Saturday, March 27, 2010

I'm In Wallpaper Hell.......

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this in past posts, but I'll go ahead and say it again for the newbies reading my blog......(And can I get a Hell Yeah for reaching 200 followers, WooHooo!!!!!)  when we bought this house every.single.room except for the downstairs had wall paper or border in it.  All the bedrooms, the kitchen, the upstairs bathroom, the hallway, the entry way....you name it there was wall paper hanging on it!

At first we didn't care (more like Rich didn't care and I tolerated it).  But then we finally decided to paint the rooms and Rich wanted to just paint over top the wall paper.  He said with the right primer it wouldn't matter.  But I thought it would.  You could totally see the lines where the wall paper was.  So, while he was in Florida helping his mother recover from surgery this past winter, I started stripping wall paper and border in the bedrooms.  I did two bedrooms and had to quit.  It was horrid! I even made the kids help me do it (hey it's their rooms).  You already know from reading my other recent post that we finally picked a color for the living room.  So I've been working on it for about a week now.  It's taking me forever, because #1 I had to work a day or two in there and #2 Rich's huge fish tank is in the living room, so I need him to drain some of the water and move it out (Luckily, when he did the new floors, he put sliders on all the furniture including the tank), so I can paint behind it.  #3 I also have to wait for Rich to fill in the billions of holes and nail holes, etc. that our kids have made in the walls, which have to be sanded down, etc. etc.....  And then there is the matter of stripping the wall paper that is two stories high (on stairwells no less).  Did I mention that I'm afraid of heights? 

At any rate, it is a slow going (Very Slow) process, but it is coming along rather nicely, so I thought I'd share some pics of the whole thing....before and during at least and one pic of the color too.

The wall paper border, that keeps going and going and going.....
the entry way
See what I mean about being a pain in the butt!? Oh, and don't pay attention to that UGLY light fixture, that I've been begging Rich to change out for a while now....maybe he will once all the painting is done.
Never been one to turn down a little help, hahaha...

Already looks better!

A sample of the color ("Coffee")...It's going to be so pretty, isn't it?

9 comments:

Rachel B said...

It is looking great Char!! I love the new color, of course I may be partial since it looks exactly like the color in my living room/dining room/hallway ;) I still love mine two years later though.

Kisma said...

WOW.... I have to kudos you on taking on such a challenging and exhausting home improvement job. My last home had the horrid bunny border in the kitchen and the powder room had a retro wall paper which I had removed and painted within a year after moving in.

Evonne said...

Ugh - I hate wallpaper and borders! That looks like a lot of work to take off the walls, but it already looks much better.

Unknown said...

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Erin Janda Rawlings said...

hi! I am following you from FF. I love your pics from the wallpaper. I also LOVE Nathan's cupcakes. I was thinking of something fun to bake for Easter, and I think I'll try that. I'll be sure to tell everyone where I got the idea from :)

Unknown said...

Love the new color. I also have an "amanda" - my oldest.

Happy belated Friday Follow.. glad I found your site, you have a beautiful family.

-Buffi
My Wonderfully Dysfunctional Blog

veterankindergartenteacher said...

Wow...it really is looking great. Whoever owned the house before you REALLY liked wallpaper, didn't they...lol

GAFlyGirl said...

yuck! what A chore... when my mom moved, there had been wallpaper on her kitchen she had never removed but a friend of hers who was not only her realtor, but also painted, painted over it and you couldn't even tell.. it just was a darker color paint It seems and took I think 3 coats... good luck! I do love the new color :-)

GAFlyGirl said...

oh by the way.. hi! I am your newest follower... still hopping over from follow friday! you have a beautiful family... I have 6 children too.. 4 boys and 2 girls also. :-)
:-)
April
hop on over to my blogs when you can:
http://www.christensenfamilyblog.blogspot.com
http://www.gaflygirl.blogspot.com