These French Provincial bed side dressers has seen better days when I found them - but they were solid wood, sturdy and in sound condition. First step was removing the drawer pulls which went right into my tumbler for a 48hr polishing. Then stripping the tops and bottoms (legs and skirt) - I use a non-toxic product, CitriStrip. Next step was a thorough sanding of the entire pieces - the stripped surfaces are sanded to remove residual chemicals and smooth.