Bricks, you have met your match!

I just wrote a post about guilt that may be a bit over the top (I'm really good at guilt). So, I'm going to save that one and mull it over a bit before I actually post it.

Instead, I will say that the fireplace bricks I posted about, oh, almost four months ago have not gotten the best of us! Oh, sure, we tried the nice, environmentally-friendly soy-based stuff to take off the paint. And scrubbed our little arms off! That got the edges of the fireplace done before the new carpet was installed. We decided that that was insane, and we had to have a better method to remove the paint from the rest of the fireplace. So we tried another nice, environmentally-friendly, non-caustic paint remover. Same result. The top layer of paint peels off like a fruit roll-up and the bottom layer is a gooey mess. Ah-ha, we thought. The bottom layer must be oil-based! We need a caustic to remove it! So, we tried the not as friendly, caustic-but-won't-burn-your-lungs-out-with-fumes remover. Same result. Meanwhile, we (meaning Mr. X) also tried a power grinder, and then a grinder designed specifically to remove paint. Finally, something that worked without an insane amount of scrubbing and smelliness! But . . . those bricks didn't match the first bricks--the ones we scrubbed our fingers off for. (Brief pause while my graduate degree is revoked for ending a sentence with not one, but two prepositions.)

So, now, what we are doing is this. We are going to paint the bricks again. But! Then, we will use the specifically-designed-for-paint-removal grinder and we will grind the paint off to result in one smooth and consistent surface. Because we are crazy people.

But not just crazy people--crazy people with a lovely fireplace.