Friend, have you ever scored some awesome thrifted furniture and then afterward wondered how on earth you’re going to remove all the sticky old contact paper in the drawers? Today I’ll show you the easiest way to remove contact paper – without damaging the surface underneath.
First, I must confess that I revealed this stenciled sideboard project last summer and had planned to write this post about removing contact paper long ago. Life happened, and I forgot all about it!
Here’s the vintage sideboard before I started working on it:
*This post contains some affiliate links so you can easily find the products I use and recommend. Discover all my favorite brands and tools for doing DIY makeovers here.
The top drawer was covered with pink flower contact paper, and as a special bonus there was some butterfly paper also laying in there.
Don’t think I’m against all contact paper – it can be a really great and useful product for protecting surfaces, and there are some pretty stylish designs these days (find some here). But eventually you might change your mind, and removing contact paper can be really difficult if you don’t know the easy way to do it.
Even the back of the sideboard had some vintage green and yellow paper.
I painted and stenciled the rest of the piece before the contact paper was completely removed. You can see that project here: How to Stencil Bone Inlay Furniture
Of course it’s best to always do all the prep work first, but it really didn’t matter if I removed the paper first in this project. It’s more exciting jumping into the fun part, although when I went back and removed all the contact paper it didn’t take long at all!
First, I pulled away some of the paper with my hands where it wasn’t quite as sticky – but there was still a lot that wouldn’t budge.
The secret to removing contact paper the easy way is to use heat to loosen the adhesive underneath. The best option is probably a heat gun, but I don’t have one (this inexpensive one is on my wish list!) so I grabbed our hair dryer out of the bathroom and a scraper (aka putty knife).
Slowly move the hairdryer back and forth just a few inches away. Use the scraper to help loosen the edges, just be careful not to scratch the wood.
I would’ve loved to shoot a quick video of this for you guys, but I only have two hands. Next time I’ll enlist a helper. 🙂
Once the glue was loosened, the contact paper pulled off quite easily!
Below you can see all the paper removed from the drawer and it’s still in great condition underneath, especially for being a vintage piece. I wiped it clean and left it unpainted.
I used the same method for the back of the sideboard, but didn’t need the scraper as much.
Using the hair dryer, it peeled off without much effort at all.
That’s all, folks! Nice and simple.
I love showing you guys tips and tricks for doing gorgeous furniture and decor makeovers. I hope you learned something new about how to remove contact paper the easy way – feel free to save this post or share it with someone else.
Click here to learn all about this sideboard makeover: How to Stencil Bone Inlay Furniture
Learn more about painting with Chalk Paint: Chalk Painting 101 – Epic Beginner’s Guide
Patti Kalosky says
The faux bone inlay is beautiful!
Thank you for the tip about the contact paper too.
I would be interested (and maybe other would too) on how you care for your brushes.
I have a couple of Purdy brushes that need some TLC.
Thx…Patti
Jen, Girl in the Garage says
Thank you Patti! I love Purdy brushes – and I really only use water-based paint. You will need to clean them differently if using oil-based paint. I just wash them in warm water with a squirt of soap before the paint dries, then try to shake the excess water out before laying on a folded paper towel to dry. Later I change the paper towel. By the next day they are usually dry. I have a lot of Purdy brushes so I can use several on different projects at the same time. I’ve had as many as 4-5 drying at the same time overnight. 🙂 You can also use a brush comb if needed – mine has a wooden handle and metal “bristles.” I also just found this online: https://www.purdy.com/painting-resources/painting-faqs/paint-care-and-cleanup Hope that helps!
ROSE LEFEBVRE says
I love the stenciling on this piece.
Jen, Girl in the Garage says
Thank you so much Rose! 🙂
Marilyn Brown says
Love the transformation. What if there is still a sticky residue on the wood after the paper is removed. What would you recommend then?
Jen, Girl in the Garage says
That’s a good question… mine didn’t have any sticky residue afterward. But on other projects for sticky areas I’ve rubbed some Goo Gone on there and it works pretty well 🙂
Kathy says
Clever ! And easy doubly good!
Kathy Walsh says
Perfect timing for this – pulled some contact paper covered shelves out of a church kitchen remodel and was putting it in the dump pile when we flipped it over to discover the shelves were old growth VG fir. Had to keep. Now I can clean it up and surprise the DH with finished product for our next DIY project!
Thanks so much
Kathy
Jen, Girl in the Garage says
Ohh that’s awesome! Best of luck Kathy! 🙂
Mary Loveland says
Good trick! Thanks
Marie says
Loved how this piece of furniture turned out and thanks for very helpful tip about removing contact paper. My son as a teenager put it on an area of his bedroom floor. To this day it’s an eyesore. I’m going to try this tip today!
Jen, Girl in the Garage says
On his floor? Oh my goodness! Best of luck to you Marie! 🙂
Patty says
How would you get cloth off of shelves? I have an old China cabinet I purchased and it came with 2 shelves covered in some kind of heavy cloth material. Would the blow dryer technique work for that or should I do something else? It’s a beautiful old piece and don’t want to mess the wood up on the shelves that have the cloth.
Jen, Girl in the Garage says
Patty, yes I would definitely try the hair dryer first. The heat won’t be too hot to damage the wood. Good luck! 🙂