I vow to never put up wallpaper in my house! Ever!
This is being said after the painstaking process of trying to strip 30 year old wallpaper off of the walls of this house over the weekend. Thankfully, my loving mother came to my aid and we got, oh, maybe 1/4 of the project done?!
Rooms to strip:
1. Downstairs Hallway/Stairwell/Upstairs Hallway
2. Downstairs Powder Room
3. Upstairs Bathroom
4. 1/2 of the Kitchen
5. Border in the upstairs Guest Bedroom
We started in with the downstairs hallway - which we got mostly done - and moved into the stairwell - which we got 1/2 of the way done. And that's it!
The first step was pulling off the top layer of wallpaper to reveal the dried paste part underneath. This was easy. Top layer came right off, floor to ceiling, strip by strip.
Then we soaked the wall with hot water (we had a water sprayer thing) to loosen the paste and scrape it off the walls (very messy and time consuming).
As you can see, there are nice pink-painted walls underneath the paste layer.
On Sunday afternoon, Joey and I worked in the Kitchen to get that wallpaper off the walls. This wallpaper had only been on the walls maybe 15 or so years. The top layer was a pain to get off, but the bottom layer scraped of really easily (still messy though).
This is being said after the painstaking process of trying to strip 30 year old wallpaper off of the walls of this house over the weekend. Thankfully, my loving mother came to my aid and we got, oh, maybe 1/4 of the project done?!
Rooms to strip:
1. Downstairs Hallway/Stairwell/Upstairs Hallway
2. Downstairs Powder Room
3. Upstairs Bathroom
4. 1/2 of the Kitchen
5. Border in the upstairs Guest Bedroom
We started in with the downstairs hallway - which we got mostly done - and moved into the stairwell - which we got 1/2 of the way done. And that's it!
The first step was pulling off the top layer of wallpaper to reveal the dried paste part underneath. This was easy. Top layer came right off, floor to ceiling, strip by strip.
Then we soaked the wall with hot water (we had a water sprayer thing) to loosen the paste and scrape it off the walls (very messy and time consuming).
As you can see, there are nice pink-painted walls underneath the paste layer.
On Sunday afternoon, Joey and I worked in the Kitchen to get that wallpaper off the walls. This wallpaper had only been on the walls maybe 15 or so years. The top layer was a pain to get off, but the bottom layer scraped of really easily (still messy though).
We got the entire kitchen completed on Sunday. You can see on this wall (if you look really closely - and maybe squint a little) that the years "1970" and "1993" were written. We are of the assumption that the original kitchen cabinets were installed in 1970, and the wallpaper and 3rd layer of linoleum were laid in 1993. We may add "2010" to the wall before adding our new cabinets!
Here's the mess left behind on the kitchen sub-floor.
Cleaned it up with a broom/dustpan, and shop vac.
Cleaned it up with a broom/dustpan, and shop vac.
Note: There are tiny cracks in the sub-floor where you can see below to the basement (right where the laundry area is located). That area is now lined in sawdust, wood splinters, wallpaper crumbles, and dirt. Joey said "I forgot this house had a basement". Even though it was one of the "selling points" for him. And people say I'm the "blonde" in the relationship?!
We still have the rest of the stairwell and upstairs hallway, 2 baths, and the border in the bedroom to do.
Action Plan = rent a steamer.
I'm looking into this tonight!
No comments:
Post a Comment