Metal Cabinet Stripping

Okay.  Now it all makes sense why the lady only charged me $15 for this cabinet.  I practically ran out of the store with it b/c I thought it was such a steal...little did I know that this 'what was supposed to be 3 nap project' was going to turn into such a time suck.

After lots of sanding and ZERO progress, I decided I might have to strip the several layers of paint off.  My dad had a bottle of Citistrip, so I gave it a go.  It took me quite a while to get the hang of this stuff, but I found that it worked the very best on the hottest days.  And, I learned to goop it on...at first I did a very thin coat and barely made any progress.

It took round after round after round of Citistrip, washing, steel wooling, mineral spiriting, washing, scraping, etc.   After all that, I did use a rust remover (this worked wonders on the huge rust spot on the enamel top!) and did more steel wooling and washing.  It seemed at every turn, there was another tool or product that I needed.  Thankfully, my dad's stocked work room was full of most of the things I needed.  Phew.

In short, If I don't do another stripping project ever again, I won't be sad. 

And...at the end, there were still paint spots that I couldn't get off and scratches around the piece.  I was torn on whether to leave it as is, or cave and paint it two different tones of cream.  In the end, I settled for clear gloss paint, and I will live with it for a while.

Original...the women we bought this from in Sharon Springs, NY (where the Beekman 1802 store is) said it had just been pulled out of an old barn.  It was filthy, but we loved it.

After sanding and attempt at scraping...not much different...

 After some Citistrip...

 I intended to leave the inside alone, but then I couldn't help myself.  

Had.to.get.that.paint.out.of.there.

 Final...