- 1). Cover your work area with a drop cloth large enough to place the piece of furniture in the center of with at least a foot of clear space around it for working. Clean the piece of furniture with soap and water and a sponge to remove all dirt from the cloudy lacquer finish. Rinse the soap away with clean water and pat the furniture dry.
- 2). Open any windows and doors leading to the room to increase the room’s ventilation. Put on a respirator to avoid breathing in the fumes of the removal chemicals, and wear a pair of safety goggles to avoid eye irritation. Put on a pair of rubber gloves to avoid irritating the skin of your hands as well.
- 3). Mix denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner together in a half and half mixture in a small bucket using a wooden stir stick to combine the two. Brush this mix onto the cloudy lacquer of the furniture using a paintbrush, covering an area of the furniture about two square feet in area. Allow the mix to penetrate the lacquer for a minute or two.
- 4). Wipe the mix off of the furniture surface with #0000 steel wool using a gentle back and forth motion along the wood grain of the piece. This will remove the cloudy lacquer as well, revealing the wood beneath.
- 5). Repeat the removal process on the rest of the piece, removing the lacquer in sections until there is none left. If a section of lacquer proves difficult to remove with a single application of the remover, then repeat the process on that section.
- 6). Wash the piece of furniture a second time with the soap and water mix, then wait for it to dry overnight.
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