Forgive my ignorance for not reading this thread (not my read) and seeing previous comments if anyone stated this before, but if you do enjoy candles try soy candles. Regular wax burning candles (Yankee being one of them) leek potential hazardous fumes and chemicals that can be carcinogenic (no sourced article here but there are several sourced medical journals with this study). I would stay from candles all together and use artificial ones for that glow, or mood lights, aromatherapy oils are fine too.  Soy candles if you really want candles. Keep the wick short no matter the brand, dont let it burn for more than a couple hours at most, immediately cover the candle with the topper or a plate after done using it. It exhausts the fire, preventing any stains on walls. And keep it in the middle of the room you're using it in.

You can mask off anything beforehand with builders' paper, plastic bags, tape, layers of newspaper, etc. I'd try strong soap and water first on a test area. Use three kinds of brushes: stiff short bristles, medium stiff long bristles and a couple of old toothbrushes. However if that doesn't work, head to a fireplace shop and buy a hearth-cleaning product there. There are some fierce ones, based on lye. Use gloves and ventilation (if spraying it on, use a mask and goggles). Test in a hidden spot first to make sure it doesn't harm your mortar. Be patient, it's a pain to do. Don't saturate up too-large an area at once, even if it says to let it "work" for a bit. It will be time consuming and you don't want the stuff to dry out while you're working on another area. Have lots of paper towels on hand, and a bucket (not paper or plastic bag) to put the used ones in. They can easily mar other surfaces if they are wet after use. HTH L.

Thanks graywings! I'm trying to stay within the blue my house is, that's the harder part. If I go up three more shades, I think I'll get there. I just used leftover one shade lighter and added a lot of white, but I think I'll use that for something else and buy the actual paint chip lighter color. That should get me there. I hope! The exterior is Sherwin Williams Distance. I have Upward inside in the dining room, master bathrooom and laundry, and even it is too dark. I think I'll try a sample of Icicle and see if it is what I think ;) At least I'll know the blues won't clash, since there is a lot of purple in this group of blues.

We have two of these in one of our buildings. Ours, and I suspect yours, are cast stone (judging by the little bubbles around the edges). Ours mainly had paint at the edge of the wall, luckily ours was smooth there so 50% could be removed with a very sharp razor blade. The rest we removed with regular paint stripper (I think we used citristrip). We then recaulked the seams at the wall with color matched sanded grout caulk.