Before finalizing our carpet order, we needed to verify that it was actually possible to refinish the hardwood stair treads to accommodate a carpet runner, otherwise we would be forced to carpet the entire stair. So out came the paint stripper and heat gun!
With a little elbow grease and lots of paint fumes - we successfully managed to remove the countless layers of paint and stain to reveal the original hardwood underneath. Now we just need to check that the wood will accept stain... but the carpet runner is definitely looking promising!
Feeling confident with our success on the stairs, we then decided to turn our paint stripper and heat gun against the fireplace.
We had never even considered trying to remove the paint from the brick on the fireplace until I stumbled upon 1912 Bungalow looking for inspiration for a new mantel. Since we intended to re-paint the brick anyway, we figured it wouldn't hurt to experiment with restoring the brick first.
Much to our surprise - it worked! The flat brick easily comes clean with the heat gun and a little patience but the split-face brick in the centre is turning out to be a little more of a challenge. However, we are inspired by the initial results and are hopeful that a higher strength stripper and, worse case, sandblasting will get the brick clean.
Guess what I am going to be spending the next week doing...
Amy
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