it a go!
Oh – I wanted to give you another finish option for beautiful, sanded raw wood: Paint base.
Exterior (for uv and water protection) latex, flat, dark paint base goes on like white glue but dries invisible. So invisible you can’t tell there’s a finish on it, yet it protects the wood! BM’s dark base, like for black or navy, is a #4 or 5.
Sometimes when I spend all the time getting something down to beautiful wood, I don’t want shine. I don’t like the yellowing -thane or oil products make, and polyacrylic is iffy in its longevity. This paint base trick has turned out beautifully! If you use it over chippy finishes, you cannot pick the chips off even with a scraper. They just break, but remain attached.
Anyway, Thanks for the heat gun inspiration. I love how your wall and piece turned out!
Hi Christine!! I do love my heat gun for stripping pieces. Thanks so much for that tip about the paint base as a finish option!! I will have to try that sometime!
Can you tell me what Citristrip is. I’m from Canada and wonder what’s comparable. I can shop in US, so look in hardware, craft stores?
Hi Janie! Citristrip is a liquid stripper for furniture. Look in the paint section. 🙂
Did you use two different stains on this piece? It looks absolutely beautiful!! Fantastic! I am totally going to do the black and white gallery wall! I cannot wait to see how it turns out!!!
Nope, it is the same stain, it just went on differently in areas.
This is such a great tutorial! We would love for you to come link up on our new party Wall to Wall DIY over at R&R at home!
This is something I need to do to a family heirloom. Thanks for sharing on To Grandma’s House We Go!
I badly need to take off the paint on a chest of drawers that we inherited and have repainted too many times to count. Slightly concerned that the paint might be holding it all together though! Thanks for the tips.
Warm and inviting in the wood tone! I liked the red but I love the wood tone.
Would love to find a cabinet like this. Can you share the brand so I can start my search? Thanks!