How to Strip a Table Top

The past few days I have been trying to whip out several projects at one time! I worked on a five drawer English chest of drawers in the garage, a shelving unit in the kitchen, and a rose painted table. 
The table had hand painted roses on the top and I thought they were very well done by an artist but there was a large spot in the middle. I'm not a big fan of stripping furniture but I knew I couldn't just paint over this top because of the roses. I did a little research on different types of strippers and decided on Strypeeze. I bought gloves, a mask, and goggles and started working. It is very important to protect your skin and eyes from the chemicals that are in most strippers. Here is what the table looked like before I started the process.

I think the roses must have been done in an oil based paint and possibly a little Gesso. They were very textured. I put my first coat of Stripper and some of the poly came off but most of the roses were not budging. The directions said to leave it on for 15-20 minutes and use a flat utensil to scrap off the "gunk". 

Since the roses were not budging I repeated the process but this time I left it on the table for 20 minutes. I took the knife and the roses gave away a little more but were mostly still there. So I repeated the process again. This time leaving it on for 30 minutes and FINALLY the roses were gone! After I scrapped all the "gunk" away I wiped the table top down with paint thinner. I let the thinner dry and sanded the top with my orbital sander. The imprint of the roses is still there but it's smooth and my paint will cover that. I'm not sure what color the top will be but it's ready to have a nice new look.