It is time for another Thrift Store Challenge!  I have been participating in these monthly Thrift Store Challenges with a group of very creative bloggers for the last few months.  It is so much fun.  You can see my past projects here.  This month the rules for the challenge have changed a bit.  We could purchase something from a garage sale or thrift shop per usual, OR revamp/upcycle a piece(s) we already owned that no longer worked in our home.  Since I didn’t have a whole lot of time to go Thrift Store shopping this month, I chose to revamp this old beat up coffee table that we already had.  I’d been wanting to revamp this piece for so long and now was the perfect excuse. Please check out all the other participants in the Thrift Store Challenge at the bottom of this post. Here is the table.  As you can see it had seen better days.  This table lived in our den but I planned to move it to our living area once it was done.   Here are the Steps I took to Revamp this Sucker! This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission which helps keep my blog up and running but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Materials Used for this Project… paint stripper (I have heard this paint stripper is good and has no harsh fumes.) Klean Strip after wash paintbrush paintbrush cleaner hand sander polyurethane, I used Minwax Satin Polycrylic Protective Finish chalk paint safety glasses mask rags metal scrapper tool Step 1:  Stripping the paint… The first thing you need to do when refinishing a piece of furniture is strip off as much of the old paint/stain as possible using a paint stripper.  The less paint on a piece, the easier it is to sand.  I used Klean Strip because I had some in the garage from previous projects, but readers have suggested this Citristrip Product which is suppose to be less harsh smelling and a little safer to use.  Anyway, to use any paint stripper you need to apply a thick coat of it with a paint brush, wait a few minutes, then scrape it off.   Sometimes you need to repeat this step several times.  Please discard the paint into a tin can and please be sure  you wear safety googles and gloves. I was working outside by my pool and it was extremely hot and humid and the stripper was drying way too quickly.  Therefore, I ended up stripping as much stain off as I could and then moving on to Step 2.  Normally I would try this step a few times but figured I could move on and then go back to using the stripper if sanding wasn’t going well. Once you are done stripping the paint off, you need to apply some Paint Stripper After Wash.  I used Klean-Strip After Wash.  This product essentially removes any paint residue left from the stripping process.  To use, follow the instructions on the back of the can and again make sure you wear gloves and safety googles.  Basically the can will tell you to pour some onto a rag and wipe down the piece of furniture making sure to get rid of any residue. Step 2: Sanding… Since the paint stripper was drying to quickly I went ahead and started sanding. I could tell that it wouldn’t be to hard and wouldn’t take to long using my hand sander.  (Again, please make sure you wear … Continue reading Thrift Store Challenge – June 2019, Coffee Table Revamp