The Great Wallpaper Removal of 2011

Well, my week of vacation is quickly coming to an end, and I’ve finished everything I could wall-paper removal-wise...  Laundry room, kitchen, front bedroom, bathroom and living room wall-paper is all gone now, and all that is left is my bedroom (which is the least heinous of all I have found) and some bits that need to be cleaned up around light fixtures and electrical outlets – things I didn’t want water from the steamer dripping into.

So… the great unveil of what’s underneath?

Kitchen – before & after:

BLACK AND WHITE FLOWERS - everywhere... sigh

Hey - that looks like another window!
I may be doing more construction than I thought!

OK, the pink ISN'T better - but at least it's down to the bottom layer!

Laundry room – before & after:

Blue Flowers... 

No more blue flowers...

 Front bedroom – before & after:

Not one, but two different kinds of flowered paper...

WAY better!!

AND... it's really close to what I'm thinking of painting it anyhow!

Some WAY better, some not so much – but that’s what a good thick primer and light toned paint colour are for, right?

Next up? Some Feng Shui updates…

With love across the waters,

New… in the WTF File

I am on vacation this week and so have a LOT of projects around the house planned - Feng Shui related, home renovation related and just general catch up on life related. Oh, and some Christmas shopping too, since I'm off. I have, though, decided that my house needs a WTF file.  

Such things added will be:

• The floor (and three sub floors) in the laundry room. 
• The gray bathroom (complete with wallpaper) that has a gimungous hole in the wall (strategically hidden behind a mirror)
• The secondary heat source – an ELECTRIC fireplace (tell me how THAT is supposed to work when the power goes out!!??)

My most recent addition?  The living room wall. What was visible when I bought the house was (peeling) textured cream coloured wallpaper. 

Yesterday it was one of two walls tackled in “The Great Wallpaper Removal of 2011.”

The Steamer and The Scoring Tool

Just LOOK at the spikes on this baby!!!

What did I find under the textured wallpaper?

Silver paint in some places.  Yes, Silver.  In other places? FLOCKED SILVER WALLPAPER!!!!!

Yes, it really is FLOCKED SILVER WALLPAPER!!!

Yes, that’s right – textured wallpaper was hiding flocked silver wallpaper on top of patches of silver paint that was painted onto beautiful strip cedar walls.

But really – how do you explain silver paint AND flocked silver wallpaper? In a living room???

*sigh*

Here are some before pictures of yesterday’s project:

The first layer of wallpaper between the bedrooms

The second layer of wallpaper between the bedrooms

Textured wallpaper on the living room wall

 And here are the after shots:

MUCH better!!

Really... I should have left it alone!

Unfortunately, since that particular wall is cedar strip, I don't think I'm going to be able to save it.  The paint appears to have soaked into the cedar to quite a depth.  I think all I'm going to be able to do is paint over it.  That particular wall will be, much as it breaks my heart to say it, OK to paint over (which goes completely against how I feel about wood) becasue the living room is so small. The dark panels of the wood make it a very enclosed and dark space  - what I really want in my home is a light and bright space.

Today, after a dog walk and some errands that need completion,  I’m taking on the wallpaper in the bathroom and the wallpaper in the kitchen.  Wednesday I plan to take on my bedroom and, if I have time, the laundry room and then Thursday I’ll finish it out with my home office.

With love across the waters,