The evilness of wallpaper
Well i've been spending a lot of time at my parent's house lately. You see a few weeks ago I came up with this brilliant idea for my Mom's birthday (which was May 7th, exactly one week before mother's day.) I knew that she was going to Las Vegas to visit her brother's for a couple days and I thought that would leave us (us being my father and other siblings) with the perfect opportunity to take down this nasty wallpaper that's been in their bedroom since they moved into the house (getting close to 10 years). I shared this idea with the rest of the family, and they all agreed that it sounded good. I showed them ideas for new paint colors and they all thought those were good too. So it seemed like a great way to surprise my mom for her birthday.
So the day my mom left we moved all their furniture out of the room, well at least my dad and my uncle moved it out. I kinda stood there and commented on how much clutter my parents have kept over the years and how much dust had accumulated behind furniture. I guess this is what happens when people don't move every year of their life. Then we all sat down and tried to finalize a paint color. I was trying to get my dad's opinion since he's one of the two people who will have to live with it, but he didnt really have a strong opinion. So matt ended up picking out the colors. I certainly am not qualified to do something like that because I have this colorphobia that tends to force me into white (which is my way of not picking a color... as is evident throughout my house). Actually though since matt and I tend to use our walls more as an art gallery would, white walls work very well for us. But my parents like color. My dad freaks out a little bit when I tell him that I've never painted a wall before, but he'll get over that.
Oh and my dad was nice enough to scrape off the accoustic ceiling that night.
Day 2: My sister and I begin the daunting task of steaming off wallpaper. I only had a few hours to do this because I had an interview at the university of maryland in the middle of the day. But I was there long enough to see that I had clearly bit of more than I could chew. My mom was due back in 3 days and this wallpaper was apparently cemented to the walls. It either didnt come all the way off, or if it did come off it took every coat of paint along with it, leaving exposed drywall (or whatever the brown cardboardy stuff that makes up walls is called). Not only that, but it was a very very very slow process. But I wasnt freaking out yet. After my interview and work I went back to my parents house to start removing the glue and little bits of stuck on wallpaper. My sisters had taken down all the major panels and let me tell you, the walls were torn apart. It looked awful. I kept apologizing to my dad (who was certainly now going to be living in a room with lumpy walls) and saying that next year my mom would surely get flowers for her birthday.
Day 3: More scraping off of wallpaper bits and glue spots. That's all, just hours and hours of scraping. Right about now I'm really starting to think it might be easier to invent a time machine, go back in time, and talk myself out of this idea. I think that would be a lot easier than trying to fix the mess I made. I complain the entire time (of course this is all my fault). My dad tells me that you have to learn to enjoy the process and not just the end result. I tell him this is the most boring and tedious process I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
Day 4: Mom's back. What a short vacation. We tried to talk her into staying longer, but it didnt work. So she comes home and SURPRISE!! Not only is the room not done, but she can't even sleep in her bed or get to her closet because all the furniture is either taken apart or moved out of the room. Not to mention the patches of exposed drywall. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. I call her several times to assure her that when we're done it will look good.
Day 5: Too busy to work on it, not to mention too tired. So my dad and I took a day off.
Day 6: Bad reaction to the pain killer medication the dentist gave me, spent most of the day in bed because standing up made me so nauseaus I'd puke. That was still better than scraping off wallpaper.
Day 7: Go with Matt to sand the walls my dad patched the previous day. After sanding them I think that the room actually stands a chance of looking somewhat normal.
Day 8: Primer time! Matt and I prime the walls and ceiling. I realize the fact that I dont have a steady hand, so having me do the cut ins with the actual paint color probably wouldn't be a great idea. Matt and I also go to home depot to get the paint color. We pick a color called teepee brown with swiss white for accents and the chair rail. I end up doing the cut in with the brown color despite my shakiness. My dad freaks out when he first sees the color which causes me to freak out. But then my mom comes up and says that she really likes it so we all calm down. By the time it was done, my dad loved the color too. Also, by the time we are done, I can't move my right arm due to painting cramps. Oh by this time it's Mother's Day. So my mom got to relax while we did all the painting... though she was nice enough to make us dinner (which I think I ate so fast I didnt even have time to taste it) Fun stuff.
Today: Matt and I went over to paint the trim. Again my lack of a steady hand shows through, but tomorrow we're going to do the final touch ups and I think everything will turn out okay.
Next time I get a brilliant idea for a surprise project, someone needs to remind me: Just buy them flowers instead.
So the day my mom left we moved all their furniture out of the room, well at least my dad and my uncle moved it out. I kinda stood there and commented on how much clutter my parents have kept over the years and how much dust had accumulated behind furniture. I guess this is what happens when people don't move every year of their life. Then we all sat down and tried to finalize a paint color. I was trying to get my dad's opinion since he's one of the two people who will have to live with it, but he didnt really have a strong opinion. So matt ended up picking out the colors. I certainly am not qualified to do something like that because I have this colorphobia that tends to force me into white (which is my way of not picking a color... as is evident throughout my house). Actually though since matt and I tend to use our walls more as an art gallery would, white walls work very well for us. But my parents like color. My dad freaks out a little bit when I tell him that I've never painted a wall before, but he'll get over that.
Oh and my dad was nice enough to scrape off the accoustic ceiling that night.
Day 2: My sister and I begin the daunting task of steaming off wallpaper. I only had a few hours to do this because I had an interview at the university of maryland in the middle of the day. But I was there long enough to see that I had clearly bit of more than I could chew. My mom was due back in 3 days and this wallpaper was apparently cemented to the walls. It either didnt come all the way off, or if it did come off it took every coat of paint along with it, leaving exposed drywall (or whatever the brown cardboardy stuff that makes up walls is called). Not only that, but it was a very very very slow process. But I wasnt freaking out yet. After my interview and work I went back to my parents house to start removing the glue and little bits of stuck on wallpaper. My sisters had taken down all the major panels and let me tell you, the walls were torn apart. It looked awful. I kept apologizing to my dad (who was certainly now going to be living in a room with lumpy walls) and saying that next year my mom would surely get flowers for her birthday.
Day 3: More scraping off of wallpaper bits and glue spots. That's all, just hours and hours of scraping. Right about now I'm really starting to think it might be easier to invent a time machine, go back in time, and talk myself out of this idea. I think that would be a lot easier than trying to fix the mess I made. I complain the entire time (of course this is all my fault). My dad tells me that you have to learn to enjoy the process and not just the end result. I tell him this is the most boring and tedious process I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
Day 4: Mom's back. What a short vacation. We tried to talk her into staying longer, but it didnt work. So she comes home and SURPRISE!! Not only is the room not done, but she can't even sleep in her bed or get to her closet because all the furniture is either taken apart or moved out of the room. Not to mention the patches of exposed drywall. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. I call her several times to assure her that when we're done it will look good.
Day 5: Too busy to work on it, not to mention too tired. So my dad and I took a day off.
Day 6: Bad reaction to the pain killer medication the dentist gave me, spent most of the day in bed because standing up made me so nauseaus I'd puke. That was still better than scraping off wallpaper.
Day 7: Go with Matt to sand the walls my dad patched the previous day. After sanding them I think that the room actually stands a chance of looking somewhat normal.
Day 8: Primer time! Matt and I prime the walls and ceiling. I realize the fact that I dont have a steady hand, so having me do the cut ins with the actual paint color probably wouldn't be a great idea. Matt and I also go to home depot to get the paint color. We pick a color called teepee brown with swiss white for accents and the chair rail. I end up doing the cut in with the brown color despite my shakiness. My dad freaks out when he first sees the color which causes me to freak out. But then my mom comes up and says that she really likes it so we all calm down. By the time it was done, my dad loved the color too. Also, by the time we are done, I can't move my right arm due to painting cramps. Oh by this time it's Mother's Day. So my mom got to relax while we did all the painting... though she was nice enough to make us dinner (which I think I ate so fast I didnt even have time to taste it) Fun stuff.
Today: Matt and I went over to paint the trim. Again my lack of a steady hand shows through, but tomorrow we're going to do the final touch ups and I think everything will turn out okay.
Next time I get a brilliant idea for a surprise project, someone needs to remind me: Just buy them flowers instead.
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