Ouch! That would be paint in my eye then. I have decided it can wait no longer, I am attacking the staircase - with gusto.
So hideous is this job that my builder refused to do it, for any amount of money. This leaves no choice, I must man up, don my favourite building outfit and get the hell on with it.
I have been advised that what is required is sanding, lots and lots of sanding, by hand (to get into all the intricate shapes of the spindles). However approximately 5 minutes in, it is apparent that if I follow this advise, I will still be here, 30 years on, sanding away, with little but callouses to show for it. Clearly this is a stair case which has not been stripped back, ever.. there is layer upon layer of paint. It's like when you are too lazy to remove your nail varnish so you just paint over the top (when I say you, I mean you, clearly I would never do that) like that but times a million!
Sanding, frankly my dear Mariusz oh wise builder, is not going to do it!
What I need here is a state of the art paint removing implement, the Viacal of paint stripping. A blunt kitchen knife and some bleach?
Hazardous paint chips are flying everywhere, there is dust in my hair and bleach down my arms. It sure as hell is glamorous work.
I would love to show you smug little photos of my progress, but frankly after 3 hours of graft there is little to notice. So instead, I will show you photos of stair cases I admire... so the question is grey or white? To carpet or not to carpet....?
I'm looking forward to seeing how beautiful your stairway turns out!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Me too, it could take some time!
ReplyDeleteOh dear... I embarked on a similar task this spring - it was the worst mistake I ever made... 3 months in I had to give up, and of course it looked worse than it was before. I would advise not to get too carried away.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping I can save enough money to get a new staircase put in...