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My Vintage Porch

Interior Design, DIY, and Refurbishing

Stripping Furniture With Oven Cleaner

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, antique cabinet, nightstand, old cabinet, old furniture, oven cleaner stripping, primitive, raw wood furniture, removing stain, stripping furniture, vintage

Another sweet find from a thrift store! If I remember right, I think this was around $15. These little cabinets make excellent side tables/nightstands/etc. I was dying to see what was under that old orange stain!

*affiliate links in this post

I had initially tried a furniture stripping agent and it didn’t work great, so I used oven cleaner after I cleaned all of the strip off. It took a couple of coats and a lot of scrubbing, but it came off…most of it. There were a few spots on the edges that didn’t come off great, but I liked how it looked so I left it. This photo below is when I used the furniture strip. I’m pretty sure all of that stuff on there is just furniture strip coming off.

If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I did not mean to use this furniture strip, I grabbed the wrong bottle. I was actually trying to use a green product furniture cleaner that can work as a strip for these old pieces. Luckily the other strip came off with a lot of scrubbing and then I just switched to using the oven cleaner since I was out of the green cleaner that I had intended to use.

This project was definitely a project of trial and error. I scrubbed the hardware with barkeepers friend and the gold started showing through but there were spots on the edges that were still really tarnished, so I thought maybe throwing it in a crockpot of vinegar for hours on high would help.

It was pretty with the gold showing through and I could’ve left it like that, but I wanted to try to have all of the gold showing through. I could tell that the handles of the hardware were not changing much with all of the scrubbing.

I left it in the crockpot on high with vinegar for about three hours and then tried to scrub it again and there wasn’t really any change at all. I decided to put some salt in with the vinegar and left it for another hour or two and it ended up turning it a copper color.

I forgot to take a photo of it when it was the copper color, but even when I was showing it on my Instagram stories, it didn’t really look copper in the video. So weird. I decided to use European rub n buff so that it would be cohesive and gold. The copper color was cute, but then I realized there was an ornamental piece on the middle top drawer that was still a tarnished looking gold and it looked funny with all of the copper and gold together. I should have just used the rub n buff to start out with because it looks great and old!

It turned out so cute! And, I love the different shades of wood coloring. I think it gives it more character.

I’m so happy with the final result! I ran out of my flat sealer so sealing will have to wait. If we end up using it in a place that it won’t get high traffic, I may just leave it without sealer.

The next photo (below) is showing lighter on the drawers because of the lighting but I wanted to show the wood character on the top. That’s what was hiding under all of that old stain!

I’m always amazed how old the wood looks after taking off the old stain. I love the old primitive look of it now.

The hardware goes so well with the cabinet and is much more cohesive after using the rub n buff.

I think it would look great with casters added too! Casters are such a cute touch that adds so much character!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Denise says

    April 13, 2022 at 2:47 pm

    Love, Love the cabinet, looks so perfect I it’s own natural wood. Great job.👏👍🧡

  2. Taylor says

    April 13, 2022 at 3:33 pm

    Yes! On all of it! Good call with the gold hardware. Also, I really like the grey-ish drawers/left side. Another perfect refinishing job on the books!

  3. Elaine Ianniello says

    April 13, 2022 at 4:32 pm

    My gosh!! So nice! You do amazing work!

  4. Robyn Lawrence says

    April 13, 2022 at 4:34 pm

    Wow!!! This came out amazing!!!

  5. Jeanne says

    April 13, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    I love this so much! I’m usually a fan of dark wood. But since I’ve been watching you do the easy off method, I’ve tried it on a few pieces and am becoming quite the fan of the look 😊❤️

  6. Sarah Hillenbrand says

    April 13, 2022 at 9:46 pm

    Beautiful!!!🤍

  7. Lisa says

    April 14, 2022 at 2:22 am

    Natalie!!!
    WOW!!! The cabinet turned out SOOO LOVELY¡!!!!!
    Your gift& talent from the Lord blows my mind!
    Thank you for sharing it!!

    Lisa 🌷💖🌷

  8. Bobbi Whisper_of_blue says

    April 14, 2022 at 7:04 am

    Just gorgeous! I have done many pieces of furniture in our home and love how they turned out. Watching your videos has helped me tremendously!

  9. Cathy says

    April 14, 2022 at 7:05 am

    You have the best luck with the oven cleaner trick! And the finished hardware goes so well. So does Chester!

  10. Tracy Goodall says

    April 14, 2022 at 8:23 am

    I love how this came out what a transformation

  11. Monica says

    April 14, 2022 at 8:28 am

    Hey there, I have a question! When you use the oven cleaner, it doesn’t hurt the wood when you wash it off? Or do you not use it on a veneer?

  12. Pat Watson - UK says

    April 14, 2022 at 9:50 am

    I think it looks great.

  13. Debra Lenarduzzi says

    April 14, 2022 at 10:29 am

    Hi,
    I love all of the pieces that you’ve been refinishing or have stripped and sealed.
    I’m wondering what flat sealer are you referring to? I have a lovely piece (small French style desk) I’m using as a makeup table/jewelry storage, I want to refinish it but not sure on the sealing portion of it. Please share your thoughts.
    Thank you!
    Debbie

  14. Patti says

    April 14, 2022 at 1:24 pm

    The piece looks amazing. I have a couple of things I’d like to try with this method, but I wonder, do you put anything on the wood once you have stripped it? Or do you leave it natural?

  15. Becky Johnson says

    April 14, 2022 at 1:32 pm

    Natalie, the chest is so pretty! I have an old buffet that has been painted. Does the oven cleaner work on paint?

  16. Sonia says

    April 15, 2022 at 1:26 pm

    Buenas tardes,

    Me encantan los trabajos que haces, una pregunta, el limpiador de hornos cómo es? Liquido, spray??
    Un saludo, desde España

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