We have been planning on refinishing our stairs for a while and never tackled the project. I think stripping paint off the banister and posts made us dread this project. So, another of Kristen's vacation projects was to get this one started. Here are the carpeted stairs before we started.
You can see the beautiful color they were painted at one time. This is just the top layer of many.
Using the least toxic but still nasty paint stripper, we got to work. The green top layer of paint reacted nicely. It's the five other older paints under it that do not.
The respirator was a big help, especially since we didn't test this area for lead paint. Kristen has the heavy duty carbon filters on - the same ones that you can use in case of a nuclear meltdown. We are not even close to completing this area but you can see what part of a few stairs are starting to look like with most of their paint gone.
Sounds like there's a lot of paint stripper in your future. There wasn't a paint color among those 5 layers you liked? Just stop at the color you like and voila! That would have simplified the job ... ok so maybe not. ;)
ReplyDeleteM&B
Oh wow, I want to pull the carpet off our stairs too and will probably tackle that soon. Can't wait to see your finished stairs! Stripping paint off of wood is not fun at all. I sympathize! :)
ReplyDelete