Sunday, March 09, 2008

Wallpaper Rant

Tonight, I finally restarted my endeavor to take down the wallpaper in our kitchen.
I started about a year ago.
The people who owned this house before us loved wallpaper.
We don't.

Ugly wallpaper isn't like a horrendous paint color.
If you don't like the color of your walls, easy-paint them! Quick, easy, virtually painless.
If you tire of a color on your walls, or want to redecorate - easy enough!

But, if at 26 when you buy a house, you don't consider what ugly wallpaper in the house you're buying means to you - then you're in for it!
Now, 10 years later - we are finally redecorating our kitchen/dining room combo.
I am the wallpaper remover.
Husband is the sander, painter, designer - everything EXCEPT - the wallpaper remover.

The wallpaper in our house doesn't come off easily either.
First, I have to score.
Then, I have to spray Wallpaper remover stuff.
Then, I have to steam the wallpaper.
Lastly, I peal it off, many pieces having to be scraped.

So, before you hang that wallpaper. Know that if you are going to move one day - chances are very good that many people who look at your house won't like your wallpaper. And I won't be buying it unless you take it down first!

4 comments:

Stacy said...

I totally agree with you. It took my husband a full six months to get the wall paper down in our master bathroom of our last house. We vowed to never hang wallpaper.

Jennifer said...

Hint....mix liquid fabric softener with water like a1 to 3 mixture. Spray it on allow to soak in and it should help it come off easier.

And yes, the people before us in this house did the same thing. There was one of those big murals in our kitchen, from the 70's of a green house view with plants and such? It. Was. Bad.

After removing that, the dining room, one bedroom (which was pasted on prepasted paper!!)I gave up. Hence why my bedroom & bathroom still have the borders I don't like up. Borders shouldn't be too hard to remove, right? one should think so anyways.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! And for the time saving tips! (I added to your comment). Good luck on the book giveaway!

To comment on your post here - It doesn't sound like the person who put up the wallpaper sealed the wall first. Drywall is porous, so you have to prime/seal it before you put the wallpaper glue on or the glue will actually seep into the drywall. Removing it later is a long, annoying process that often damages the walls. We actually had a drywall guy re-texture (orange peel) the walls for us because the wallpaper removal caused so much damage. You can buy orange peel texture in a can, but it STINKS, is difficult to apply well and not economical for large areas. It was worth it to have it done. Sorry for your trouble, and good luck!

Shawna said...

We hate wall-paper, too. When we bought our house, the last family had borders up. Thank goodness it was not the whole wall because they used the wrong glue when they put it up. By the end, we had pulled several pieces of sheet rock off in our kitchen.