It’s all in the detail. I personally thrive on attention to detail and this small personal project at my own home embodies this. This is traditional slate victorian fireplace. Commonly the Victorians liked to paint them even though when in their natural state form they are beautiful.

It was layered in over 150 years of paint. Not easy to strip. In fact it was a real challenge. I used a number of tools starting with a heavy duty scraper to strip back the layers. I avoided paint stripper which melts the paint, making it sticky and gooey and almost impossible to remove. The reverse happens with a scraper. When a scrapper is drawn across the paint under pressure, it cracks and shatters and flies off leaving an almost clean surface.

The grate surround (cast iron) has an intricate cast relief pattern. Lovely, but also very tricky to remove the paint from. I used a series of small pointed tools to remove every last bit of paint.

Once all the paint had been removed I used, albeit unconventionally, t-cut to smooth the surface and take away as many blemishes as possible. I then finished the cat iron grate and surround with a couple of coats of stove polish and the slate surround with slate dressing.

An amazing transformation of a beautiful victorian fireplace.