Terrorized by Paper

The games began when I set to work with warm water, a sponge and a putty knife. [Wallpaper removal is so much fun!] Then I sent Robert out for wallpaper remover (apparently everyone else in town was doing the same thing). He brought home one bottle of bright blue gel. It worked "OK."

Sensing I was never going to remove a piece larger than 2 by 2 inches, I consulted friends online and got the magic potion: water and a tiny bit of fabric softener. We use Downey Ultra. I put it in a single serve size soda bottle for which I had a leftover pumper bottle top.

Then, from noon until 11 pm I sprayed and scraped. With no guests in the house I was able to blast the TV for my amusement, working by the light of a pole lamp outside the door because we removed the vanity light to paper easily over the junction box.

I made a big dent in the job, but it became obvious I could not schedule another full day of removal AND another day for spackling, caulk, clean up and touch up paint. One pair of guests were offered an upgrade because "their" room (this one) was no where near guest ready.

As I worked I decided to take down about 2/3 of the paper, above above the sink, toilet and to the right of the shower as well as over the window and door. Existing paper will remain in a corner where much of it will be behind a pair of cute little quarter-round picket fence shaped shelves.

Honestly, this is a compact room: about 6 feet x 4.5 feet with the door swinging in! This room is unique, with one wall made of 14 inch thick brick covered with horse hair based plaster, one wall of plaster over lath, one wall of plaster, lath and Sheetrock and one new construction wall of just Sheetrock. Old houses do have a history. This room was the trunk room for storing gear when friends/relatives came to visit (for months at a time!)

I'm anxious to see how it looks. And unhappy I can't spend another day stripping. The worst might be falling paper. THEN I'll have to strip the old stuff, wash the glue off the new vinyl wallpaper and re-paste it myself. I've done whole rooms that way.... I've just never stripped standard paper wallcovering before.