How to strip furniture with citistrip

 I bought this table off of KSL before we moved to Oregon and painted it an ivory color. It took me forever!

 When we got here and set it up, I hated it. The ivory looked awful with the ALL white kitchen. (no joke,  white counter tops, white cupboards, white appliances..) I liked it white, but didn't love it. It was just too much white, and the table was just too perfect. Sounds crazy, I know.

 So this week when my baby came down withe hand, foot and mouth disease, I knew I'd be home a LOT. I go crazy when I'm home too much, so I just planned on doing a bunch of projects. And that I did. I finally knew what I wanted for the table, searched for pictures and then when to work. Mind you, this table had 2 coats of ivory paint, 2 coats of white paint and at least 5 layers of polyurethane. I started sanding and quickly realized it needed stripped. I bought some citistrip, painted it on and peeled away the paint with my 5 in 1 tool. It took 2 coats of citistrip, but man, that stuff is awesome!

 I wanted a stained top, but I didn't want it dark. All the other two toned furniture in my house have dark tops. I wanted it to have a worn, lighter look. I was thrilled that some of the white paint was too deep to remove, well I could have, but I wanted it there, so I left itty bits of it. Then I mixed my walnut stain with water and painted it on. I then topped it off with 4 coats polyurethane. MUCH better!

 I love the worn look of it.

 I then scuffed up the sides and pedestal and did a glaze on it.

Seriously looks SO much better to me. Not so white, not so perfect. My kids can beat it up and I don't care. Love when projects turn out.

By the way, if anyone still reads this blog, I took some time off to take care of my always sick daughter. It's so sad. The poor baby is sick ALL THE TIME. I hope it comes to an end soon. However, in the last two weeks I've redone a little bookshelf, a pair of nightstands and a headboard (for a friend) and a dresser. Next on the list, I'm painting the green dining chairs white. I'll post about all of them. ;)