I "inherited" a tea cart from my grandfather when he passed, which my uncle insisted was/is solid wood but may or may not be. It came with several dark rings/marks which appear to be coffee stains (very likely as my grandfather was an avid black coffee-drinker) or perhaps burns(?). I liked the brush-marky, olive paint/finish on the piece and was hoping to simply remove the stains rather than refinish it, but could not find any information on how to do so (as researching "stain on veneer" and the like only yielded websites on how to, well, stain veneer...go figure). Going with the educated guess that they were from coffee, and knowing that coffee is acidic I decided to make a baking soda paste and rub it in. The paste began turning brown (and the paint was still intact then) so it seemed it was working, but not very quickly, so I decided to let the paste sit overnight. The pic shows the result - not only the stubborn stain (whatever it is) but also dissolved(?) paint. From what I've read baking soda is not an effective paint stripper so I don't know how this happened. I can't even tell if the solid green blobs are covering the streaky finish or have replaced it.
So...is this salvageable, or do I now have to sand/refinish/repaint it? As the alternative to removing the stain would have been to refinish it anyway, I'm not too heartbroken, just confused. It's not an antique...it was purchased to accompany a 1970s-80s dining room set and as I said, may just be veneer over mdf. Has anyone seen this kind of thing happen before?
So...is this salvageable, or do I now have to sand/refinish/repaint it? As the alternative to removing the stain would have been to refinish it anyway, I'm not too heartbroken, just confused. It's not an antique...it was purchased to accompany a 1970s-80s dining room set and as I said, may just be veneer over mdf. Has anyone seen this kind of thing happen before?