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When I got home the other night (around 10 – I had been working on some DIY projects with Erin for her Dwell with Dignity installation – head over to her blog & check it out!), I took the dog outside and absentmindedly started picking at the wallpaper behind the stove.
Until recently, this area has been just as stubborn to remove as everywhere else in the kitchen. But I guess I caught a lucky corner, because to my surprise, whole sheets of it started peeling off.
This wallpaper is 30 years old. And disgusting. I realized about a quarter of the way through that I probably should have been wearing gloves (no amount of scrubbing has ever been successful at getting rid of this stained mess). But I was in such a daze from being so tired, I didn’t care. I wanted the paper off. I wanted to get my walls wallpaper-free so I can start tiling.
Can you blame me for not cooking in this house? Ew.
Took about all of fifteen minutes and pulling out the stove a little to get the rest. It may not necessarily get me anywhere near finished with the whole wall, but enough is cleared that the tile can go in. Looks like this weekend’s going to be a busy one!
(Update on the tile: the shipping company that was being used for delivery has flaked out on my order again & it didn’t arrive like it was supposed to yesterday. It’s not directly the tile company’s fault at this point since the delivery folks are the ones to blame – my order was sent out weeks ago – but I don’t want to wait another weekend to see if they’re going to finally follow through. So I’ve decided that this weekend, I’ll be hunting for replacement tile options locally. I’m bummed that I have to start over, but I’m hoping that since I don’t have a lot of square footage to cover, most of the suppliers around me will have enough in stock. Wish me luck!)
Is it mean that I was secretly hoping you’d be delayed & set back yet again?? I’m kind of hating that this wallpaper came off without a fight. You’re so kicking my ass. lol
Mean, but that’s what I expect from a competitor WHEN I AM TOTALLY KICKING ASS! ;)
Looks a lot like the really old wallpaper I pulled out of our bedroom a fee years back, but mine had a horrible mauve tint. I did the same thing – kept pulling off pieces at the edges. :)
Good luck with the tile. Can’t wait to see. Good riddance, ugly flower wallpaper!
Oh man, thank goodness! I love when things just WORK for once, you know?
YAY!!!!!
That wallpaper gives me the chills. De-wallpapering is like peeling a room-sized price sticker off. If you don’t get lucky and catch an edge, sometimes it feels like it would be easier to just knock down the wall and rebuild it!
BTW, that countertop is super interesting! I really like that color!
Thanks! Love my countertops. Star of the kitchen, really. And that’s a GREAT analogy for getting rid of wallpaper!
I finally started my kitchen update this week. Go me! Spent a few hours pulling off PAINTED wall paper from the backsplash area. Cursing the person who decided painting the wallpaper was a good idea. Little pieces will come off, then I can get water on the paper backing to get it started again. Slow going, but oddly satisfying! My mom brought over one of those tiger removers, so I’m going to try that tonight.
I can’t tell you how often I look at this paper and just think of how much easier it would be to put a light skim coat on top and paint… but that’s just not the right way to do it, so I keep trying to remove it! Here’s hoping the other walls are speedy too.
Brings back the memories … heheeee… husband and I took down some really old ugly vinyl wallpaper in his kitchen – it was dark blue floral! Blech! We got all the border taken down and then ended up having to install bead-board over the top of the stuff on the lower part of the wall. Even the tiger couldn’t budge that stuff! On the plus side, I LOVED the bead-board. :D
Love watching your kitchen reno!! We are slowly re-doing things in our new house — pink countertops and faux brick? Yep, we have work to do.
Poor doog. He(she?) was probably watching you through the window thinking she’s gone completly off the wall bonkers peeling the wall apart. And “Hey! That’s my job to eat the walls!” I hope you remembered to let him in…
Even if you can find the tile, it might be worth pulling the rest of the wallpaper off now that you’ve started. It will make other future work harder to put off.
Can’t wait to see the end results of the tiling.
Thanks for the shout-out! I can’t believe you peeled off wallpaper when you got home! I was so exhausted I immediately collapsed as soon as I got to my bedroom. Can’t wait to see what tile you end up using!