Have you ever started something and then wished you hadn’t?
I’ve mentioned previously my disdain for my rented flat, and it’s incredible magnolia-ness. One thing I particularly disliked was the living room; it has no natural light due to be being in the centre of the house, and had been painted all magnolia. Even the fireplace. Except for where some bits had been chipped off, which showed what looked like a stone mantelpiece.
So in a moment of madness I decided to strip the paint off. Dutifully did I apply the paint stripped, and left it overnight. Now in a room with no windows, this meant the smell was quite strong. But nevermind. After 24 hours the paint and stripped resembled some peeling gloop, and I stripped off a fair bit. Only to find that there was another layer of black paint underneath. Which was fairly impervious to paint stripper, a fact we only found out about after another attempt. Sigh.
Which meant a heat gun had to be deployed. Which meant buying a heat gun. My now cheap and inexpensive fix was proving both expensive and slow; all in this took the better part of two weeks to complete. In the end it did work out well, and combined with some nice grey paint on the chimney breast (damaged tin, £9, bargain) has helped create some interest in an otherwise exceedingly depressing room. But damn, next time I jump into something I am going to perhaps do a bit more investigating first.
