Monday, July 21, 2008

Look What I Did! Contest: Wallpaper House of Horrors

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Looking back on all the renovations we've done on this house in 1 year... I have to say it's hard to pick just one! (Who could forget the toilet we installed ourselves, only to realize that it was crooked? Always a good party story.) But I think by far the most dramatic change to the house, and the one that gives us the most pride, is all the effort we took in stripping the wallpaper off of the whoooole house. That's right. Almost 85% of the house was wallpapered - even the CEILING in some places.

We tested out the "paint over it" theory and I have to admit... I'm not a fan. While it does provide a quick fix to usually an awful situation... To a perfectionist like myself I was not completely satisfied because you can still see some of the seams. It's just inevitable.

So we decided to strip. And strip. And strip. But it was worth it when the neighbors came over and said "Wow! How did you ever get that hideous paper off??" Here are a few before and after photos...Enjoy! And P.S...if you're thinking of stripping wallpaper anytime soon... please do not call me. I will be washing my hair that day.

The kitchen. When was this ever in style?

We have two bathrooms... Both had very hippie looking flowered paper... and yes, both went up onto the ceiling. Interesting design theory!

The Master Bedroom could have been a nursery! It was papered with pink and blue stripes. This was by far the hardest to get off because I am assuming it was the "newest." It looked like it had been applied in the 1980's. We eventually reclaimed the walls... and they turned out pretty well.


The dining room had an added bonus!! When we stripped this wallpaper we suddenly smelled smoke - all the time. Turns out the previous owners must have smoked a pack of cigs after dinner, and therefore it coated the walls underneath. You can see in one of these pictures how brown the wall is. I had to scrub the living daylights out of it before we primed with 2 coats of oil based Kilz!! Yuck!



Ahh and finally but definitely not least... Dave's favorite. The 3D hallway paper. This wallpaper was so old it basically crumbled into a big gooey mess when we tried to strip it. Fun times.




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1 comment:

Stephanie said...

That is a gorgeous shade of green! :-)