One Thing Leads to Another

One of the interesting things about living in an old house is that you are never quite done.  We have pretty much covered every square inch of this house, but after 24 years the front entry floor had remained untouched.  The ceiling, the trim and doors, the walls--yes--but not the floor.  And not because it was too beautiful to touch--it was covered with some fairly ugly brown indoor/outdoor carpet.

Enter our little dog who (how do I say this?) decides it's kind of like being outside and anything goes!  So . . . the carpet had to go.  Not too bad--Ben gave it a good tug or two and pulled it up.  Then he tackled the linoleum layer which took a little more muscle.  He used the same tool that he uses to chip ice in the winter.  That left a layer of hardened glue and green fuzzy stuff that after all these years has bonded with the floor boards.

I've stripped a lot of wallpaper, but this was more stubborn than any of that.  We tried vinegar and water--nothing.  Then the same stripper I use on furniture--nothing.  So now we are using the heat gun and scrapper--and it is coming off.  Inch by inch, but it's coming.

The plan (following the scraping and sanding) is to paint and stencil it, then cover it with a heavy duty finish.  Now to start looking for stenciling ideas . . .