Debate: stripped paint vs. leaving it be on old wood furniture

I grabbed a beat up oak dresser at an antique mall in Nashville last week for $40. One side has that flaky, chipped paint look and the other is bare wood with some stains. My buddy says stripping the whole thing ruins the character, but I think the paint just looks like neglect not history. Which way do you lean on this stuff, keep the old paint or take it down to the wood?

2 comments

2 Comments

avery_stone9515d ago

I used to think leaving paint was always the way to go until I did a similar project a couple years back. I had this old nightstand with "that flaky, chipped paint look" and kept it for months thinking it was patina. Finally got around to stripping it and underneath was some solid oak with really cool old stain lines that I ended up just hitting with wax. Now I feel like the paint was just hiding the real story of the piece. So I lean towards stripping now, you can always add character back with your own finish but you can't see what's underneath without doing it.

matthewgonzalez15d agoTop Commenter

Found a 50s dinette table once and left the paint for months before realizing it was just chipping because of a leaky roof above it.