A Beginner's Guide to Removing Wood Stain

I feel like I should start off by saying that I am not an expert when it comes to removing wood stain! However, I did a ton of research for this project that I thought would be helpful to combine into a single post. I definitely learned a couple things the hard way when it comes to removing stain. I know my final product is not 100% perfect, but part of this project was to learn this skill and simply have a creative outlet!

We had been given this table from Hunter's grandparents. We currently use it in our bedroom for storage and for our TV. It was in good condition and I knew that I wanted to try to lighten up the dark wood on this piece!

This was the initial supplies picture that I had taken at the beginning of this picture. (Let's just say I ended up needing alot more supplies!!)

My original plan was to use Easy Off Oven cleaner to remove the stain. I had read a couple other blogs and watched multiple videos where this method worked. I don't know if it was the humidity in Georgia, but this only took about 5% of the stain off and that was with me scrubbing for hours. Also, the smell of the product was really strong and I felt like it was hard to manage where I sprayed the Easy Off. After a couple hours of intense labor, I knew I needed to try something else.

My next method was to use Citri Strip. This worked really well! Just a warning that it was VERY messy. If you are working on a bigger piece, I would recommend only putting the Citri Strip on in sections and covering with plastic wrap until it is time to scrap off. I felt like when this dried it made it VERY sticky and hard to work with. I ended up not being able to use my gloves because they were stuck together half way through the process.

This was the update after the Easy Off and the Citri Strip!

Next step in the process is sanding! You might remember from my first supplies picture I had purchased sanding paper to work on this step. That was not going to work for the amount of stain I had remaining on this table. I think I would still be outside sanding if I had tried to do this all manually.

I ended up purchasing an electric sander. I bought mine off of facebook marketplace gently used for $27. I had never used an electric sander before, so that was fun to learn how to use that tool!

After day 1 of Sanding!

After several days of sanding (I lost count!)

Even though I loved the electric sander, I did use the regular sand paper and foam bricks to get into the hard to reach places. I didn't rush this process and took multiple days to sand over and over again. Despite all of my sanding efforts there were still places where the original stain wouldn't come off. I ended up leaving those to see how it would look after the white wash.

For the white wash, I just used our leftover wall color, Agreeable Grey. I mixed about 1/3 of a cup with 2/3 of a cup of water. I painted this wash on with a regular paint brush and then used a rag to wipe of excess stain! My goal was to neutralize the yellow tones from the wood without making this look too white. It definitely did the trick! I also like the blurring effect the white wash had on some of the imperfections! I did add a coat of sealant to the top to protect the wood.

My loyal buddy checking in on my progress!!

This is the final product! I am so pleased with the result. Like I said before, the process was more important to me than having this be 100% perfect. I can't wait to style this piece and hold on to it for many years to come!