Thursday, June 5, 2008

Whistle While We Work

This is Isaiah's first week of summer vacation and in order to have fun the rest of the summer we needed to get a few projects done this week. It'll make the pending chore list a little easier.



On Tuesday we tossed or readied for Goodwill clothing that was too small and toys that were not used anymore. Wednesday, we did the same thing for Anna's room. Today I rearranged and made less cluttered the playroom downstairs. Tomorrow we'll make a run to Goodwill and drop off what we do not need anymore. Such a good feeling.



Yesterday I also started my list of my fixer-upper items. I want to paint the entryway a darker color but before I can do that I must strip the painted over wallpaper. This is so un-fun that in an email to my husband I stated that I may work on our new budget plan as a break from the wallpaper picking. It was at that point I realized what a cruddy job I have taken on.




Matthew asked why I just don't repaint the painted over wallpaper. I said it was not the correct way to do things. Initially I thought the
paper would come off more in strips, unlike the "specs" I'm taking off now. When Matthew mentioned his idea I was 4 hours into a painfully
slow job, however, I was far enough into the job that I had no option but to muddle on through. I actually would love to just paint over the already painted paper now that my initial thoughts are proven incorrect. Oh well, at least it's a small room, right?

The first photo shows the color of the paint. It's showing up much darker in the photo than it does in real life. Because the entryway faces the south the sun just brightens the shade too much for my taste. It appears off white rather than tan.

The second photo shows the paper. They previous owners had a coat hook that I took down and voila there's the paper pattern in all it's 1993 glory.

The third photo shows the wall I've been working at for. hours. and. hours! That is only the top 1/4 of the wall.

I believe the trouble is caused by the lack of size that was put on the wall. Typically one would size a wall before applying the wallpaper. It works like a primer for the wallpaper and also makes the removal much easier. This wall was not sized. Besides the difficult removal some of the drywall paper is coming up as well. Not much but enough that I'll have to Spackle more than just nail holes before I paint.

7 comments:

LadyD said...

Oh Katie! I am tired just reading that! There has to be another way! What about some cute white paneling that looks like wainscoating? Instead of half way up, put it floor to ceiling? It would look very country.....
Shabby Sheek!
Your poor arms! :(

Fabric! You could hang fabric! Um Ya.

Anonymous said...

I put off all of these projects of my own because...I reason to myself so calmly...I cannot possible tackle these things with kids around!
And goodness gracious...when will the kids not be around?
Good luck!
God bless-
Amanda

Katie R. said...

Laura,
Once that paper gets off the wall NOTHING is going back up. I don't even know how I feel about paint at this point. I'm sure once the irriation passes I'll consider paint. Grrrrr! Here I think this will be a quick little project....HA!

erin said...

Is it weird that I LOVE peeling wallpaper?

Katie R. said...

Oh Erin, my dear. I too love PEELING wallpaper. This, however, is more of a picking project.

I going back to Menards on Sunday to see if they've got bigger guns than what I'm using now. That paper's coming down!

LadyD said...

I'd love to come and help, too bad Jer is gone for 4 days, we could have had a Blogger's Home Makeover Edition!

:)

Anonymous said...

Katie, my mom is doin the exact same thing in her house. It is a TON of work but worth it in the end. I know what it is like to take off wallpaper in postage stamp size peices. Keep updating us on your progress.

Oh, and I like your new pic, by the way.