Heads up on that 'quick' milk paint over old varnish job

What I thought would be a simple weekend strip and recoat on a 1920s dresser turned into a full 8-day saga of chemical strippers, endless scraping, and three separate grain-raising sessions just to get a surface ready for the new finish.

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3 Comments

evahenderson5mo ago

Ugh, brutal. @jamie_webb67 is right, that old finish never really leaves. Some projects just fight you every step.

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jamie_webb675mo ago

Heard milk paint can be a nightmare over old finishes. That varnish probably soaked in way deeper than you thought. Sounds like you earned that dresser the hard way.

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kai_webb915mo ago

Tell that to the dresser that fought back harder than @evahenderson's last DIY project. Guess some furniture just doesn't want to be saved.

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