I'm getting ready to have my condo painted. It's a 1BR condo, built in the 1940s, renovated in the 1970s, previous owners did very little to upgrade it. I'm on a limited budget since there is so much other work to do (e.g., new floors, gut and renovate bathroom). I want to have the living room/dining room, hallway (including two louvered closet doors) and bedroom painted this year.

I plan to hire painters because lots of prep work is needed, like fixing cracked plaster and giant nail holes, and I know it would not be happy with the quality if I attempted to do it myself. (I just did not inherit the DIY gene from my father.)

However I'm thinking of stripping the paint off all the trim -- mouldings, windowsills, trim around the doors -- before bringing the painters in to do their work. Is this crazy??

Here's my reasoning: There are way way way too many layers of paint on all the trim, so much that the edges of the detail are hardly visible. Also the paint is peeling a lot on the windowsills. And since the first coat was applied in the 1970s, I know some layers are lead-based. I think it will cost a lot to have the painters sand or strip all the trim before painting it. Actually, one of my neighbors has a baby so I really don't want anyone sanding away the lead paint.

There's a "green" hardware store in this area that sells Soy-Gel paint remover:

http://www.franmar.com/paint-removal...-urethane.html

A few years back I spoke to the manager at the store about it; he had used it in his own home and was happy with it. Also, it gets very good reviews on Amazon. Supposedly it works well, has no obxnoxious odors and the gel contains the old paint as you remove it, so it's a good way to remove lead paint.

I know it would be messy and time-consuming, but I think it could save me some money by reducing the amount of work the painters have to do. And it could reduce the number of days that they will be in my home.

Does this sound like a crazy idea? Does it make more sense to just have the old trim replaced?

BTW, the LR/DR will be green, specifically "Salty Brine" from C2, and the bedroom will be "Bluetonium" blue. The trim and doors will all be Behr Ultra Pure White. It will take time and money before it's done, but I'm really looking forward to that day.