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Launched a new website this afternoon for my new l Launched a new website this afternoon for my new lovely friend, Dawn! Launching at the perfect time, during National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Check out her new site at LovingWayFoundation.org and see how her new organization is helping to make a difference and fight against child abuse.
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Riss Home Design | Home Decor, Design and DIY Blog

Home decor, DIY projects and free printables

May 1, 2013

Citristrip Paint & Varnish Stripping Gel Review

Citristrip Review3

So I told you all about how we bought a paint and varnish stripper for the bedroom set we have. Whelp, it sucked and literally didn’t work so Charlie’s dad found us an awesome stripper that actually worked! It’s called Citristrip Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel, and it works wonders on removing paint and varnish so you can stain whatever it is you’re working on. In our case, we’re just trying to strip all the varnish off the furniture so we can stain it darker. Staining the furniture darker seemed like such a brilliant idea about 2 months ago, and I’m pretty sure I said at one point I could have it done in 2 weeks. Well, here we are 2 months later and still stripping the furniture. But, in my own defense, life got in the way of these projects and we had a big annoyance occur when the first stripper didn’t work. For a week or two after we realized it didn’t work on the furniture we had, I was trying to sand by hand. Literally using a sander and some sand paper. The neighbors were probably amused by this, watching their new small female neighbor in her driveway attempting to sand a nightstand. It actually wasn’t hard, just time consuming.

Anyway, back to the Citristrip, here’s how it works:

  1. Shake the gel well, then pour into a metal container. You apply it to the surface you’re working on with a paint brush. Remember you’re working with some strong chemicals here, so wear goggles if you want, rubber gloves, and long sleeves so it doesn’t get on your skin. Oh oh, and don’t apply it with a sponge brush. I found out the hard way the chemicals in the stripper just eat the sponge. It dissolved. RIP sponge brush. So use a paint brush or something you don’t mind throwing away if you need to.
  2. After applied to the entire surface, wait at least 30 minutes. You can leave it on up to 24 hours, which I tried on the headboard and foot-board, and  it didn’t really seem to make a difference. 30 minutes is fine for us.
  3. Take a plastic stripping tool and scrape in the direction of the wood grain. Be prepared for a mess. It’s literally taking off the varnish, and you’re removing the gel, so it’s pretty messy. I went through a roll of paper towels on just a couple of pieces of furniture, so maybe use old rags or something disposable.

And that’s about all there is to it. Although, the furniture we used it on has details on it. Of course. Hard to reach details where the gel gets stuck inside. Lol. If yours has details too, all you do is try to use the edge of the scraping tool to get as much out as you can. The rest can be removed when it’s dry with toothpicks or just sand it off. Also, I couldn’t get the gel completely off every centimeter of space on the furniture, so I just sand it off. The gel doesn’t remove 100% of varnish, so I do a light sand after 24 hours when it’s completely dry. Don’t get me wrong though, it gets off 99% of the varnish, I just sand it to be safe. If you look at this picture below you can see what I mean. The glossy areas are where there is some varnish left.

Citristrip Review

You can tell with these 2 drawers that the stripper literally removed all the varnish. I only left the gel on these for 30 minutes, too.

Citristrip Review2

Here’s a before picture of the furniture. Look at the end of bed storage before…

End of bed storage

And here’s the end of bed storage after I stripped it. The gel worked amazing on this.

End of bed storage 2

Overall I would give this stripping gel a 9 out of 10. And I consider myself to be a hard judge.

It really works amazing and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a good paint and varnish stripper for your own projects. Like I said, it can get pretty messy, but that’s a small price to pay for an awesome outcome. Would you rather use an easy stripping gel or sand it all by hand? Hmm…

If you’re interested in trying this out, ours was purchased at Lowe’s, but I just found it online at a great price. You can literally buy one for half the price it is at Lowe’s, or get 2 for the price of 1! Awesome! Click here to order Citristrip online.

Hope you found this review helpful. Have a great Wednesday!

Rissa and Char Signature

Filed Under: DIY, Do It Yourself, For the house

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Librarian Tells All says

    May 5, 2013 at 10:16 pm

    Citristrip is the best! I’ve used it to remove paint. Good to know it removes varnish and wood finish, too… I have a poorly refinished coffee table I’d like to revamp soon!

    <3 jen @ librarian tells all

  2. Rissa says

    May 5, 2013 at 11:21 pm

    Yes! I love it!

Primary Sidebar

My name is Rissa and I am so happy you’ve stopped by my blog! I am a full time graphic designer and part time DIY fanatic. Come join my fiance and I while we live in our first home together, filling it with projects and completing some small renovations along the way. In 2019 we became parents to our beautiful baby girl, Sophie. Lots of mommy stuff is sure to take over the blog, so I would love for you to follow along on our newest journey as well. Click here to read more about us.

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Another new website is live! Check out Adria Women Another new website is live! Check out Adria Women’s Health today. Love the way this project turned out. Get in touch today and let’s discuss your design project needs.
..
..
..
..
#webdesigner #websitedesign #femalewebdesigner #womenownedbusiness #websitedesigner #rissdesign
Launched a new website this afternoon for my new l Launched a new website this afternoon for my new lovely friend, Dawn! Launching at the perfect time, during National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Check out her new site at LovingWayFoundation.org and see how her new organization is helping to make a difference and fight against child abuse.
..
..
..
..
#websitedesign #graphicdesign #etsyshop #webdesigner #nationalchildabusepreventionmonth #rissdesign
Happy 4th, y’all! 💥🇺🇸❤️💙 .. .. . Happy 4th, y’all! 💥🇺🇸❤️💙
..
..
..
..
#flatlay #flatlays #redwhiteandblue #fourthofjuly #julyflatlay #styledstockphotos #stockphotos #styledstock #rissdesign
Summer is here! Hope everyone’s Summer is off to Summer is here! Hope everyone’s Summer is off to a lovely start. Almost vacation time for us and we can’t wait 💙🏝⛱
✨Like this stock photo? It’s available to buy in my shop! Link in bio ✨
..
..
..
..
#flatlay #flatlays #flatlayout #flatlaynation #flatlaytoday #styledstock #styledstockphotography #feminine #summer #summerstock #summerstockphotos #blue #beach #beachitems #rissdesign
Land of the free because of the brave 🇺🇸 Land of the free because of the brave 🇺🇸
Hope your weekend is full of good vibes only 😜✌🏻
..
..
..
..
#flatlay #flatlays #styledstock #goodvibes #goodvibesonly #styledstockphotography #feminine #desktop #desktopphotography #feminineoffice #office #officedecor #rissdesign
“I must have flowers, always, and always.” ― “I must have flowers, always, and always.”
― Claude Monet
..
..
..
..
#flatlay #flatlays #flatlayout #flatlaynation #flatlaytoday #styledstock #styledstockphotography #feminine #flowers #imusthaveflowersalwaysandalways #pink #rissdesign

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