Gratitude: Wall Paper...

There's been a little project going on in my house this weekend. The removal of the hideous wall paper in our kitchen.

I saw this house earlier in our house search. It was horribly nasty. Dark. Peeling wall paper everywhere. Big, white title in the master bathroom AND master bedroom.

Yeah. You read that right. Tile in a bedroom.

Not in a house in Florida.

As we walked the house, I told our realtor it looked like a bachelor and his two daughters lived there. And none of those three were all that interested in stuff like cleaning or coloring on paper instead of the walls.

Needless to say, it got crossed off the list.

Fast forward a month later and I was DONE being in the apartment. I decided maybe we should revisit a few of the ones originally crossed off.

When we returned to the house, it was completely redone. New carpet. New paint. Cleaned from top to bottom. New tile in the bathroom. And no tile in the master bedroom.

So here we are.

Chris thought I had lost my mind for crossing it off but the realtor and I swore to him we did it with good reason.

Amazingly, the peeling wallpaper was no longer peeling. It was like magic.

During this weekend, I have discovered the magic.

Super. Glue.

Okay, well, maybe not exactly. But I swear, it's pretty close.

The best thing about this magical wallpaper is the two separate layers. But the first layer is extra specially magic.

It's some sort of faux-like look. I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to be. Rocks. Torn paper. Cracked plaster. I really don't know. Regardless of what it's supposed to look like, I assure you...it does not.

In order to achieve this faux-rock/paper/plaster look, the wallpaper is torn into pieces and then glued on top of each other.

Flippin' fabulous.

So this one layer of hideous wallpaper is actual multiple layers.

In order to get to the bottom layer, which was glued directly to bare drywall, I have to score the top torn layers, wet, score, wet, score, wet...wait. After about three minutes, I can start peeling.

Thankfully, that layer(s) comes off relatively easily after that. It just takes a while to get them all off to get to the bottom layer. Which the scoring from above hasn't reached because that top layer(s) is so thick.

Thus, the process starts again. Score, wet, score, wet, score, wet...wait. And then the wallpaper top comes off but not the white paper with the glue on it. If that makes sense. That stays attached to the wall and if I'm not careful, trying to get it off will remove some of the drywall.

Awesome.

Apart from a few tugs that I simply could not resist, Operation Hideous Removal began fresh Friday night. My plan was to work Friday night, during nap time on Saturday and Saturday night. That was six hours and I thought for sure that would be enough. It's not a ton of wallpaper since there are cabinets and windows on most of the wall.

Oh how wrong I was.

After three hours, one third of the kitchen wall space looked like this:

Isn't it beautiful?

After another three hours, it finally looks like this:

And as of right now, after another three hours, this is what remains:


And what's behind the refrigerator.

So why, after eight hours (worked three hours at night instead of two) and NOT being done, am I grateful for this project?

Because I can't reach the rest of it. Chris will have to do it.

Thank you Lord!