A couple of weeks ago, I came across this half round or Demi-lune plant stand.  I believe it was made in the Victorian era.  Square nails were definitely used in its construction.  These plant stands are a challenge to find, and they are SO useful.  They are great to use in your home for plants, and they are great to use for display in my booth.  It’s an added bonus that they are light weight and easy to transport.

Needless to say, when I came upon this little cutie I declared her mine.  However, due to her age, she had been painted numerous times.  You can’t tell from the image here, but the white paint that covered her was not the best paint job.  It was thick and gloppy and there were drip marks.  I really couldn’t let her stay with that paint job.  She deserved better.

This is a perfect situation for a heat gun. Using a stripper to cut through decades of paint would have taken f.o.r.e.v.e.r.  Given the thickness of the paint on this existing piece, I decided to use a heat gun.

I used this one by Wagner. Good news, a heat gun is pretty affordable.  Basically, it is like a hair dryer that uses a lot more heat.  You blow the hot air onto the paint until it starts to bubble. Then using a putty knife, you scrape the paint off.  More accurately, the softened paint peels off.

 

 

Here is a short video so you can see how the old paint responds to the heat gun.

 

 

 

It’s a strangely rewarding process that I find a bit addictive.  Please be careful not to burn yourself though.  When scraping off the old paint, it’s quite easy to accidentally hit your hand against the nozzle of the heat gun.

 

 

I suggest breaking up the paint removal process into several 1 or 2 hour sessions.  Focus on specific sections of the piece you want to have clear of old paint. I started with the flat tiered shelves, then worked on the legs and supports, then moved to the undersides of the shelves and finished with the back of the piece.

 

 

You can see how much paint was removed! This was only from the shelves.

 

 

Here is how the piece looked at the end of this weekend.  Now, I just need to sand it down, and then she is ready for a fresh coat of paint.  Due to the age of this piece, I will use milk paint. Using a paint that was actually around in the Victorian era just seems to be more authentic.

 

 

 

Here is one more close up so you can see the variety of paints used under the white paint.

 

 

Finally, because we are creeping up on fall, I had to add a pumpkin to the recently stripped plant stand.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by the blog today. I hope you are inspired to try this technique for stripping furniture.