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September 29, 2020 Leave a Comment

How to Bleach Wood Furniture

Filed Under: Coastal Casual, DIY, tutorial, Wood Leave a Comment

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I’m not sure when I first discovered the idea of bleaching wood but I immediately thought about this chest of drawers that we had floating around our house. It was a secondhand find that we slapped some chalk paint on and re-stained the top. It was really lovely the way it was but didn’t really fit with the coastal casual vibe that our house now has. I determined it would be a great candidate for bleach and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. It was used as a bedside table/additional dresser in our bedroom since we moved. Before that, it was an additional dresser in the girls’ room. It has floated all over the house(s) over the years but now that it’s been lightened up a bit, I’m glad it has a prominent spot in our entryway. I love it so much now that I couldn’t take it back upstairs because I wanted it to be seen. In this tutorial I’m sharing how to bleach wood furniture – I bet it’s easier than you imagined!

Here are some supplies you’ll need for this project:
Paint Stripper
Putty Knife (multiple sizes)
Orbital Sander
Sand Paper
Household Bleach
Lint-Free Cloth (I like these)
Stain (Varathane Weathered Oak)
Polyurethane

How to Bleach Wood Furniture

Step one to refinishing any piece of furniture is to strip it of any finish it may already have whether that’s paint or simply stain and poly. If it’s just stain, you can probably get away with just sanding it off. If there’s paint or several layers of paint, then you’ll likely want to use a paint stripper.

To strip the paint from the piece of furniture, you glop on some of the paint stripper gel, wait about one hour, and then using a putty knife scrape off the layers of paint. It’s ideal to have several sizes of putty knives so that you can work faster on the larger surface areas and use the smaller knife to get in the corners and crevices.

After you’ve stripped the piece, you’ll want to sand down the entire thing until it’s smooth and the wood looks even. Since we had painted our dresser white previously, there were little knots of wood with white paint that had to be sanded out because they didn’t come up with the paint stripper. That’s perfectly normal.

Once the piece is all sanded down, take a lint-free cloth and wipe it clean, removing any excess dust or particles. Now it’s time for bleach. This is my favorite part. I was actually really impressed with the dresser before the bleach but it did look a bit unfinished so I was really excited to see what the bleach would do to it.

Listen, I think bleaching a dresser sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. We simply poured some regular ol’ household bleach into a bowl and used a lint-free cloth to wipe on the bleach. That’s it!

You can see the difference between before and after bleaching here. The bottom portion has been bleached.

After the piece was completely bleached, I loved how light it was but it still looked a bit uneven so we decided to add some stain. If you prefer – you can stop at this step, add some polyurethane and call it a day. We opted to add a layer of weathered oak stain.

How to Bleach Wood Furniture - This dresser was lightened by using the bleach method. A complete tutorial

After adding the stain, the color was absolutely perfect. It ended up being much lighter which is exactly what I hoped. Not only that, it now fits so much better with my coastal style. If you learn nothing else from this simple tutorial, you should take away that you can absolutely change anything that isn’t serving you in the way you’d like! Since we bleached this little dresser, it now sits in our entryway and greets every visitor we have. I love that it has a prominent spot in our home.

Make sure you pin this tutorial for how to bleach wood furniture to save for your next home project!

How to bleach wood furniture - vintage dresser has been lightened by using bleach.

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About Chelsea

Chelsea Coulston is the resident decorator, baker, and pillow hoarder around these parts. A wife to an active duty Sailor and mom of two girls, Chelsea's got a knack for decorating even the most challenging spaces (just see her military base house!) She's inspired by cool beach tones and warm natural elements that remind you of a day at the beach. After living in a half dozen rentals, she's enjoyed spending the last few years in a cute ranch style home that she and her husband have almost completely renovated themselves. Chelsea lives in sunny Jacksonville, Florida with her husband and two daughters.

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Hi! I’m Chelsea!

I'm Chelsea. Wife to Matt, and mama to P and Millie. I'm a fan of making and decorating things and everything blue + white. I believe that there is no such thing as too many throw pillows. Lover of iced coffee and cocktail Fridays. I'm glad you're here.

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#ad Homeschool/General parent “pro” tip - buy #ad Homeschool/General parent “pro” tip - buy a shower caddy and stuff it full of art supplies to keep your kids from having their markers and crayons all over the place. For real though, this was a game changer. Previously, I had one hard and heavy caddy for all of our supplies that I would plop on the table during our school day but I found my kids constantly getting up to grab a pink crayon or the blue marker. Or at the end of the day things weren’t getting put away properly and the next day we couldn’t find the glue or the scissors. Now, they each have a caddy that they are responsible for. I’ve partnered with @walmart to share this simple organizing solution. The girls keep their supplies together and carry the caddy around to wherever they choose to school that day/minute. I used my Walmart+ membership again to pull this off. I was able to order all the art caddy necessities online using the W+ free shipping, no order minimum (excludes oversized/freight & Marketplace items) benefit so I can limit my time in stores. #walmartplus
Sitting here thinking about everything that’s go Sitting here thinking about everything that’s gotten me through this last year.
1. My family - having my girls home has been everything I never knew I needed. 
1a. My mom - in those early pandemic days, when we didn’t leave the house, she would meet me halfway between here and Vegas. We would sit in the middle of the desert with our masks on and just visit. I needed that so much and I know she did too.
2. My friends - it’s hard to imagine making it through this year without the friendships I have. They’ve carried me. A small group of neighbors here that would meet at the park for some outdoor fellowship and our weekly dinners made life feel a little more normal. Having regular calls with my best friend in FL was gold especially since we can’t see each other. And regular chats with @bykaithanson got me through especially in those early days.
3. Regular therapy - if I wasn’t already going before all this happened I surely would need to now. This all is very heavy stuff and having someone that is outside your circle to talk to is so important. This saves me again and again.
4. Making bread. I started making last year so when it blew up during that first quarantine I was so excited that we all were baking together. Whenever I’m feeling anxious making dough helps.
5. Exercise - this was the year I finally made exercise a priority. I love how much better I feel when I move my body each day. I’m less anxious and I’m more at peace.
6. All the technology that connects us. Marco Polo, FaceTime, texting, FB Messenger, all of it. Being able to reach all of my loved ones with the tips of my fingers has made it a lot easier when I can’t see them.
7. Television - how many shows have we binged this year? I don’t even know but I remember tackling Friday Night Lights in the beginning of the pandemic and being so sad it was over. 
8. This community. One thing I wanted in 2020 was to CONNECT with you all here and that has happened and its been wonderful getting to know each of you!
💙
We’ve been through a lot this year what has carried you? Tag a friend that’s gotten you through. 
Hoping and praying for a truly happy new year. 💙💙
Merry Christmas from our home to yours! I wish you Merry Christmas from our home to yours! I wish you everything good this Christmas and in the new year. 🎄
#ad Fun festive morning with the girls! My girls l #ad Fun festive morning with the girls! My girls love making and baking anything! We made cinnamon roll Christmas trees then decorated them with m&ms and sprinkles. I bought everything from Walmart, used canned cinnamon rolls to make them quick and easy so we could focus our energy on decorating them. Holiday memories made! How are you making memories with your family this season? @walmart http://liketk.it/34rdO #liketkit @liketoknow.it #walmart
I want to hear about your collections!! I don’t I want to hear about your collections!! I don’t collect much but I do have a few Christmas things that I’ve been collecting over the years. These nutcrackers are one. The girls pick out a new one each year. I have a small collection little white village houses and since the first year we were married we bought a peace dove ornament from Pier 1 (Li Bien brand) - they quit selling them so this will be the first in 14 years that we don’t get one of those. What do you collect???
Military base house kitchen but make it Christmas! Military base house kitchen but make it Christmas! 🥰🥰🥰🎄
I really don’t love this kitchen but I’ve worked hard to make it easier on the eyes with a faux backsplash and with some mini wreaths on the cabs. Feelin’ festive. Sources for the backsplash are on the blog + @liketoknow.it 👍

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