DIY Bleached Wood Tutorial

As many of you know, bleached or natural wood is very popular right now. You can take pieces that may have paint or varnish on them and strip them back to their natural state, which gives the piece a totally different look.

I snagged this beautiful solid wood mirror at the thrift store for only $25. At first glance it isn't that pretty, but looking past all that varnish I saw LOTS of potential. Once I got her home I sprayed her down good with the water hose to get the first layer of dirt off.

I used the Fume Free Easy Off for this project ( which still smells strong), and sprayed a thick coating all over the mirror. Once the wood was completely covered I let it sit for an hour to really soak into the wood as much as possible.

Now it was time to give it a good scrubbing. I brought out a bucket of warm, soapy water and a scrub brush and got to work. Once the whole mirror had been scrubbed down good, I sprayed it with the waterhose again, using the strongest flow setting. One thing to keep in mind. While the wood is wet it will still look dark, and like the easy off didn't work. You HAVE to let it dry to see the true results. When I worked on this mirror, I honestly thought the project was a bust. I walked out later to water my flowers and discovered a GORGEOUS mirror.

Just look at the beautiful details of this mirror.

I was so happy with the results and it made me want to use easy off on ALL THE THINGS! Have you tried this method of wood stripping? Let me know in the comments below!