Part 3: Grandma's Washstand

 Today is the day!  I started stripping the layers and layers of paint off the doors of my Grandma's washstand.  I bought a can of stripper, a super cheap brush, a 98 cent package of plastic drop cloth, a 'scraper' (like one of those putty knives, I got a 57cent-plastic one first, then switched to a 1dollar metal one, as I don't expect it to last the project, however the metal one was better than the plastic!) and a package of disposable-latex gloves.  I laid out some of the drop cloth and put the doors on top

Getting started!

Then pour on the stripper.  It's kind of a school-glue constancy, so I spread it around with my brush (the brush is not worth keeping once you're done with the project, though I plan to keep it until I finish all the stripping).

This is what it looks like after only a minute or less!  But trust me, just let it sit!

I took to scraping a little less than 10 minutes in.  Learn from my mistake and let it sit!  I had to do a couple takes with the stripper to get it all off.  Just scrape across the surface (carefully, you don't know what is under all the paint!) and scoop the gunk into a trash bag (I used a double-layer plastic, grocery sack)  I also used a rag on the last layer to get as much paint and stripper off as possible.

There were THREE kinds of paint.  White, creamy-tan, and a rose color, well and the original stain.

After one run of stripper.

Second run of stripper.

After a final wipe down with stripper

Lesson learned:  Let it sit!  Patience is worth it!

Grandma's Washstand Part 1
Grandma's Washstand Part 2