Guest Room Update: Wallpaper is Gone!

When I received Jackie's ideas for the new rooms on Saturday, it sent me into serious DIY mode.  Tommy was out of town on a bachelor party (see their flowers next week!), so I buckled down and got to work.

The worst thing about the guest room was the wallpaper.  The craziest part is that the previous owner was an interior decorator!!

I mean this very seriously.  If we ever buy another house with wallpaper in it, I am making it a contingency of the sale that it ALL must be completely gone by the time we close.

We emptied the room and got to scraping.

Tommy did a ton of the work while I was on a business trip.  Altogether it probably took us 20+ hours to get all that ugly off the walls.

My final recommendation on removing wallpaper?

1. Get a damp sponge and sponge over the area.  
2. Wait a few minutes.
3. Scrape and peel anything you can.
4. Repeat
5. Bonus: have a binge viewing marathon of a show your spouse hates.

I had two sections going at once so the water could be soaking into one area while I scraping away somewhere else.

You know what didn't work at all?  That wallpaper removal spray and our garment steamer.

Finally, FINALLY it was all down.  I gave the walls another once-over with a giant car wash sponge to get off any remaining glue and paper bits.

Tommy was pretty happy when he got home from his trip, though he did say something along the lines of, "Now how am I going to get away with watching six episodes of Prison Break in a row?"

Unfortunately, the walls aren't in great shape.  Aside from being a disgusting flesh color, there's a fair amount of drywall work in our future, so stay tuned!

Bonnie Projects