Back to Reality

Since our last blog post, we have started back to work.  Our do-it-yourself projects came to a screeching halt when the calendar turned to August.  We packed away our scrapers, steamers, and weeders for bulletin boards and lesson plans.

I found this little idea on Pinterest.

In between setting up my classroom and writing lesson plans, I have found a little time to be creative in the kitchen.  It is not uncommon for me to get a little bit carried away when it comes to 'themed' parties.  Here's my handiwork in decorating cupcakes.

Mini-Dice Cupcakes for BUNCO

Piggy Cupcakes for the Church Pig Roast

We are in the process of having 22 windows and one sliding glass door replaced!  This was not a project we were willing to tackle on our own, so we hired this job out.  To date, 20 windows have been replaced.  We will be so happy when the entire project is complete and we can start making deposits back into the back account for future DIY projects!

Our Two Weeks as Strippers

Our Definition of Stripping Wallpaper: Trying to remove paper that had been glued to the wall over 60 years ago with some adhesive that was applied with the intent of it never coming down.  For us it was a journey of trying to minimize tears, sweat, and bad words flying from our mouths.

The beginning of the first layer coming off.

We thought tearing down wallpaper would go quickly especially since Jen had taken the first layer off in about an hour with little difficulty at all.  In fact she thought she was finished tearing down all the wallpaper, until I kindly pointed out that there was still another layer.  This is when the real work began.

First you have to know that the wallpaper was coming off at the seams and there was a burn mark next to one of the outlets so the paper had to go.  We have a lot more wallpaper in the house, but we decided to start with the entry way, living room and dining room.

Wallpaper Removal Products
We tried three different products of which the first two didn't work.  The first one we tried was one you had to mix with water and then use a sponge to wet the walls wait 15 minutes and then scrape.

Duration using this product before giving up on it: 3 hours

DIF also known as waste of money.

 
The second product we used was one that was a gel formula that came in a spray bottle and it wasn't supposed to run down the wall.  We thought this would work better and it did, but still we didn't like it.  You were to spray it on and wait 15 to 20 minutes and then remove paper.

Duration using this product before giving up on it: 1/2 day

Better than the first formula we tried.

After the second formula didn't work.  We decided to try a different approach.  We went to The Home Depot and bought a steamer.

If there were a super hero that you could purchase to do wallpaper he or she might come in a box like this.

We found this to be the quickest way to get rid of paper.  It still wasn't easy, but we were no longer on the verge of crying, using bad words or **gasp** hiring someone to come do it for us.
 

Our very own 'Wailing Wall' - The first place tears flowed and scrapers flew.

Hidden Meanings
One driving force was finding words underneath the wallpaper.  One of the words just said paper.  It was a bit disappointing since I was looking for words of wisdom.

The "Pa" in paper peaking through.  Jen being great at  Wheel of Fortune guessed it right away.

Paper

As we were taking down the last little bit of wallpaper we uncovered a real note.  First they put a date on the wall,  which was March 12, 1975 and then they wrote a few words.  It is a bit hard to read though.  One part says, "Life is just like a beautiful ______"  couldn't make out that last word.  Then it continues, " 'just one ..." and we couldn't make out the rest.
 

All of the important words of wisdom are missing.

The Tiger or (the Kitten)
Before using the steamer we used a device called the Tiger which would make little holes in the wallpaper and let the steam break down the glue.  It worked well and if you ever decide you too need to tear down wallpaper you will want one of these.

Using the Tiger.  I had reservations about buying a product called a Tiger since I am not a big fan of Tigers especially ones named Truman.  We named ours kitten.

It is telling me how happy I will be when school is back and I will no longer be stripping.

Final Thoughts
So the wallpaper is off the wall.  The house now looks scarier than it did before we started.  My sister came over the other day and mentioned something about it looking like a crack house. I think in every house project there comes a point where I doubt myself and say, "Should I really be doing this?"  I think we are there right now.