I transformed virgin yellow/blue clay into what looks like coffee grounds/potting soil in one year using wood chip compost. I could get woodchip mulch from my county composting site for free, but I cleared land and had my own trees/brush chipped (November-December). I watered the compost and mixed in a couple of pounds of high nitrogen lawn fertilizer per cubic yard of wood chips and let it cook for a few months over winter. It was a large pile so it stayed hot all winter. I then mixed this "young" compost into the clay soil as best I could (elbow grease and a shovel since I don't have a tiller). I used about 6" layer of compost mixed into 10" of clay soil (spade depth). The first year the soil was lumpy and rough, some things grew very well (tomatoes), some things did not (onions). I mulched heavily so that the soil did not dry out, and as a result the chips broke down almost completely by the end of the season. The roots from the plants penetrated the clay clods causing them to break up. At the start of the second year the soil quality was amazing down to the depth I originally mixed the soil and I had no trouble growing anything. At this point it is a good idea for me to keep adding compost every year to maintain the soil. I have a cover crop of rye this winter hoping to break up the last of the clay clods. You really need compost humus to build good soil. This consists of bulk partially decomposed plant fibers and chemical humics (humin and humic acid). I add a good bit of charcoal to the garden because I burn brush and quench the coals rather than letting them burn down, but this just results in charcoal lumps in the clay soil when I mix it in. Ground charcoal will act (chemically) like humics, but getting humus is alot easier than getting ground charcoal. Humus (humin, humic acid) is the chemical end product of lignin breakdown from woody material. Fad additives might have a short term benefit, but if you see a benefit it should tell you that your basic soil structure could be improved. Garden and kitchen waste compost (non-woody material) adds bulk (cellulosic) organics (but little in the way of humics), which help the soil for a couple of years until the are respired away by soil microbes. Wood chip based compost is heavy in the lignin organics (humics) as well as bulk organics, and will benefit your soil for decades. I see no reason to buy one of the "active ingredients" of good compost in a bottle (humic acid, or whatever they are calling it on the lable).

New organic way is to understand each rose rather than blindly spray it with Bayer like ARS recommends. In my alkaline clay with pH near 8, roses grafted on Dr.Huey are quite healthy ... Dr. Huey's root secret plenty of acid to release potassium from rock-hard clay. Saw the neighbor with Angel Face (grafted on Dr. Huey), tons of blooms, and 100% healthy for many years. But multiflora-rootstock is a blackspot-fest in my alkaline clay. Multiflora-rootstock doesn't secret enough acid to un-lock potassium in my hard-mineral-clay. Wimpy own-roots that don't secret enough acid isn't best for my heavy clay. I had a Kordes rose, Deep Purple as own-root which was 100% healthy in loamy & slightly acidic potting soil .. but broke out in blackspots when I put in my hard clay. New organic way is to understand that each rose is different in its need for different minerals. Dave and Deb Boyd, zone 5a, noted that Double Delight and Oklahoma have a higher need for iron. True, I put red-lava-rock (high in potassium & iron) on Double Delight, and it blooms lots. But red-lava-rock was a disaster for Betty White .. its white petals turned brown at the edges. New organic way is to understand that roses like a STABLE environment FOR HEALTH. 1) Stable moisture: After more than a week of no rain, I peeled off 2 inch. of alfalfa hay, in full sun ... the soil is soaking wet underneath, with tons of earthworm. I peeled off grass-clippings as mulch, decent moisture, but less than alfalfa hay. The driest spot is under 2 inch of wood-chips, and it was in shade !! Zero earthworms, soil is bone-dry like the wood-chips above. 2) Fluffy and loamy: I put various additives in many holes in October. Dug those holes today, June 29 .. that's after 9 months. The holes stuffed with leaves are moist and fluffy like chocolate cake. The holes stuffed with crack-corn (high magnesium) was fluffy at first, but corn's stickiness and high-magnesium glued up with my clay into concrete. The holes stuffed with woodchips is really dry and glued up with clay like concrete. The holes stuffed with alfalfa hay is soaking wet, but gluey & compact, due to alfalfa's high-magnesium & calcium. The holes with alkaline clay broken up with coarse sand and gypsum is very fluffy, lots of earthworm. 3) Stable pH: Clay has the best buffers (hard-minerals) to neutralize acidic rain. But loamy soil, like potting soil in my pots .. cannot buffer the acid in my fermented alfalfa-tea, nor too much acidic rain. I have to top my pots with alfalfa pellets and pea-gravel for their buffering capacity. Alfalfa at pH 5.8 is high in magnesium and calcium. Pea-gravel has pH of over 9, high in calcium & magnesium & potassium.

Very likely that fine ornate detail is not wood at all, but some form of plaster or cast putty. If that is the case, it would be extremely difficult to strip the paint off without damage. It does not appear that there are dozens of layers of caked on paint. As such, I would advise painting over the existing paint. Use Zinser BIN primer (shellac primer). This can be used over oil based or latex painted trim. This will prevent any issues you might have with adhesion. The Zinser primer can be used over almost any kind of paint. Scuff the surface with a 220 grit sand paper to clean up the surface and to promote best adhesion. The Zinser primer requires ammonia or denatured alcohol to clean up and dries within minutes so you will need to work fast. Practice on some scrap so you can get a feel for the workability. For a top coat, I would recommend Benjamin Moore "advance" trim paint. It is a water borne alkyd (miracle of modern engineering). Being an alkyd, it will very nearly mimic true oil based paint and give the historic smooth glossy finish people tend to associate with classic trim work, however this paint is soap and water clean-up. Good luck.

I'm afraid you will never get rid of the heavy brush marks with mere sanding. Your best results would be had with chemical strippers. Not fun! You will gave to protect the floor and surrounding painted surfaces with layers of masking tape and heavy paper, such as rosin paper. Stripper will allow you to get back to bare wood, where you can begin again with a good oil based enamel undercoater, and a couple coats of finish paint, either oil or acrylic.