Hello, fabulouses, and welcome back to the blog!
Today, I took a break from painting my apartment to help out my parents with a few projects at their gorgeous, majorly renovated 1920’s Victorian house in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although the home is newly renovated, there are still a few things that need to be tidied up a bit before having a neighborhood welcome party. When my mom texted me that my only job was to clean the three fireplaces, I was a bit surprised because it was such a simple request. Wow–I thought–this will not take long at all! I should have time to get back to my apartment to finish painting my bathroom–*game buzzer* wrong answer.
Once I took a closer look at the fireplaces, I realized that they were in dire need of a hardcore cleaning. So, I embraced my inner Nicole Curtis–you know, the adorable, kick-booty renovator from Rehab Addict…Oh, how I love that show–and got to work on fireplace #1 downstairs.
At first, this task was very daunting because I felt like the tiles would never be pretty again, and that I was just wasting my time–BUT after spending several hours scraping away years of coal buildup (all of the fireplaces in the house were originally coal-burning), I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The once sad, dingy fireplace tiles were in the works of becoming a shinning star once again.
After the globs of coal residue were gone, I took a warm water/baking soda mixture and gently scrubbed each tile several times…using a Mr. Clean sponge–which is my favorite go-to cleaning tool. To my disbelief, there was still coal residue on the tiles…What?! After all that scraping and scrubbing…yes, after all that scraping and scrubbing. This was a bit frustrating–but I did not let that stop me! I knew that the fireplace tiles had the potential to be gorgeous again, and that was enough motivation for me to push forward and ruin my manicure. *wink*
After thirty minutes of scrubbing with my warm/water baking soda mixture, I stepped back and took a look–Wow! The tiles looked dramatically different….Now, they are so clean and so pretty! The once 1970’s yucky brown colored tiles are now a striking mix of warm terracotta hues that look amazing with the original, refinished hardwood floor. My goodness…it was so worth ruining my manicure *wink*
Making the fireplace tile beautiful again was a magnificent moment that made me realize why Nicole Curtis is addicted to rehab. I still have two more fireplaces to clean, and strangely enough…I am actually looking forward to it! I cannot wait to see what beautiful tiles are beneath the years of gross, coal residue! By the time I have the third fireplace looking all spiffy and new…I am pretty sure I will be addicted to rehab too*wink*
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