Sunday, August 06, 2006

Wallpaper becomes the bane of my existence




It was this dirty, cream colored. A wallpaper that I think was supposed to just blend in, but it was just ugly. I think it had been on the walls for 30 years plus, and it was dirty. It was on every wall in the living room, dining room and both ceilings. But the worst part was what was underneath.

3 more horrible layers of various ugly wallpapers. Why, oh why did they do this, I kept asking. I found this nasty tool at Home Depot that was essentially a 4 inch razor blade on a nice long handle. It was brutal, and effective. It sent the strips of multi-layered wall flying, at least until my arm was crying for mercy.

I and my wife would scrape, and then we and the girls would bag it up. The ceilings took forever. The last layer was the worst--some iron paste holding it on. I also learned that that "tool" was good at gouging the plaster--which meant I had to become proficient at patching it. The task uncovered the original paint color, which was beautiful. This gold paint, with some sort of little highlights in it. I couldn't resist finding the color and using it once the walls were ready to paint.

The wallpaper stripping went on, and on. The Living Room/Dining Room were just the first. It was followed by the Master Bedroom, the hallway, then two of the kids bedrooms. I don't think I could ever wallpaper a room and truly like the results. I'd just be thinking of some future soul ripping off all of it.