stripping wallpaper-

[dreamofmonterey]

lol- yes those borders were popular in the early 90's the fruit and harvest theme. Hey what ideas for a kitchen? I am sick of total white- what other colour ideas are feasible in the kitchen?

sunny

[belovenow]

Originally Posted by sunnyhelena

lol- yes those borders were popular in the early 90's the fruit and harvest theme. Hey what ideas for a kitchen? I am sick of total white- what other colour ideas are feasible in the kitchen?
sunny

There's a color I used last weekend in a bedroom I use as my home office that was so nice that I think we'll use it for our kitchen as well - Sand Fossil (a pittsburg paint swatch - but I went with DutchBoy kid's paint because I like it's durability/washability). I went with my wife to several open houses a couple weeks ago to get our color ideas and indeed it seemed like neutral-sand-like (tan or light brown like) colors are "in." Other colors we saw were very light greens and yellows - those didn't excite us as much though. I gave it a try and we love it - even though all the new houses have white trim, and ours has light/honey oak... the color really works with our wood.

FYI - my house with the exception of border in a few rooms and a wallpapered kitchen is all white. After 6 years here, I was so sick of white everything that I needed to try some color. Definitely glad I did.

[Janipoo]

Originally Posted by pianogal

We had wallpaper in EVERY room of our last home. We had decorated it in the 80's! Before we put it on the market we stripped ALL the wallpaper off.

A contractor friend told us the easiest way to do it. I didn't believe him at first, but it was the best way we found and we tried LOTS of different ways.

Get a spray bottle and fill it with HOT (not boiling) water. Spray the wallpaper liberally and let set for a couple of minutes. You can literally see the glue dissolving and releasing the paper. Just pull it off....it should come off easily. Particularly difficult spots may have to be sprayed twice.

BUT you MUST keep using HOT water. Once the water gets cold, it doesn't work. Good Luck! Do not use one of the tools that scores the paper...it just tears the paper into little pieces and makes it harder to get off.

This is what I found to be the best also. I bought the scourer thing and it was a pain, you had to pick tiny pieces off afterward.

I would also use the DIF liquid mixed with hot water to get all the glue residue off the wall.

When we bought this house they had wallpaper on all the walls right over builder grade paint. What a pain.....now that we are selling I wouldn't even consider a house with wallpaper.

[mollysmiles]

This is something I really hate...and there are VERY few things I hate. When we first moved into our house there was terrible wallpaper that ran through the living room, down the upstairs hall, down the front stairs, all the way to the basement (we have a split level). It was a 70s wallpaper, with orange and cream flowers, vertically striped. My husband wanted to rent a steamer, and I'd always done it with DIF. I could tell he wanted to go with the steamer, but to me it seemed messy. He agreed to try the DIF. It was awful....it didn't want to come off. We tried the hot water, we tried the Downey and water....and went back to the DIF. We finally, finally got most of it off. There are still places on the wall that if you're looking closely you will see damage to the sheetrock. This past winter we stripped the wallpaper in the dining room--we went straight to the DIF. It was a nightmare--again. I left my husband home working on it and went to see "Holiday" with the girls. I came home to find the dining room completely stripped. I couldn't believe it! Then I saw the steamer on the floor. He'd gone to the local hardware store and rented it while I was out, and completed the entire room before I got back. A month ago we traded bedrooms with our oldest daughter, and she hated the wallpaper. We did not hesitate to make the trek to the hardware store to rent the steamer. BTW, we only had one layer of wallpaper to remove, and the steamer didn't damage the sheetrock at all. The steamer was faster, and not at all messy like I thought it would be. I really thought the DIF would have done it, but my days of that are done! Good luck!! I feel bad you have all that work to do!!

[beach kat]

Use a steamer on the walls, it works fast. It may be hot and messy but it comes off quick enough. Wall paper removal is the worst but it is worth it.

[jdhall1]

I'm currently removing at least 12 year (moved in 1995) old paper in my bathroom. It's coming down really easily with just my hands because the previous owner did a very bad job of putting it on. Not many little pieces, and for those I use hot water on a sponge and tweezers.