If that title does not immediately have you singing the legendary Stacey Q song, then you need to stop reading and click on the link.   It will make your day better.

Did you stop and  listen?

You’re welcome.

Ok, back to the topic at hand.  We purchased this home 4 years ago, and we fondly refer to it as a 1980s wallpaper museum.  We’ve taken down wallpaper in at least 4 rooms, and the crazy part is that there was much more that was taken down while it sat (and sat…and sat) on the market!  I have no idea why it wasn’t selling.  And I have no idea what we were thinking.

The last room was daunting to me.  We named it “the heart room” and even referred to it that way to outsiders.  “Welcome to our home, you can stay in the heart room!”.  It was like we were running an out-of-date bed & breakfast.  Most of the time I keep the door shut, but it seems like every time I walk past the door, I’m reminded of the awful task that still lay ahead of me.  Here it is the day we took possession of the home.

Fast forward to last weekend.  My parents were visiting and my mom finally pushed me to start the project.  Knox needs his own room (his crib is STILL in our room…no comments needed…I know we are crazy).  Anyway, I didn’t want to move him in there till we updated the room.  Which is actually a lot of work.

To “update” a room in this house, you can’t just paint.  It goes a little something like this:

• remove popcorn ceiling
• add any electrical updates (new lighting, switches, etc)
• re-attach drywall to the studs & remove popped nail heads (that’s a whole post right there)
• repair ceiling & walls as needed
• remove window and door trim
• prime & paint
• replace trim with new cherry wood trim around windows & doors
• add crown molding
• replace closet door & exterior door

So the reason this room was daunting was that it was floor to ceiling papered…a whole step BEFORE all the other things on the “to do” list.  My mom helped to jump start this process.  It took us two whole days together and one day by myself to complete the project (but not dawn till dusk–I stopped to work out all of those days).  Even with the intermittent breaks, it was a lot of work and we were pretty tired by the end.

Several have asked me how I strip wallpaper.  Here’s how it goes:

1. spray water
2. scrape
3. spray water
4. scrape
5. spray water
6. curse the person that put up the wallpaper
7. scrape
8. repeat process

Instead of going through a boring tutorial on a topic that is probably been covered a million times on the intranets, I’ll just direct you to this article from This Old House.  It’s pretty much what we did.  My only thought is that patience is necessary.  Spray with water and wait.  Don’t try to rush removal immediately.  The more water-saturated your paper is, the easier it will come off without pulling off the drywall.  The more you rush it, the more damage you will do to the walls.

Even with all the patience & hard work, there is still damage.  But it’s one step closer, and somehow these messed up white walls are exciting to me….it’s a step in the right direction!

xosj