I purchased a pedestal table that I found on Craigslist.

It was a tad bit scratched up and I wanted a different stain on it, so I got to work. My dad is a hobby carpenter. He does it for the love of it. I grew up in a house where I saw my parents always DIYing the house. I remember my dad using paint strippers and sanding wood down to get it to its natural state. I remember them being harsh and yes, I would bug my dad until he allowed me to help so I remember having to wear gloves, and the fumes were pretty bad.

So, I went to Home Depot and found this paint stripper that smells divine. Okay, so I am exaggerating, perhaps not “divine.” Or, perhaps it is “divine” smelling. You have to be the judge, but I do know that my 10 year old walked into the garage when I was working on the table and mentioned how good the garage smelled.  It does, however, seem to smell like an orange or something citrusy, hence the name (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). At first, I was a bit skeptical, but let me tell you, this is amazing stuff. What is it? Citristrip. 

It looks like this:

Pros: It really does help with stripping paint and stain without having to sand.

Cons: If it is really hot, it will dry up and you have to re-apply.

BEWARE: I left mine over night, as it was raining that night

thinking it would help and it did, at first,

but it quickly dried because the climate is 90+ degrees here in California. So, follow the bottle instructions and simply leave it for at least 30 minutes – 2 hours, for hot days, and begin scraping with a plastic spatula. You can leave it longer, but if it is really hot out, you may risk it drying up on you. If it isn’t you can leave it on overnight for tougher paint and stain removal. Oh, and this is messy stuff, so prepare accordingly.

How? At first I squeezed this stuff into a tray and used a $1.00 paining brush, then I just squeezed this stuff onto the table, it makes it easier that way, and began brushing it with the paint brush.

Make sure that it still isn’t in liquid form when you decide to scrape it off or else you will have a mess! It should peel off like an orange:

Not like this:

I am still in process of stripping it, but I couldn’t resist, I just had to share this gel with you!

Note: Don’t forget to wear gloves!