A Lead Based Paint Scare!!

I was thumbing through my pictures the other day I and I realized I never shared this chest with you!  This is one of my favorite pieces, down the road I will probably regret selling it, but I didn't have anywhere for it to go.

I can't find any of my other before pictures, OOPS!!  But this was the top of it so it will give you an idea of how bad of shape this piece was in.  

I was worried this piece was painted with lead based paint and I didn't want to risk it, so I went over to the local hardware store and purchased a lead based paint test.  I am glad I did, the test came back POSITIVE for lead base paint.  You can imagine my horror when I saw this.  My first thought was off to the dump this piece goes, all I really knew about lead based paint was to stay away.  After I gave it some thought I decided to do a little research, and I am glad I did, I found this great article by Do It Yourself on how to safely strip lead based paint off of furniture.  After reading this article and educating myself further on lead based paint I preceded by using a chemical stripper to remove the lead based paint.  I am so happy this piece didn't end up at the dump. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!!

TTFN

Brooke