Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Praying for Patience

You might remember that a while back I was looking for a little bench to use in the house in Hooterville laundry room and I found one at an antique store for $40.00. 

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Even though the yellow didn’t fit into the aqua color scheme I’m using for the laundry room, I liked how the bench was distressed  so a lot of the natural bare wood was exposed.  Unfortunately, you can’t see all the worn places on the seat because the photo above was the one I took in the antique store and they had other items displayed on top of it.
Anyway,  I figured I could just strip off the yellow paint and perhaps do a similar treatment with a different color paint.
Easy, right?
Wrong!
I’ll admit I haven’t had much experience stripping paint but the time or two I have done it, I don’t remember it being this hard! 
And time-consuming!

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I almost think stripping paint  is  worse than stripping wallpaper.
Does anybody have any tips that might make this go easier…
and faster?
I’m praying I have the patience to get through this project.
Okay, I’m off to work on the bench some more but don’t be surprised if you see it painted a solid color when I have the laundry room reveal somewhere down the road.

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Just sayin’…

8 comments:

Maureen said...

Well although stripping would achieve what you want you could also bypass this step. You still can. Give it a light sanding to remove and debris and then coat it with paint. You can then spot sand the topcoat to reveal the wood beneath.

Good luck!

Cindy said...

Ditto to what Maureen just said. It will be lovely done that way. Hugs, Cindy S

Shari @ My Cottage of Bliss said...

Maureen & Cindy, sounds great to me BUT...

if I don't get the yellow out/off the wood, won't it still be evident when I distress the paint color I end up putting on it (which will likely be black)?

Unfortunately, it seems the yellow paint has almost stained the wood and I'm finding it almost impossible to get bare, natural wood that doesn't have a yellow tint.

Sheeeesh! Now I'm almost wishing I had spent another $40 to get an unfinished bench because it looks like I'm going to be spending almost that much in paint stripper and/or sandpaper! Lol.

Elizabeth and Gary said...

Can't wait to see it! This weekend Gary and I are starting a hutch project to strip and paint. I will be thinking of you!
Have a great day,
Hugs, Elizabeth

Maureen said...

Well I have another suggestion. Try an orbital sander with fine grit sandpaper - it will get a little deeper into the grain. It looks like a soft wood (pine?)so be careful not to go too hard or deep.

There is one other option. You could use wood bleach. If you have a local yokel paint store they are usually great about helping you out. I don't know what the difference is between wood bleach -vs- regular bleach but you might want to google that.

Lisa said...

Sorry. Someone used a new foam stripper on a cabinet lately but I don't remember the name. Shouldn't be too many foams though. Sorry it isn't coming along well. Hope you get some good ideas!
Hugs, Lisa

{Bellamere Cottage} said...

Oh no....I'm so sorry you're having a bum time getting your adorable little bench the way you like it.... Stripper is the problem. They used to make some super-powerful stuff that would get ANYTHING off...but the rules have changed and now the stuff you can buy is crummy....I hope you succeed!

Warm hugs,
Spencer

Adrienne said...

Shari -
Are you letting the stripper 'sit' for 15-20 minutes on the surface you're working on before you remove it? I took a refinishing class a million years ago when I was first married and that's one thing she stressed. Let the stripper do the work for you. If you are doing that and it's still not coming out of the wood it's probably because the wood was not sealed or primed before the yellow went on and I'm not sure what to tell you about that. I think someone once told me mother to try to bleach the leftovers out of the wood. Bleach and sunshine on the wet surface are good coworkers. Hope you can get your bench the way you want it without going over the edge!
~Adrienne~