Paint Stripping

So, while most people would think that we're living in "squalor", we have been in our new house for five months and are still working on so many renovations.  We have definitely learned that we would tear out bathrooms, rip out kitchens, replace windows, paint... and do it five times again... before we would want to strip more paint.  Stripping paint has been the most time consuming project of this whole house.  Why couldn't we just move in and paint?  You can't paint on top of chipped paint.  And it all was chipping.  Seventy-five years of crown molding, doors, windows, baseboards that were originally painted with oil based paint, were at some point coated with latex by previous owners, which means this caused a chain effect of chipping all over the house.  So, when we bought the house last February, we immediately gutted the bathrooms downstairs and kitchen.  While remodeling those rooms, we (Hank) were also replacing windows in those areas (13 windows)... and replacing sheetrock, etc.  As we did this, room by room we started pulling down crown molding, trim around windows, doorways and any other area that could be removed and stripped.

If it couldn't be pulled off, then it was stripped in place (mantels, baseboards, door jams, etc).  Now, lets keep in mind, we have FIVE mantels, THREE downstairs bedrooms, TWO bathrooms, ONE den, ONE formal living room, ONE formal dining room, ONE breakfast room, TWENTY doors, TWENTY-TWO sets of window casings... and I'm sure I'm missing a few things in between.  It's all being stripped.  Are you exhausted yet?  I AM.  Our attic has tons of trim waiting to be stripped, sanded, nailed up and re-painted.  While our main living areas (kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms) are mostly finished and livable, we haven't even started on some rooms.  We use our den as our TV room/family room... while the formal living room and dining room are work spaces. 

We have trim lined up on the wall waiting to be sanded, tables out for stripping, trim set aside on the floor waiting to be stripped.  We keep the doors closed so the "little man" will not get in there and we work on the weekends and some nights during the week... if we have the energy.

Here is an example of stripping paint.  Lots of paint.  Thick paint.  Old paint.

 

It's messy, it's obnoxious, it's tedious, it's messy, it's exhausting, it's time consuming, it's messy.

The only good thing about this is how nice the wood in our house is.  It's not like some new houses these days.  It's hard wood, quality wood, with wood grain that shows through even when coated with new enamel paint.  It has character.  It's beautiful.  And I know one day when we're finished (better be by next Christmas... you reading this Hank??)... we will sit back and appreciate all that we've done.  It's a labor of love.  But I'm ready for it to be over.