Tuesday, February 17, 2009

What Wallpaper (aka Devil Paper) has in Common With the Following Items:

1. Drinking: It started out as a nice relaxing way to start the process of stripping paper and winding down from a day's worth of hard work. However, when I find myself craving a beer just telling people about the Devil Paper...I start to wonder if it's turning into a problem!

2. Turrets: Yesterday, I found it easier to shout a string of 3 or 4 cuss words every time something bad happened to make the pain go away. I was batting about 200 words per hour!

3. Cuss Word Alphabet: The devil paper led me to create a new game...the name really says it all...if not, read #2.

4. The new nickname 'Sparky': Metal scraper, Wall outlet, any questions! My good ol' 'Reliable' scraper somehow missed the paper and went flying into the side of the outlet. It got bent and melted, a chunk of it is missing now, and sparks flew all over the extra super dry wallpaper on the floor. Thank God for wooden handles!

5. Thoughts of burning the house down as a plausible alternative: See #4

6. Blood: My knuckles are rubbed raw! Between scraping them on the walls on accident, sticking them in buckets of hot soapy water,and washing them 80 times more than normal...I now have 'knubbles'!

7. The Devil: self explanatory!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

What Drinking and Wallpaper Have in Common...

Update on the wallpaper post. Jerry's halo has since been tilted and his wings broken. After much research and a multitude of conversations with Ace Hardware employees in the paint department of 3 different Ace's, we realized that texturing was only covering up a problem with a problem.

This is where I just want to take a quick moment to let everyone know that Ace Hardware Rocks! We went to 3 different ones, and each person we talked to in the paint department was an old man who was a retired professional painter. They had us convinced by the end of the conversation that we could do this and to not give up hope. I'm sure that Vic, our favorite Ace guy, was taken aback a bit by us. I can only assume he had never heard a young couple in their 20's say to him, 'Thanks a lot Vic! You have talked me out of 'accidentally' burning down our house now!' And he was the first one to then jokingly point us in the direction of the Lighter Fluid!

Well, we have now decided to leave that wallpaper as is and prime and paint over it. Why you might ask? Because this entire last week we have done nothing but strip wallpaper. As in ONE wall in one room. It all started last Sunday when we decided to crack open a few brews while stripping paper. It seemed to be much more enjoyable and we even cranked up some tunes on the radio and played 'Country Singer Alphabet'. Monday night rolled around and as I continued to attempt to get the devil paper off, I realized that a beer sounded good. My body was starting to equate stripping wallpaper to beer! Once again, I cracked one open and life was better. the paper still came of in small pieces, but I at least wasn't cursing it. Tuesday, I was in the mood for Mexican! Justin made homemade burritos and so I went down the street and bought Sangria! Next thing you know, I was drinking Sangria and.....stripping wallpaper. So here we are, a week later: a bottle of sangria and a case of beer, and ONE small wall in ONE small room is wallpaper-less. It is also chalk full of dents and gouges where the paper took of everything, including the backing to the sheet rock. Uggh! Needless to say, we are priming the rest and painting over the wallpaper. I don't think my body could take any more stripping of wallpaper...nor my liver!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Death to the Wallpaper!


Justin and I are in the process of fixing up his house. And by fixing up, one might think major renovations, construction, interior decorating.....WRONG! Let me paint you a picture of what I mean by 'fixing up'. The prior owner was a little, old, single lady who apparently had a lustful relationship with wallpaper. (I shutter just typing that dreaded word!). I went to bed last night and my thumb was tingling from pulling so much paper. This morning, I felt like my fingers were bleeding. It was easier for me to use my nails opposed to a scraper and I am paying for it now.

Oh wait, I'm supposed to be 'painting' a picture yet...

We have a foyer with country blue and white striped wallpaper. A hall with squares that have geese and hearts wallpaper. A living room with an indescribable border that come to find out had an even more indescribable border underneath. Each room (3 of them) has wallpaper on the bottom half, then a border in the middle and then a different wallpaper up top. These consist of stripes on the bottom, gaudy flowers on the border and then some variation usually of paisley pattern up top. GAG! (I just threw up a little in my mouth!)

Thank goodness we had some added help this weekend! Justin's parents came up for the weekend to help us out. Thank you, thank you! AND, even more fun, we got to have a real sit down dinner at the dining room table with them. They are only the second ones to have done this at the house. (We don't 'entertain' for dinner normally and we JUST NOW no longer have roommates either...I guess you could say we are finally becoming 'big kids'...or dare I use the 'g' word...'Grown-ups'!!!)

We have painters in and out of the house for the last couple of days giving us bids on painting the whole inside of the house...literally, EVERY room! The last one, an ornery old man named Jerry suggested that instead of stripping paper why not spray on a texture to the wall and then paint over that. When those words came out of Jerry's mouth, I looked over at him with my bleeding fingers, nails ruined, and old gluey paper stuck to my butt and then it happened! Angels appeared out of nowhere! They flew down with a halo in their hands and placed it upon Jerry's head. Trumpets played in the background and then a few more angels fluttered down singing a high pitched, 'Ahhhhhhh!!!'. God LOVES Jerry!

So, as this wallpaper (shudder) peeling party proceeds, and the sheet rock is getting more and more gouged because the lady didn't size the walls, and our hands bleed a bit more, we are seriously contemplating Jerry's bid.

And that sums up our weekend!