I am removing paint from my batchelder fireplace using a butter knife, fabric steamer, simple green, lots of water and a rag. I'm trying to avoid strippers. Anyway does anyone know what to do next? Can you put something on it to freshen it up? Oil? Laquer? Paste wax? Also some of the grout needs to be replaced. How do you match the color? It's a sort of red chocolate brown. The top of the mantle has been giving me a big problem. I think it was painted with some sort of oil based paint! The deepest layers of paint smell like perfume. Was that the old lady from 100 years ago or the paint?