I HATE WALLPAPER.
That could be the entire post because it sums up my day at the house.
We didn’t have a full day because of other things going on, but most of today was spent doing three things.
- Removing wallpaper/ wallpaper glue.
- Throwing out more garbage.
- Trying to remove a built-in desk.
I’ve been peeling wallpaper for NINE DAYS. I have twitching in my fingers and I can’t raise my right arm all the way above my head anymore. 🙂
Most of the wallpaper is off and now we are dealing with the glue. The vinegar and water works great, we just have a lot of used to be wallpapered walls. Oh and the vinegar technique makes your house smell like a jar of pickles.
But here’s the best/worse part. As I was walking out of the master bedroom something caught my eye.
Do you see what I see?
Yes, that’s wallpaper under the paint. WALLPAPER.
It turns out the entire master bedroom is covered in wallpaper, covered in paint.
Minutes later, as if the house was laughing at me, DH notices writing above the fireplace where the mirror was.
It says “don’t paper this wall.”
Do you know why it says that? Because there is wallpaper under the paint in the living room. AHHHHHHH!!!!!
There’s a strip hanging off the side of the fireplace wall that was under the mirror. We are going to carefully remove it so we don’t pull up any wallpaper under the paint.
Now here’s the deal, I don’t blame anyone for painting over wallpaper. If I didn’t have the issue with the carpet being glued to the wall and ripping up paper as we removed it, I probably would have painted over the wallpaper in this house.
Actually, I definitely would have painted over the wallpaper in this house.
I think I’ve spent about 50 hours on wallpaper removal… so far.
We aren’t finished.
We have run into a few problems.
Problem #1. There is a ton of glue on the wall. This glue needs to be removed before it can be painted. When removing the glue, paint is coming up creating a very rough and flaky surface that will need to be sanded, skimmed, and sanded before we can paint.
Problem #2. Some of the walls are in bad shape, especially in one bathroom. I’m not sure how we are going to fix it if we want to avoid replacing all the drywall in the bathroom.
Problem #3. I’m pretty much tired of wallpaper removal.
The lesson in this is… if you have wallpaper that is in decent shape, skim the seams and PAINT OVER IT.
I don’t think I’ve ever used this many caps in a post, but I want to make sure I get my point across.
Rule 1. Never wallpaper anything in your house if you aren’t going to love it for fifty years.
Rule 2. Paint over wallpaper if you can.
Rule 3. Never buy a house with a ton of wallpaper you don’t like, no matter how much you like the house. 🙂 I’m kidding… kinda.
In demo news, the oven cabinet was removed today without incident. Yay!
Our final big demo is to remove this built-in. Yes, it is nice, but we want to put our TV next to the fireplace so it needs to go.
Long story, it isn’t out yet. More on that coming tomorrow.
I’m headed out of town for a conference so I’m leaving DH and my blog assistant Jenn in charge of updating you on the renovation for the next few days. Go easy on DH he’s not a blogger or a remodeler. 🙂
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This is part of our ongoing renovation project for our new home in Florida. Our goal is to be done by Thanksgiving or else. Follow the daily accounts of our real life during this DIY renovation process here.
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