megdanielle

As you may have guessed by this post’s title, phase one is complete! We are very proud to announce that there is no remaining carpet in the upstairs of our house. In fact, we not only championed the carpet, Freddy also broke up all of the linoleum in the kitchen and one of the living spaces. He did it all while I was at work and even remembered to snap some pictures. He is AMAZING!

Sadly, we spent about three seconds celebrating our victory over the carpet before diving into the next evil: Wallpaper.

The wallpaper wasn’t as bad as the carpet goes as far as quantity but all of us who have experienced wallpaper know that that doesn’t mean anything… and yes, that last picture is indeed ceiling paper…

Until Chateau Shier, I’d never taken down wallpaper. I have heard horror story upon horror story and made sure to peruse every DIY blog about the best wallpaper removal solutions, but wallpaper is just one of those things that you don’t really know until you know.

After all of my research, I decided to give an at-home remedy a shot before looking to rent a steamer. I ended up with a spray bottle, hot tap water, and Extra-Strength Dawn. I was lucky enough to have a wallpaper-seasoned girlfriend join me during the process and I will say that without her, I probably would’ve scraped off all of the kitchen drywall on the first go. It came in off in full sheets! We started with a corner and pulled until it ripped off by the ceiling. A miracle! (We don’t need to talk about the mudding that is taking place now to cover up all of the bare spots that we left behind…that’s another post).

Here are some things I learned with wallpaper removal: Patience is a virtue (and you need to make it your virtue if you’re going to take down wallpaper). Score the wallpaper; laziness is not rewarded. Keep the water hot at all times. Spray and wait. And spray again.

We got quite a bit of the wallpaper down this week and my initial scoffing at wallpaper complaints was soon-after silenced. It got harder and harder as we progressed and we ultimately ended up at a would-be dead-end. “Would-be” because today my parents arrived with an SUV full of tools, supplies, and a STEAMER! My godparents have a knack for providing me with exactly what I need at just the right time and they certainly pulled through on this one; they sent my parents over with their steamer as a much welcomed surprise. My girlfriend and I were joined by my mom and the three of us steamed through the cloth-like paper, went back over to steam the glue, and eventually got it all down… in the kitchen and half bath.

Full bath and ceiling paper to go! But the weekend is young. And we are determined!