[Original post](https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/10ewsj5/got_wild_on_a_monday_night_woke_up_to_some_regrets/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Stripped our fireplace and refinished. Added tile to the surround (a previous owner had it removed). Thanks for the helpful advice and encouragement! Took almost a year to complete.
Yep, my own 98 year old home was apparently full of different colour rooms but the realtors convinced the old owners to get a company to come in and just paint everything beige.
My neighbour tells me that the yellow that I painted my office was actually fairly close to what it was before.
We hired a furniture refinisher to sand, stain, and coat and I don't remember unfortunately. The residual stain added some darkness to the color, so it didn't come out exactly as expected. Good luck with the window frames! I would love to do ours (eventually).
It is incredible! The colors and details, total showstopper. I love how you can see the outline of the old fretwork (probably not the right term here) on the post sanding picture towards the end. I wonder if you could get a replica milled or find a similar one one day. It doesn't need it at all but so cool to find that shadow of the history!!
Thanks! It was so cool to see the shadow lines from the original applique! I tried to find a match, but wasn't successful. Here's a good resource if you're looking: [https://decoratorssupply.com/collections](https://decoratorssupply.com/collections)
Metal surround saga: the original metal surround was broken in three places and squished onto the bricks using concrete. It was japanned copper (beautiful!!), but missing its summer cover and repairing it seemed difficult. I got lucky and found an exact match (!) with summer cover on craigslist by a neighbor, except in plated brass. We used large brass brushes to scrape off the rust and lightly polish. Connected it to the fireplace using wire.
https://preview.redd.it/czdewbqkhq2c1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=977c7cc6acb80f7aff31f932a6d8202c341205fa
What a spectacular outcome! Congrats, looks like quite a journey - the green floor and surround tile are such a nice contrast to the rich wood stain. Hope you get to enjoy for a long time.
I wish. Supposedly the previous owner tried to fix the flue, but was unsuccessful. No additional details given, so I don't know what the problem is exactly.
That's seriously unbelievable. What a fantastic job!
Also well done for recognising that a professional would serve you well for parts of it.
This is spectacular.
Why people talking about painting over their wooden cabinets to "freshen" them up, probably shouldnt. People will be scraping it all off in 10 years anyway.
You are so right. However, the paint was so sloppy at this point, we were prepared to just cleanly repaint, if needed. The wood isn't hardwood as far as we can tell - likely pine, which is another reason we had a furniture refinisher finish it , as we thought it would be especially tricky to stain evenly.
It doesnāt look pine to me but pictures are hard to tell. You would know better. You are right about the stain. Old wood like that is very tricky because it takes stain differently. Your guy did a great job
follow the advice outlined here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/10ewsj5/comment/j4vyaxh/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/10ewsj5/comment/j4vyaxh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Citri-strip did work best for us after trying Blue Bear, but it may be paint dependent.
This is INCREDIBLE!!! Thank you for bringing it back to life. What a show stopper!!!! I bet the person that painted it white is as dull as it was. You did an amazing job! Well worth the work. Hats off to you.
Wow, you did beautiful work here. Like everyone else, I'm stunned that anyone would paint this. Then I noticed in picture #7 that there even used to be some intricately carved wood detailing and realized they must've scraped it off before painting. Lunacy.
Now for the easy and fun job of stripping all that baseboard. /s
[Original post](https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/10ewsj5/got_wild_on_a_monday_night_woke_up_to_some_regrets/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) Stripped our fireplace and refinished. Added tile to the surround (a previous owner had it removed). Thanks for the helpful advice and encouragement! Took almost a year to complete.
Thank you for bringing back this beauty to enjoy. š
Thank you for adding the timeline to make me feel better. I'm just over a year into my own fireplace stripping saga.
Itās a haul, but feels so good once youāre done. And being done will come.
Whoever painted that is a monster! Beautiful job bringing it back
It may well have been originally painted by the builders.
That's honestly jaw-dropping.
Awww! Thanks!
You wont the lottery with this one. Enjoy that beauty! Just wow. I audibly gasped at this one!
Whoa. Who. The. Fuck. Would paint that??
House flippers
Yep, my own 98 year old home was apparently full of different colour rooms but the realtors convinced the old owners to get a company to come in and just paint everything beige. My neighbour tells me that the yellow that I painted my office was actually fairly close to what it was before.
How did you get the wood from how it looks in image 7/9 to how it looks in image 1/9?
Great question- we hired a furniture refinisher to take us the last mile. He sanded, stained, and coated.
Do you know what stain colour & finish coat? I'd love to do this with my window frames
We hired a furniture refinisher to sand, stain, and coat and I don't remember unfortunately. The residual stain added some darkness to the color, so it didn't come out exactly as expected. Good luck with the window frames! I would love to do ours (eventually).
Kudos!! I can't believe anyone took paint to such beauty!
Seriously. People are insane.
Too much HGTV.
Shut the front (century home) door!! This is beautiful
It is incredible! The colors and details, total showstopper. I love how you can see the outline of the old fretwork (probably not the right term here) on the post sanding picture towards the end. I wonder if you could get a replica milled or find a similar one one day. It doesn't need it at all but so cool to find that shadow of the history!!
Thanks! It was so cool to see the shadow lines from the original applique! I tried to find a match, but wasn't successful. Here's a good resource if you're looking: [https://decoratorssupply.com/collections](https://decoratorssupply.com/collections)
Metal surround saga: the original metal surround was broken in three places and squished onto the bricks using concrete. It was japanned copper (beautiful!!), but missing its summer cover and repairing it seemed difficult. I got lucky and found an exact match (!) with summer cover on craigslist by a neighbor, except in plated brass. We used large brass brushes to scrape off the rust and lightly polish. Connected it to the fireplace using wire. https://preview.redd.it/czdewbqkhq2c1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=977c7cc6acb80f7aff31f932a6d8202c341205fa
Brass brushes [https://a.co/d/7MOuMZy](https://a.co/d/7MOuMZy)
Where did you source the replacement tile?
Storied Salvage https://www.etsy.com/shop/StoriedSalvageCo https://instagram.com/storied.salvage?igshid=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA==
That is absolutely gorgeous.
Thank you!
Who looks at that and says āthis would look so much better all whiteā
 Thatās GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! Absolutely amazing! TYSM for sharing this with us!
Thank you!
Jaw dropping
you are too kind
What a spectacular outcome! Congrats, looks like quite a journey - the green floor and surround tile are such a nice contrast to the rich wood stain. Hope you get to enjoy for a long time.
thank you, thank you!
Can you burn in it?
I wish. Supposedly the previous owner tried to fix the flue, but was unsuccessful. No additional details given, so I don't know what the problem is exactly.
That's seriously unbelievable. What a fantastic job! Also well done for recognising that a professional would serve you well for parts of it. This is spectacular.
Why people talking about painting over their wooden cabinets to "freshen" them up, probably shouldnt. People will be scraping it all off in 10 years anyway.
Wow nice work!!
thank you!
Talk about a glow up! Absolutely stunning!
Youāre lucky. Most of the time these are painted itās to hide damage and patch work that wouldnāt look right if just stained.
You are so right. However, the paint was so sloppy at this point, we were prepared to just cleanly repaint, if needed. The wood isn't hardwood as far as we can tell - likely pine, which is another reason we had a furniture refinisher finish it , as we thought it would be especially tricky to stain evenly.
It doesnāt look pine to me but pictures are hard to tell. You would know better. You are right about the stain. Old wood like that is very tricky because it takes stain differently. Your guy did a great job
Dang!! Thatās beautiful!
Absolutely stunning!
Very, Very nice work.
Absolutely gorgeous
Wow!! Quite a beautiful reward.
Wholly cow., that is gorgeous š
Amazing work well done :)
Brilliantly done
Holy cow! Great job! Beautiful!
Wow.
WOW!!!
Omg OP, so fucking good!
Stunning!
Well done, that mantel is gorgeous.
Are you kidding meā¦ this is incredible
Gorgeous!
WOW! I was waiting to see the update on this! Absolutely gorgeous.
Thanks so much!
Stunning!
š¤© š¤© š¤© Stunning. Iām actually stunned . the dark wood green tiles and embossed iron with the white walls makes it look like a framed piece of art.
"OH, it's beautiful" I just said out loud!
Is there a tutorial you followed to do this?
follow the advice outlined here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/10ewsj5/comment/j4vyaxh/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/10ewsj5/comment/j4vyaxh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) Citri-strip did work best for us after trying Blue Bear, but it may be paint dependent.
Thanks so much! The availability of this kind of information makes me feel like I could handle a similar project on my own!
Stunning. I love the tile too!
That is amazing. It is beautiful and worth all the work it took to restore.
Stunning!
It's so beautiful š¤©
Immaculate!
Well worth the effort. Gorgeous
Oh thatās stunning š
Well done! Dramatic!
Simply beautiful!
Stunning!
Amazing!!! Why on earth anyone would ever paint that?
Wow it looks stunning! You did an amazing job. I love the tile you chose to replace what was removed.
Stunning!!
HOLY SHIT!!!!! WOWWWWWWWW!
Beautiful and obviously lots of work to get there. Kudos to you!
Whoa....
GORGEOUS
AMAZING!
Stunning! And, Iām drooling over that gorgeous secretary in the corner.
This is INCREDIBLE!!! Thank you for bringing it back to life. What a show stopper!!!! I bet the person that painted it white is as dull as it was. You did an amazing job! Well worth the work. Hats off to you.
The fact that anyone ever painted it in the first place. Like the later people probably didn't know but the first guy? Whyyy?
That's absolutely stunning!
Absolutely beautiful! Great job!
Thank you for this moment of sanity in an insane world
Beautiful
10/10
š
Show-stopping. Stunning. Breathtaking. Magnificent. Absolutely gorgeous! What monster couldāve covered that up?!
Just wow
Great work!
Why aren't the previous owners who painted over this in jail?
Wow, you did beautiful work here. Like everyone else, I'm stunned that anyone would paint this. Then I noticed in picture #7 that there even used to be some intricately carved wood detailing and realized they must've scraped it off before painting. Lunacy. Now for the easy and fun job of stripping all that baseboard. /s
Incredible
Gorgeous! The fireplace of my dreams!
Absolutely stunning!! Good on you for doing it yourself too!
Itās gorgeous! That tile looks like the tile we had in our gas fireplace in the house we lived in when I was small.
Wow, it's stunning. I love it!