Okay, so the 1990s are now considered “retro” and cool design-wise. Furthermore, Mid Century Modern is now as hot as Victorian, and Boho/Shabby Chic Bungalow used to be. Instead of restoring that Queen Anne or Aladdin home, you might well be restoring a Graffunder! You might be influenced by age cohort or geographic location, but one thing is sure.
That wallpaper is grody and has to go.
How to Do It (The Hard Way)
1. Do not call Home Partners.
2. Prep the space by removing window treatments, wall art, switch plates, and outlet covers. Lay down plastic or canvas extending at least two feet out from the wall. Turn off power to the room at the breaker box.
3. Mental Prep: You are going to do this job to get the room you want come hell or high water. Send the kids to the grandparents, board the pets for the day.
4. Score the wallpaper with a Paper Tiger. Score some more.
5. Fill a Flo-Master sprayer with the hottest water you can manage. For really tough wallpaper, you might have to go 1:1 with hot water and fabric softener. Put the lid on the sprayer and pump a few times to get it pressurized.
6. Soak the wallpaper from top to bottom and side to side with steaming hot water and fabric softener. Understand that you are going to have forearms like this guy afterward but that your room will smell Downy springtime fresh.
7. Use your scraping tool on bubbling or curling sections of saturated wallpaper and start scraping. You need to remove the wallpaper facing and the wallpaper backing.
8. Repeat.
9. Repeat.
10. No, you’re not done yet.
11. Repeat.
12. Give up and go to bed. Pick up the kids and the pets in the morning.
13. Rent wallpaper steamer from a local hardware store on Monday. Let it sit there all week until Friday night, then spend until 5:00 Saturday morning steaming and scraping before you have to return the steamer. Please note that at the link they do not actually show wallpaper being removed.
14. Use gel stripper to get the final bits of paste.
15. Repeat.
16. Repeat.
17. Beer. Or coffee. Or coffee and beer. Your choice.
18. Rinse down the walls a final time and collapse for a while before sanding, priming, taping, and then painting your walls.
19. Vow to never do or speak of this again.
How to Do It (The Easy Way)
1. Call Home Partners.
2. Book an Estimate!
3. Meet with an experienced Professional House Painter!
4. Be floored at how much time this is going to save you.
5. Be amazed at how reasonable the cost is.
6. Sign the contract.
7. Let the painting contractors into the house.
8. Have a nice day.
Be honest – which would you prefer? We’ve been doing what we do for a long time, and we’ve worked all over White River Junction, VT; Hartford, VT; Hanover, NH; and Lebanon, NH, and the surrounding area. We’ve probably worked in your neighborhood. Call Home Partners, and have a great looking house and a nice day.
