Wallpaper is not my friend.
It seems like only yesterday I was scrapping off 5 or so layers of the vintage stuff in the upstairs bathroom. (Oh, I need to make some corrections here... it was about 20 years ago; not yesterday, it wasn't just me doing the scrapping; Bonnie was helping me, and it wasn't a bathroom at the time; it was a kitchen and soon to be a playroom.)
When we bought our century home 23 years ago, it was a duplex. One family had lived upstairs and one had lived on the main floor. We decided we didn't need 2 kitchens (hey, sometimes I wonder if I even need one- I don't spend much time in there!) so we thought it would be great to have a playroom for the kids to keep all their "stuff" in one spot.
When the time came to take off the layers of old wallpaper, Bonnie offered to give me a hand. When you have the extra help, the job really does go that much faster... especially when you have some interesting discussions along the way. Bonnie- remember our little debate about the temperature of the water to use in the spray bottle for wetting the paper? I was using hot water every time I filled mine, thinking it would work that much faster. Right? Well, Bonnie insisted it didn't matter what the original temperature of the water was because when it came out in the spray form it would be cold. I'm still up in the air on that one :^)
Needless to say, we got the job done and 11 years ago, the playroom changed again... this time into a bathroom. The whole room was gutted, so down came the old plaster and up went the new drywall. But guess what?? Instead of painting I decided to put up the dreaded wallpaper... again!!
So what you see here is what I'm working on at the present. No more wallpaper for me!! I have the paint already bought, so I can't change my mind.
Well, enough of a break. ( It was definitely time for one: I couldn't figure out why the paper on the upper part of the ceiling was drying so fast after I had sprayed it. Duh! Shut off the ceiling fan Tracey!!)
After having my (some what) healthy snack, it's time to pick up my scrapper and get back to work. I'll re-fill my spray bottle with hot water (sorry Bonnie- old habits die hard!) and add a little vinegar to it too! (Vinegar!...so that's why I keep craving french fries! LOL!)
Tracey
4 comments:
You left out the part where you were fooling around spraying the bottle and shot me right inside my ear. :-) ... remember...
p.s. adding fabric softener does the same as vinegar and smells nicer. (Perhaps I should post all 'uses' I've discovered for fabric softener.
p.p.s. I'm seriously imagining how many people are going to grab a spray bottle now and test the hot water theory. LOL
p.p.s.s. tomorrow I'll post what we discovered when we took the wall paper off the bedroom wall at my daughters house.... stay tuned.
Oh no!! It may be MY fault you sometimes have problems with your ears now!
I did know about the fabric softener, but I was a bit worried about getting it on the newly finished floor. I clean the floors with vinegar and water, so I knew I was safe there :^)
hey a bucket of hot water and a mop works well too and then you get the whole wall absorbing the water while you start pulling strip by strip off. oh, and I personally find that vodka works well too. with Mott's and a good celery salt. oh that was for the beverage of choice, by then you don't really care how warm the water is or how much you get on the floors. Everything just peels.
As always my friends.
Jayne, I'd like to know what kind of wallpaper you have removed where it pulls off strip by strip! Lucky you!! I'll give your suggestions a try. Shopping list: mop, vodka :^)
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