Totally get that with old houses. My grandpa's place had these weird, uneven bricks in the basement. Bought a fancy scraper for paint, but a cheap plastic putty knife from a gas station bent just right to get under the loose bits without gouging the soft brick. Sometimes the simple stuff just fits the weird job better.

The artistic quicksand is too real lol

Yeah, it's like that phrase just infected everyone's brain. My cousin started saying "vibe check" for every minor decision last month. Now I can't unhear it either.