Our Painted Fireplace and Stripping the Paint off with Citristrip

One thing I dream about someday is having a real fireplace. Since that won’t happen in this house, a few years ago I added a faux mantel to add some interest to our living room.  It was a pretty vintage mantel and has served well in our decor painted white. Lately my style has changed (again) and I really wanted to celebrate the natural wood of the fireplace surround (that I was hoping was there). I decided to tackle the task of taking our painted fireplace and stripping the paint off with Citristrip to the wood. There’s a video below that shows you a little about the process.

this post contains affiliate links including Amazon links. Please see our affiliate and sponsor disclosure here.

I’ll admit, in all of my years of refinishing and painting furniture, I’ve never chemically stripped a piece of furniture before. I’ve done lots of sanding, but this was a new experience for me. I decided to go the slightly less toxic route and use Citristrip (this post is not sponsored, I am trying this product on my own.). I used the gel version for more control.

Find: Supplies to strip painted furniture here

Because I’ve never stripped wood before, I was super cautious to make sure to follow all of the directions and precautions on the Citristrip bottle including a lead paint check. I’m sure it’s over-kill and I can’t decide if I look like I’m preparing to handle a biohazard in the 1920’s because I am being overly cautious, or the hat really makes the outfit. Though I should have also worn a mask. I have a slightly made scientist vibe. lol.

I found after brushing it on with a chip brush and letting it sit about 2 hours, it scraped up fairly easily. I did need to do a second coat in a few areas where the paint layers were a little stubborn. It looked like there were about 3 layers of paint and a layer of varnish underneath. I ended up using a combination of a paint scraper and brass stripping brush to get in all of the nooks and crannies. One mistake I made was not putting it on in a heavy enought coat the first time. I found any areas that were lightly orange did not come off as well or as easily in places I added a super heavy coat and it was dark orange. The next time I will be very liberal with my first layer. IN the end I could tell by how “bubbly” the surface looked. The “bubblier” the better.

Once all of the layers if paint were removed, I followed the directions for neutralizing the wood, and for cleaning it up, especially any gumminess. I found this great post at Bless’er House about if all of the residue from stripping doesn’t come off.

After I stripped the paint off of the wood with the gel stripper, I knew I was going to wax it, so I did a white wash first to give it the look of bleached wood and to neutralize any of the orange-ish undertones.

Read: How to White Wash Wood and Make it Look Like Bleached Wood

Once the wood was white washed, I went over the entire faux wood mantel with furniture wax to protect it.

I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work stripping the paint off with Citristrip to the wood…. about two days worth, but I am so glad it I did it! Stripping the paint off of the painted surface with gel stripper was easier than sanding like I did on this table . I can’t wait to show you the rest of the living room got an entirely new look with the fireplace and an updated paint color!