In my early work on furniture, I’ll be honest: I didn’t know chemical stripper existed. If paint needed removal from my furniture, I sanded it off. While effective in removing the paint—eventually, with enough elbow grease and sheets of sandpaper—it’s deleterious to the overall quality of the work, and at times, it creates more work!

Here’s why I use chemical stripper on every professional furniture refinishing project:

1. It works fast (once you have the process down)
2. It’s more energy efficient (AKA not as much work)

(Note: I receive no commissions from products mentioned here. This is purely from my experience without any commercial interests.)

How to Remove Paint from Furniture

If you’re patient and dedicated to your project, paint removal can be immensely valuable. You never know how beautiful the wood might be under old coats of paint. You can usually guess by looking under and behind the piece. Or by pulling out a drawer and looking inside the piece.

Step 1 – Determine the paint type (latex or oil-based)

If it’s latex paint—which it usually is, especially if it’s been done in the past 20 years—you can often use the same stripper (QCS Stripwell) that I’ll discuss when removing varnish. But if it’s oil-based, you’ll need to use a heavier duty stripper such as Klean Strip’s Premium Stripper.

Step 2 – Score the piece

Whether it’s latex or oil-based, I take 80-grit sandpaper to the whole surface of the painted furniture. I’m not removing anything. I’m only roughing it up to allow the stripper to penetrate the paint better (and faster). Rub down the whole piece. This shouldn’t take but a minute or two.

Step 3 – Apply the stripper

Using a paint brush, apply the stripper heavily to the painted surface. I do this section by section until the paint is removed for that section. Example: if I’m planning to strip paint from a whole dresser, I do one drawer at a time. Then, the top. Then, the sides. I do not apply the stripper to the whole piece.

Wait for fifteen to twenty minutes (read the directions on the product label).

Step 4 – Remove the stripper with the right tool

I like to use a plastic putty knife first, pushing the globs of chemical stripper and paint off the edges of the area. I usually drop the globs into a container (ex: old paint or stain can or a large pasta glass sauce jar). Try to push as much of the stripper and paint off as you can without pushing too hard. There will likely be a residual amount paint.

THIS IS OKAY! There are no strippers on the market that will remove all paint with one pass. This is not how stripper is supposed to work.

Apply another round of stripper and wait for the recommended time. Then repeat the scraping with the putty knife.

Sometimes a third round is required. More often though, I switch to using a pull scraper by Hyde (here’s the one I use). This is where more muscle is required. Using a pull scraper is inherently more risky because you’re putting metal onto wood, which can cause gashes if you’re not careful. Try to pull the scraper flat and with consistent pressure.

Step 5 – Sand down the wood (if necessary)

Paint will likely remain inside the pores of the wood beneath the paint. You’ll be able to remove most by using an orbital sander or by sanding by hand. I use 120 grit sandpaper for this step.

If there’s paint in the corners and crevices of the piece, you can use another Hyde scraper (linked here) or a dental scraping kit (available on Amazon).

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If you’re patient and apply multiple rounds of stripper, it’s possible to remove ALL of the paint from your furniture. Then, you can give your furniture a whole new look.

If all of this sounds fun and interesting, but you don’t have the time, call us at (828.656.1753) or send us an email to fightfurniture@gmail.com.