Stripping is for the birds.

So, I may be a little in over my head, here. Last weekend, a friend mentioned that she was looking for someone local to refinish some pieces of furniture. They couldn't get in touch with the guy who had done some pieces for them previously, and were ready to get these done.

So like the geniuses that we are, my hubby and I volunteered my services.

And this is where my dumb diy overconfidence comes to bite me in the @$$.

Here is the first piece when it arrived at our house. She had painted it yellow a few days ago, and it was a rush job. Our friends have a two and a half year old and a 4 month old. So she told me she knew she had rushed this- she was just so excited to get back to a project after a rough couple of months with a sleepless newborn. I can totally relate.

But now they wanted it black again (it was previously painted black). No big deal, right? WRONG.

This baby needed to be stripped. Not just a light sanding before painting... straight up stripped.

Folks, I have never stripped a piece of furniture before. I've definitely painted my fair share, but the pieces were either unpainted wood or I was able to just paint over some old paint. And there was no way I could just paint over this one.

I kind of want to poke my eyes out just thinking about it right now.

Once I realized this is what needed to happen, I went back to this great post about stripping furniture to read up on it and stopped by Lowe's to pick up some supplies. Only they didn't have the Citristrip I was looking for. Curses! So I grabbed something that looked similar and went home to get started.

Yeah, bad idea.

Folks, when you are looking for something specific and don't find it right away, get your baby and your sweaty rear back out into the 106* weather ASAP to get what you need. Don't waste your time staying cool in the A/C, trying out something you've never heard of before. BIG waste of time.

The Citristrip definitely works, I will say that. Once you glop it on and let it cure for a couple of hours, the old paint comes up relatively easy. But stripping (how many times can I say that in a post? Let's go for the gold, shall we?) is super labor intensive. And messy. Here we are, 3 days later, and I'm still not done. Stripping, that is. I'm still not done stripping.

So this is where I invite all you internet and real-life friends to come on over for a stripping party. Sounds fun, right? There will be absolutely no poles in sight and I must insist you stay fully clothed, but I will provide you with oreos and a little protective mask. Sound good?