MUSHY'S MOOCHINGS: NEVER USE WALLPAPER BORDER!

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

NEVER USE WALLPAPER BORDER!

Over the last two weeks, and it looks as though there will be a week three, we have been having our house interior painted.  If you've ever done that, not just a room at a time, but a project that begins with the intention of not stopping until it is all painted, including the ceiling, then you know the pressure, back pain, sleepless nights, second guessing, and the joy of knowing your house, closets and all, are truly clean and freshly painted!

We up at 8 each day, waiting for Ruth and Ken to arrive at 9 with the paint and eager to begin.  Judy and I sit finishing our breakfast watching them scurry in and out getting their gear ready, and dreading getting started ourselves.

We naturally have to work ahead of them, getting each room ready for painting.  One of the first acts we did, ended in a small disaster.  The cheap plastic framed garment rack broke under the weight of my clothes.  Luckily Judy's bed caught them and held them there for two days until we got a stronger steel rack and transferred the clothes.

All the light and plug plates have to be removed.  All the furniture has to be moved to the center of the rooms.  All the curtains and hardware have to be taken down, and all the dusty junk hiding on the shelves in the closets have to be moved to a staging area.  I was amazed that I threw away three 39 gal. bags full of clothes and shoes!  Goodwill will love me!

Then all that stuff has be put back in its original place so there will be room in the rooms to be painted next.

Right now they are about half finished, having moved into the living room, heading for the dinning room, kitchen, and laundry rooms!

My back is killing me from bending over so much picking up the wallpaper border, and now wallpaper, that Judy is slowly peeling off the walls.  Our lesson learned is to never use wallpaper border again.  The removal process isn't as easy as the Diff instructions let on it is!  It is coming off in small strips the size of a putty knife blade.  It drops wet and sticky to the floor where I sweep it into large piles and put into a garbage bag.  We've filled four now, and, like I said, we're about half way!

There was border in every room of our house, with the exception of Judy's bathroom.  I even had a "car" border in mine, if you remember this post!  It all had to come down!

Judy had to say goodbye to her "pink" living/dinning room color.  She called it something else fancy, but it's pink...that's all it could be!

Anyway, I apologize to people I had promised to things for this week; people like Randy and Pam, but as you can see, I was trapped here in the rubble that was once a comfy home!

So, let me sign off, take some back pain meds, and get some rest.  It's not long until 8AM!

Just remember...never, never, ever use wallpaper border.  For that matter, never use wallpaper!  It will break your back one day and laugh at you all the way to the dump!

5 comments:

Jose said...

Oh you are a brave man. I am doing one room at at time and taking my sweet time doing it too. The living room is next and it has high vaulted ceilings. Not looking forward to that. But kudos to you and your helpers, it will look great once done.

*Goddess* said...

When I saw the 'never use wallpaper' title I was like, "OMG! Don't tell me there's a virus you can get using wallpaper now!" then I realized you were talking about ACTUAL wallpaper...lol!

Feel better! BTW, I love your front door!

BRUNO said...

That's one tiny-advantage I have on you---most of my interior walls are walnut-paneled. The down-side is, it makes it a bit darker inside than most folks would like, regardless of how much light you can hang from a 10-foot ceiling.

My OUTSIDE may look like hell-times-two---but my INSIDE is quite-'quaint', IF I ever manage to get the windows & sash replaced, not to mention stop "pack-ratting" every thing that MIGHT be useful 50-years from now!☺

Even have a couple of it's original oil-lamps, still wall-mounted. Used to be a school-house, when the ORIGINAL-part was built in the 20's---it's just had "wings" added to it over the years & past-owners.

Hell, I even USE those lamps on occasion in the winter, for the added-heat AND light...!☺

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

I'd love to see it sometime...maybe one day. It sounds quite nice with lots of stories it could tell.

BRUNO said...

Actually, it's like heating a barn, and living in a cave---in other words, it's ME!☺

And in another 3 years, it'll be mortgage-free, although ironically the mortgage is the SMALLEST of expenses in my life each month...!