What are these swirly scratches?

Restoring the oak trim in the dining room is going slowly, but I'm almost done with all the baseboards and I'm starting on the window & door trim. The paint is coming off pretty well with the peel-away 7, but I'm finding a lot of really deep scratches in the wood underneath the paint:



What on earth caused these circular scratch marks??!! At first I thought maybe they were from someone accidentally bumping the baseboards with a sanding or cleaning machine they were using on the floor, but now I'm finding the same marks on the trim above the doors!!!















Was someone purposely scratching up the woodwork to help adhere the paint or something??!! Has anyone else encountered something like this?? (*boggles*)

Anyway, because the original finish is all so damaged, I'm refinishing the trim the hard way. After I get the paint out of the gouges, I'm removing the original finish with alcohol, sanding down the boards and finishing the wood with garnet dewaxed shellac. I'm very pleased with the results, and I can't wait to someday get the trim back up. :)

(Thanks to Gary and Aaron & Jeannie for all the info about shellac-- I am in LOVE with the stuff, and now I'm considering a few coats of it on the floors, as well).

fun with paint-stripping

I've been slowly getting rid of the unwanted paint in the dining room over the last few months, and 99% of the green and mustard-colored paint on the floor is now gone!!!




















For anyone interested in the how-to details, I'm using a non-caustic paint-stripping paste (Peel-Away 7). (I settled on that because I don't have to buy any really expensive tools, I'll be using it on vertical surfaces and ceiling beams, and I generally don't like the idea of sanding or heating paint that might contain a rogue layer with lead).

So far I really like the peel-away. I paint the paste onto the floor, cover it with its paper film, and then I also tape on an extra layer of plastic over the top to make sure it doesn't dry out. Then I just let it sit for 3 days to soften.












It doesn't smell too bad -- it has sort of a mild latex-paint odor. After waiting a few days, I pull back the paper and most all the paint just slides off in a slab, leaving the original (shellac?) finish underneath. I get the last of the remaining paste off by running over it with a scraper, and then I scrub/wipe it with water.

The only places the paint didn't come off easily for me were in the scratches and cracks and spots of damaged or rotten wood-- scraping/brushing those areas took more time than everything else put together.

Also, my newly-uncovered-atrocity-of-the-week is this one godawful patch of floor (see below) where the original finish has been scratched/dissolved(?) so the lowest layer of paint reacted directly with the wood. (I haven't uncovered the rest of this mess yet, as it extends under the paint into the living room-- I'm guessing maybe someone spilled booze (or some other solvent) and then scrubbed it up too late or too vigorously??).















Well, unless I get any new ideas, that spot on the floor will remain green until it is eventually sanded and re-finished. =/

white, white, white, white, white and white.

No, I'm not referring to the demographics of the somewhat surreal neighborhood we now live in-- it's also the color scheme championed by the previous owners of our house.








The rooms on the first floor have a great feel and amazing windows, but all the arts & crafts era wood and masonry have been doused in... white. The windows let SO much light into the rooms-- I don't know how anyone could have thought the place needed to be whiter. *sigh*



When I pulled back the white carpet, however, I found no shortage of colors.








Yep, the hardwood floors are painted mustard yellow and olive green!

And I'm not sure what this feature is supposed to be-- fringe at the edge of a painted-on rug??!!?