Thursday, May 7, 2009

How Not to Remove Wallpaper, I Think

I went over to my friend Nadine's house last Sunday to help her remove this wallpaper. I felt so sad because she's about to have a baby and this is going to be where the little man sleeps. I've never knew anyone could put up wallpaper quite that badly - so sorry Nadine, we love you, but there's a reason why it comes with instructions :) I would feel just awful having him grow up knowing that his mom pretty much massacred some very lovely wallpaper. More about how not to wallpaper tomorrow...

However, I'm the one to blame about taking it down since I came up with our plan of attack. I can't lie, it took quite a long time. It's true that we basically spread the work out through 5 episodes of The Tudors, 1 bottle of wine (note she was pregnant and not drinking so I'm not really sure what happened there), and 1 extra large Maui Zaui Pizza (delicious!), but even with our many long rest breaks, I felt like it required more effort than necessary.

My revelation during this process was that I will from now on always double the amount the wallpaper remover solution says to apply. Just seems like it'll be a little more messy, but will come off the wall so much easier. Does anyone see the downside to this approach?

5 comments:

RayRay1234 said...

So many chemicals to breath in! Especially for a pregnant woman. Is there a more natural way to do it?

Trish said...

My father who made a living off of doing paint and wallpaper had me use fabric softener when removing wallpaper and I've had some doozies! It is a lot cheaper than the solutions provided and smells pretty :)

Tiina of livingConcept said...

haha, that job.. just did the same in my little (very little) home. it's a mess! but i liked the wallpaper though...

Candi said...

I have been putting off taking down my wallpaper for months, but it has to come down. Uggh, I am not looking forward to it :(

shakti space designs said...

I've used fabric softener too. On really stubborn wallpaper I've purchased this thinnest ml. plastic tarp at the paint store and stuck it to the fabric softener and left it for a few hours. Like a gem it all came off.