Fireplace, with white dots:

Close up. It’s old wood putty that doesn’t match our newly stripped wood, probably filled in just before it was painted.

I tried a few tools out to loosen the rock hard putty but the chisel was the winner.

After chiseling the old material away, I used the nail punch to further recess the old nails. Then I filled with our magical Golden Oak putty.

I also filled a few other minor blemishes and ended up with this polka dot free vista:

Much less distracting than this, right?

Wish the trim that used to be installed over these holes was still around. Oh well.