Yesterday, I shared to how used paint stripper to remove the old stain off our vintage campaign dresser, I found at a antique store (read more about my find here) I'm so excited to share its makeover with everyone!! It truly came out amazing oh so sleek and the best part is I love how it looks in our living room. Here's a quick reminder of how the campaign dresser looked before. The old stain on the dresser was really pretty, but worn down in several places and showing its age. Our old temporary setup was a mess. Small TV with a much of misc electronics on top, and why yes that is an old school Nintendo! My moms letting its borrow it, its the same one I played on as a kid, and still love playing it after all this years.

I love the clean lines of the dresser an the side hardware is perfection!

When first bought the dresser home, I was on the fence about painting the dresser or staining it a darker more richer color. Hasani really want to go white and I love a pretty white dresser so we decided to go white and I'm so glad we did. I really love how it adds some glam to our in-progress living room.

The finish on the dresser came out amazing and super shiny and glossy and very smooth.

I decided to leave the vintage hardware as is and not spray paint it, I love that its tarnished and shows its age against the shiny white paint. The hardware its self is really heavy and is solid metal. maybe brass?

Here's a full room view of our in progress living room. So far in our living room, we've added our twin sofas, rolled out our new rug and spray painted the metal coffee table we found via Craigslist. We also upgraded our TV size and hung it on the wall, love having a 'floating TV.' We hung the TV at sitting eye level, which feels like the perfect height while sitting. Next. I need to tackle the mess of the cords off the to left of the TV. The TV is plugged into the wall directly behing the TV, but the cords come from our internet connection and DVD player etc.

Eventually, the TV will feel more blended in with its surroundings while remaining in plain sight. Maybe a photo gallery wall around the TV?

For the refinishing the dresser, I decided to try something new again! Instead of using water based paint like I have in the past, I decided to use oil paint. I've only used oil paint on canvas, so this was a fun change up. Here's a quick run down of what I used on the dresser [I painted the entire dresser by hand only using one brush]

Zissner Oil Based Primer
Rustoleum Oil Base Paint: Glossy White
Fine Grit Sandpaper, using a power sander Black and Decker
Purdy Paint Brush (for all types of paint) - Next time I will try natural fiber paint brush to reduce a chance of brush strokes and better application.
NEXT Mineral Spirits for cleaning the brush

I really love using oil paints on the dresser, the finished is super smooth and super glossy almost like a lacquer. I feel like it takes longer to paint using oil, because of the clean up and application. It's all about small smooth stokes and working in little sections and moving to the next area and leaving it alone - no going back over it until its dry. The dry time is 24 hours between coats. The dresser took three coats of paint: one coat of primer and two coats of the Rustoluem Oil Paint. All oil based paint and stain is very fumy, make sure you work on your project in a well ventilated area. I used my garage to paint in with the garage door all the way open. I'm sure my next furniture painting project, I'll use oil paints again, and share and in-depth how to post. I'm excited to try out the All Surface Enamel oil based paint from Sherwin Williams, because I can get it mixed in several colors!

What do you think our paint freshly painted campaign dresser?

One thing I love about DIY is trying new things, even if you fail at the first go around its good practice on what to do next time. Typically when I've bought a vintage furniture [our secretary desk & Tabari's vintage desk ] I sanded the both pieces down to bare wood, I loathe all that sanding. After seeing Shovanda's use of the paint stripper on her dining room table [check out her fantastic makeover here] I was intrigued and decided I would strip the old stain off my vintage campaign dresser using a paint stripper.

Behind every DIY Project there's a story, I originally planned on buying the Citristrip Stripper one my dresser, but then I stopped in Lowes they didn't have any in the small size. I spoke with 'the paint guy' and he suggested I try NEXT Paint Strip, saying it was just like the Citristrip [low VOC, smells like organes etc].

The next day I followed the directions on the NEXT container and waited 3 hours and began removing the old finish. I used a plastic paint scraper to start removing the old finish. Even though the paint stripper is Low VOC, I decided to use the product in my garage with the garage door open for proper ventilation. I took my time, but only scraped off a black gummy gel like substance from the dresser. I was left with a white pasty residue on the dresser. I repeated the steps and ended up with the same results. Big fail.

The Next morning, I stopped in Home Depot found the Citirstrip size I was originally looking for, this was the same morning I found the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree at Home Depot.

Paint Stripping Supplies:

Citristrip Paint Stripper
Plastic Paint Scrapper
Canvas Drop Cloth
Mineral Spirits
Terry Cloth Rag

How to Strip Furniture

Again in my well ventilated garage, I poured the Citristrip paint stripped directly on a cheapo brush I picked up from Home Depot for less than a buck. Paint the Citristrip on in thick even strokes. After applying the coat, I could already tell a difference in the paint strippers.

The NEXT paint strip was more like applying clear jell-o on furniture. With Citristrip I felt more like I was applying a creamy paste, that I could see on the furniture. I waited three hours before using the plastic paint scraper on the dresser. In the picture below it shows the old finish being stripped off, and the black gel in the picture is the residue left behind from the first paint stripper I used. This time around the finish came off easy. I did smooth even stokes with the paint scraper to remove the finish. I loved seeing the beauty of the wood grain underneath the old stain, so pretty.

Next, I wiped down the dresser using NEXT Mineral Spirits. The mineral spirits really cleaned all the off any residue and finish left from the Citristrip. I was left with clean fresh wood to refinish.

I really enjoyed using a paint stripper to remove the old stain off the campaign dresser verses using a sander to remove the finish. Even though my first attempt at removing the old finish with a paint stripped was a DIY fail, it also taught me to go with my gut and seek at the right product [ that has verified good reviews] instead of the substitute. Tomorrow, I'll share the refinished campaign dresser after. I'm love how the campaign dresser turned out, it looks so good! I can't wait to share!

Have you ever used a paint stripper to remove a finish off furniture?