Now looks like this:
I know, it's not much in the way of aesthetics but this room has seen several hours of work a la yours truly in the past few months. The dingy cream trim and door don't really stand out until you stand them up against white paint (errr...primer, paint is coming). And the wallpaper, well it was a doozy.
It came off pretty well with the help of my handy dandy steamer (I've had mine for over ten years! Here's a newer model* - it's the absolute best way to get wallpaper off, imo) but it took two rounds because it was a thick vinyl wallpaper. First, I got the vinyl, top layer off.
It came off in pretty big sheets but left behind a thin backing in most places, sort of like a tissue paper/film on steroids...like loads of steroids. You can kind of see where the drywall ends and the roided backing starts...
Well, I didn't get around to stripping that backing off of the wall until last week.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a 'rip off the wallpaper and paint right away' type deal in here. Nope. There were a few areas where the backing was really stuck good and pulled the top paper layer of drywall with it or at least roughed it up a little. So, we had to fill in several spots with joint compound* and/or some lightweight spackle*, depending on how big and bad each spot was.
After everything was filled and dry, I grabbed our very awesome Hyde sander* and gave all of the walls a quick sanding. That made a huge difference. Here's a small spot where a little bit of drywall paper was peeling off:
By sanding, the loose paper was eliminated and smooth walls were once again restored.
SO, moral of this story, if you've just ripped off wallpaper and it wrecked havoc on your drywall underneath, have no fear, a little bit (maybe a lot) of joint compound and spackle are your best friends. Add a sander to that and you've got a party. You don't have to wallow in the fear that you're going to have to replace all of the drywall. You just need a little bit of patience plus all of those things I just mentioned and everything will be a-ok.
I snapped this picture of the entry all ready for primer and paint because, after all of that prep work, it was a glorious sight to behold.
Since then, like I mentioned above, I've painted the trim with this primer* (no sanding required but the paint on our trim was worn yet still semi-shiny) and painted the walls with this oil-based primer to make sure we eradicate the smoke smell WHICH we thought we did in here with the elimination of the wallpaper but friends have told us they still smell a trace so oil-based for smoke-smell blocking it is.
I've decided that painting trim is the absolute worst, worst, worst painting job ever and so I've been slow to tackle the trim in here (there's so much for such a small room...boo hoo hoo) but that light in the tunnel (the tunnel of getting to paint the walls which is the best painting job ever) is getting bigger and bigger and so the motivation to get the trim done grows. Oh and I picked up a new thing at Goodwill this week for the space and that's also motivating. Gotta get this place decorated and I'll be darned if I let painting trim stop me...or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
Oh and did I mention that I'm gussying up the entry closet too while I'm at it? It's going to be so fun! I can't wait to show you! ;)
. . .
*These links are affiliate links which means that, if you click over and/or make a purchase through the link, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. All of these links will lead you to things we actually paid for or that are similar to the item we paid for in case ours is thrifted/sold out/secondhand. This extra money helps us with the costs of running the blog. Thank you for your support and for fueling our love to share all things DIY!
No comments