I wrote a lovely post a few days ago.
It was beautiful. Really, it was.
I wrote about making a house into a home.
I wrote about the process of transforming rooms into a work of art that is your own.
I wrote about how I am probably one of a handful of people who enjoys removing wallpaper.
I wrote about how cathartic it is for me. A repetitive task, yes, but one that offers peace and solitude.
A chore that results in tangible, visible progress.
I even had some pretty impressive metaphors in there about peeling away layers of old wallpaper in order to reveal something new, etc.
For some reason I can't remember now, I got distracted before I could hit "publish". The kids probably. Needy little buggers...
Before I could get back to the computer I decided to get started on the next room in our house that was in need of renovation: the pink floral wallpapered room that is our office/guest room.
Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I am an experienced wall-paper-taker-downer. I have always had success by using a simple method of scoring the walls, spraying them with a solution of liquid soap and water, and scraping the layers. No mess. No chemicals. Lots of zen.
I gathered my supplies. I laid out the tarp, filled my sprayer bottle, scored the walls, and started scraping.
And scraping.
And scraping.
AND. SCRAPING.
There were no cathartic moments.
There were no deep thoughts.
There was no sign of zen.
There was absolutely no visible progress.
It took me a full two hours to scrape a 10 inch square.
I can only assume krazy glue was used when the 1970's loving owners hung the pepto bismol colored wallpaper. Which was ironic since a bottle of Pepto would have done me good about then.
Eventually, I gave up.
And I did what I normally do in these sorts of situations.
I threw back sipped a shot glass of vodka wine.
Then I went out and bought a wallpaper steamer.
And then I deleted the poetic, wallpaper-stripping post.
So you're stuck reading this one, which is a shame, because the other one was much better...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Zen of WallPaper Removal
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29 comments:
i feel your pain. when we bought our house there were 6 layers of wallpaper on the downstairs walls. Our upstairs rooms were even scarier as they had multiple layers of ugly paint. the out layer, however was yellow exterior paing (go figure exterior paint on interior walls!). in any event the out layer was peeling only to reveal what looked like a jigsaw puzzle of various ugly colors beneath. it was a huge mess! i am so happy that is behind us!
happy scraping!
I specifically remember my parents stripping wallpaper as a child and have a ball laughing about the amount of layers they found. Last I remember it was a good 6 layers of wall paper and that last one was pink floral (think a 1950's bathroom) in my brothers room.
Good times.
ENJOY!
oh dear, wall paper ought to be banned.
Wallpaper is the devil's handiwork.
Oh, poor you! I love to paint though. I could wax poetic about that!
oh, what a job......
Good luck!
I so love it. We had popcorn ceilings and one day I got ambitious and started scraping them. It.Took.forever.
And my husband who wasn't ready to finish the ceiling was uh a little upset when he got home and saw what I'd done.
But this one is so nice and real.
I've never stripped wall-paper - I've had the luck to just do tons of painting. I've yet to find any zen.
I LOVE the look of wallpaper but after our previous home had about 11 layers of stuff and took me the entire 2 years we lived there to remove it, I have vowed not to put the stuff up again. Nope. Never found it cathartic.
Good luck and let us know how the steamer works 'cause I've heard mixed reviews on them....
This post is pretty descriptive, I'd have to say.
I feel your pain. We bought our 1974 house from the original owner. She decorated in 1974 and never looked back. Three bathrooms with hideous wallpaper. The entire basement rec room. And the foyer, which was actually decent stuff (real paper, not vinyl). We removed everything except in the foyer.
This is why there is still wallpaper in my kitchen. I hate it, but then I think about removing it and decide that it's not that bad.
A-men to THAT. We did that. Once. Isn't it amazing how incredibly difficult that is to remove? I hear the steam removers are good for that - but since our bad experience we haven't wallpapered ANYTHING. :)
Needy little buggers? Man, would that be a great blog name!
I've lived that life. It took me almost a year to rip wallpaper from my old kitchen, skip trowel, paint and glaze. Then I did it to both bathrooms. I was obviously in to self torture. We are in a new house now. One in which there is NO wallpaper. Hallelujah!!
The closest my husband and I ever came to divorce involved wallpaper. I believe I am now allergic to wallpaper.
That losing the post thing really bites!
I'm so glad I have no wallpaper in my house for this very reason. Sorry your moment of zen took a turn toward the darkside.
Bummer! The time that happened to me, I finally scraped away to discover the morons who put up the wallpaper adhered it directly atop the drywall. No primer, no paint, nothing in between the wallpaper glue and the drywall sheet. I commend you for your patience!
Wallpaper should be illegal!
I like to have the shot of vodka, I mean glass of wine while I'm stripping (wallpaper). I reach Zen faster that way. I'm a big fan of the steamer. I'm also a big fan of instant gratification.
Oh yes, oh yes. I feel EXACTLY the same way about gardening. Back to nature, so soothing, so zen -- except when God forbid I have to dig a hole for a shrub and hit nothing but rocks and tree roots. Half the time I give up and just plant the shrub so that it sticks 6 inches up from the hole, then pile around topsoil.
I so relate to this! It was therapeutic the first time when I didn't HAVE to do it. When I tackled the next room (that HAD to be done) it wasn't so fun.
Hey, thanks for visiting my blog!
I love it here. I'll be back!
Pinky
I have no guts, I would never attempt wallpaper...
I used to love all things home improvement.
Our 108 year-old house cured that.
Maybe it was better, but this one was so honest!
Every inch of our house has paint, over wallpaper, over paint, over wallpaper...layer upon layer of the stuff. It's a nightmare. No zen here.
Well I can definitely identify with this one more than your erased post. I HATE stripping wallpaper! Who invented that crap anyway??
Everyone has a wallpaper removing story, don't they? Too funny!
I thought I was alone in my love for peeling wall paper. It does an OCD heart good.
The hubs won't allow wallpaper anywhere near our new house! He hates it. I have never had it in any home I have lived in, so I can't appreciate the zen feeling of removing. I am quite sure I wouldn't have a zen feeling at all...I would need the vodka and wine!
We bought our house 1 1/2 years ago. the upstairs bath had dark blue wallpaper and the mauve flowers from the 80's border. Bathroom isn't that big so I thought, oh, I can do that. Now I am 7/8th of the way done,,(maybe) I have scored, used vinegar and hot water, that DIF spray and my clothes steamer...what happened is the previous homeowners wallpapered the walls before they put in the vanity! I have no clue about moving that monster and whatever glue they used puts gorilla glue to shame. The vinyl overlayer of the drywall came off in several places and bubbled in others. So, now Im stumped, ready to use a spatula and shove everything behind the vanity to hide it, then sand the bad areas, re-texture it after I prime it and hope for the best. Oh,,,they also wallpapered before they put down the baseboard too. UGHH!!! I have used 4 days on this 6x5 bathroom wallpaper fiasco with some needed mental breaks during of coarse. Now I know why people wallpaper over wallpaper, MUCH easier..oh well...off I go again,,thanks for having a place for me to vent.
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