Monday, April 9, 2018

I hate vinyl wallpaper

When we bought our first house, it had vinyl wallpaper in the room farthest from the street--the one we decided to add a bathroom to, to turn it into a master suite.  Because farther from the street is supposed to mean quieter.*

We spent almost a week stripping that shit out.  It came off the wall in postage stamp sized pieces.  Didn't matter what we used.  We had to puncture it, then spray it with something, then scrape.  Then repeat. 

I still shudder at the memory.

The former master bedroom had an accent wall with a green, textured wallpaper.  Soft sage.  Really pretty...until the imp, at three years old, started picking at seams and peeled parts of it loose.  Last month, I sent Odysseus and the imp over to finish the job the boy started...and they found a layer of vinyl wallpaper underneath. 

We painted over that shit. 

The kitchen also has some.  Halfway up the wall, like wainscotting.  With border laid over the top.  It's dark, makes the cave of a kitchen darker than it needs to be, and the border is peeling in places, firmly cemented in place at other places. 

And the top of the mess is 39" above the baseboard.  Which is 2" high.  So, 41" total. 

I've checked.  Beadboard wainscotting to cover it is 32" high per panel.  The bottom trim board is 3.5," and the top one is 2.5."  That comes up to...not nearly enough. 

Is there such a thing as leveling compound to cover wallpaper for painting.  Because that shit ain't coming down without a fight that I don't have in me. 

2 comments:

  1. I've used a palm sander to remove the wallpaper that won't come off by any other method. It's tedious, and confirmed my belief "always avoid helping an in-law a project" is best.

    Paint with Kilz first.

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    Replies
    1. My mom suggested using wall panels cut to the height we want them, plus baseboards and chair rails. I think that's what we're going to do to cover that godawful wallpaper. And paint the top half of the kitchen, first.

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