Confessions of a stripper

published July 9, 2007, The News-Herald (I was quite surprised by the title, the paper always did final edits and I would never see the final copy until it was in print.  I was caught a little off-guard on this one when others saw it before me and someone noted, "hey, it's Sally the Stripper", and I had no idea what they were talking about :-))

I have decided to confess that I am a compulsive stripper. I can't help myself. Living in a house that was built in 1925 has strongly influenced this habit.

The tools for this trade are very old unattractive clothes, heavy-duty rubber gloves, at times safety goggles, a putty knife and steel wool. Stripping of this kind is not a turn-on for my hubby.

It all started in the bathroom of all places. When the bathroom was gutted and redone I still had the original door. It was a solid wood door with beveled panes of wood and probably a good 60 years of paint.

There were runs, globs of paint in the corners, hinges that were completely covered and old paint chips that were never sanded down.

I intended to paint the door but I could not imagine ever being able to do it the way I wanted with all the past imperfections, thus I decided to strip it. What a piece of art it turned out to be!

The next room in which this habit asserted itself was the girl's bedroom. When I decided to redo it I planned to strip the room door and the closet door. The treasure I found in this room were the hinges on the doors. They were the original cooper plated hinges -- what a reward.

I could not stop myself there, I’ve continued throughout the house.

Maybe it's due to the fumes during the process but I enjoy removing the layers. All the different colors through the years, all the different preferences of previous owners makes me really wonder what this old house looked like when it was new.

One project was the outer door on the enclosed porch. This was one door that, if possible, I wanted to stain and leave natural.

Sadly, the one thing I have found in stripping is that after all the work, due to past abuse, you may not like what you find. Some things, like some people, we just wouldn't want to see naked. This door fit that analogy perfectly.

When the hallway to the basement needed a fresh coat of paint the light fixture caught my attention. It was a simple light that had only a bulb in it. I was convinced it was the original light fixture installed when the house was built.

Slightly peeking through the paint layers were details of the original fixture. Years of paint needed to be removed before I could even find where it was attached to the ceiling.

Beneath the paint I found a beautiful brass fixture. The end result was fabulous, even before polishing.

When I showed my husband, he asked me when I painted it gold. Go figure!

Sometimes, I have found people I would like to emotionally strip. Somewhere beneath all the games they play is a remarkable person. Sadly, they keep it buried, beneath layers and layers of false fronts, displaying only what they want the world to see.

In all you do, I challenge you to look deeper, beneath the layers, to remember that what you see is not always what you get.