Let The Chaos Begin

The stripping of the wallpaper in our living room began today, so I thought I'd include a few DIY instructions if you ever get the crazy idea to strip wallpaper in your own house.



The first thing you need are some able-bodied people.  I chose my husband, my brother, and my dad.  All it cost us was paying for Mitchell's homecoming pictures next weekend.  After you get the bodies, do your best to pull off as much of the wallpaper as you can with your hands.  We had vinyl wallpaper on the top, so it just ripped right off; underneath, however, is the problem.  If you have old old old wallpaper that is stuck to the wall, spray it thoroughly with a product like DIF, a glue removing agent.  Then get some plastic scrapers and go to town.  Make sure that you only take off the paper and not the dry wall behind the paper. (WARNING: This is very tedious and takes a really long time.)

After you've gotten most of the big pieces off of the wall, grab a palm sander with 100 grit sand paper and smooth everything that is left.  This will throw a lovely layer of fine dust on everything in your entire house, but it's definitely much faster than the scraping portion.

This is where we left off today because Johnny's hair had turned gray due to the dust, and the pregnant lady demanded food.  Next week will begin the priming, painting, and all around beautifying.