Becolorful

How to Strip Wallpaper Without Pulling Your Hair Out

 My kids would tell you there have been times when I looked just like this and they knew to be anywhere but where I was if I were trying to remove wallpaper. I am not proud of some of the things that came out of my mouth back then. It must have warped my kids because those memories of my wallpaper meltdowns seem to be etched on their brains and they remind me of it every chance they get.

I'm just old enough that I have had a lot of wallpaper in my house and I have slowly been eliminating it. Unfortunately, I have another wallpaper removal task looming and I won't let myself buy the new bedding for this room until I have this unpleasantness behind me.

January is already in my rearview mirror but I am just now getting around to getting the wallpaper removed from Adam's room. It was one my New Year's resolutions to get this room updated. I even declared my intentions last month on a blog post but I think the whole frustrating, maddening and messy process was leaving me less than motivated.

This morning, though, I couldn't put it off any longer so I climbed up to the third floor armed with a bucket of water and a clean paint roller. I have tried steaming, using that lady bug looking thing that scores the paper, and more than once I have used Dif. Honestly, none of them really worked for me. In the end I always just came back to a bucket of water and a sponge. 

This is the room that has been taunting me.

 

So how did I do it this time you ask? Well, the trick is to get the paper really really wet. This room has a lot of nooks and angles and I figured my arm would be really tired after scrubbing each wall numerous times with a water laden sponge. So I thought why not try a paint roller instead? Wow this worked so well, I wish I had thought of it on earlier projects. I'm not going to lie to you and say this has been a FUN day but it has gone so much better than I expected.

 I actually put this paper up about ten years ago and it probably helps that I sized the heck out of the walls when I did it.

 

One wall down.
 

To start removing all of this paper I would roll one section and then let it set for about five minutes. Then I would go back and roll it with water a second time. I knew that when the paper started bubbling that the glue was disolving. When I thought the paper was ready I would try lifting it from the bottom corner. If it started pulling up easily I would just keep pulling until I hit some resistance or the whole piece pulled off. If it started to tear I would hit it again with the watered down roller and wait a couple of minutes - usually moving on to the next section and dousing that one with a layer of water. I would have to hit the top part of of the wall more often because of the whole gravity thing that made the bottom naturally wetter and easier to remove. 

I also used a lot of water so you might want to protect your floor or carpet with a sheet or towels. I would also advise putting some duct tape over your outlets if you are really messy. I didn't do this but I know I should have. 

The result would be BIG sections of wallpaper like this. What is it that it just feels so good when you get a great big piece all at once?  It's an insane sense of accomplishment that's what it is. If there was a bit of paper liner left on the wall I would re-wet it and use a metal scraper or spatula to ease it off.

 

So save your money on all the fancy stuff and give this a whirl first. It worked for me. I hope you have the same kind of luck. 

 

Valentine Door Candy

Happy February! We all know what that means. Not only did we survive January but we can finally bust out our Valentine decor. What better way to greet guests to your home than a little Valentine door candy .... literally.

 

I made this front door greeting out of box of Valentine chocolates - after I had, of course, finished off the candy. Wonder why I'm not dropping any weight? Hmmmm? Next I covered the front of the box with scrapbook paper and then added various embellishment like chipboard numbers, metal tag letters, and an earring. The options are limitless. In case you were wondering, I found the word love at the dollar aisle at Michael's and it really was only a dollar.

I wrapped the box with ribbon and tied it and various other ribbons at the bottom.

 

We had purchased a new coffee pot this weekend so I took the corrugated cardboard out of the box it came in and cut out some wings, drew a few feathery touches, hit them with a bit of metallic white paint and Voila! A follow your heart Valentine heart to express your own unique take on a fun holiday.
 

P.S. This was my 101st post. Woo Hoo for me.

Olive Kitteridge - Put It On Your Need to Read List

There are so many pluses and only one minus to being in a book club. The minus is that there are so many books out there that I would like to read. That is a problem because I never seem to find enough time to get to my "want to reads" because I am  often times slogging through my "needs to be read in time for book club" reads. As a result, this is my night table - stacked with good intentions.

 

I don't know when I will ever get them all read. Just yesterday I was at B & N and bought another one; The Roses. So the pile grows. I never seem to whittle it down.I Read one. Add one. Read one. Add one. It's a wonderfully vicious circle.

On the other hand, the upside to being in a book club, outside of the obvious time with friends, good food and good wine is that I am exposed to books that I would probably not otherwise read. Olive Kitteridge is one of those books. Until this month I wasn't even aware of its existence despite the fact that it won a Pulitzer in 2009. So thank you Molly for selecting this book. 

This novel is a series of short stories that are subtly intertwined by the repeating appearance of the namesake central character, Olive Kitteridge. The book is set in a small gossip ridden town in Maine but it is anything but provincial because these stories and events could take place anywhere.

 I really enjoyed Elizabeth Strout's complicated characters. They reminded me of various people I have known. They are neither black or white but undulating shades of grey. I would vacillate between empathizing with them in one chapter and then thinking that their particular point of view was way off the mark in the next. The author doesn't lead the reader to draw any conclusions one way or another about these people. Instead, she masterfully presents the stories and situations through the dialog of the various characters. In the end each reader brings to the story his or her own past experiences that ultimately influence the way they interpret each of the many complex characters. 

The following in one of my favorite passages from the book. It exemplifies how matter of fact Olive is and how she just tells it like she sees it. In this scene Olive is corresponding by email with a recent acquaintance about the fact that neither of them have a positive or close relationship with their adult children.

    She waited two days. Then she wrote: "My son hates me too."

    An hour later came the response. "Does it kill you? It kills me that my daughter hates me. But I know it's my fault."

    She wrote immediately. "It kills me. Like the devil. And it must be my fault too, though I don't understand it. I don't remember things the way he seems to remember them.

It is such a simple exchange yet it so raw and says so much. Whether you like Olive is a matter of opinion and perspective but you have to admire her honesty and her simple speak. This is definitely a book you should move to the top of your reading pile.

Happy reading,

Pam