Wallpaper and surprises...

I truly despise wallpaper!  Why did it have to be a 1980 fab?  Each room of our house has some sort of wallpaper on the walls...professionally done wallpaper!  Most of it is hideous, except our guest bedroom which has dainty yellow and orange flowers that I love, but that too will come down someday.

Jay and I started to tear down the wallpaper in the foyer last winter - first room you see coming into our house.  We borrowed a steamer from his friend Lisa and went to town during all the snow.  We initially tore off all the top layers in the foyer and the hallway, then used the steamer for the backing.  (Side note - I am going to frame a piece of wallpaper from each room as we tear it apart as a reminder of what was there before us.)  It was slow moving at first trying not to burn yourself or the other person, but eventually we got into a rhythm - one person steam, the other go behind and scrape the backing.  It moved pretty quickly and we were done.  Part A, check.  But then it sat with the foyer walls plain for months!

Part B - clean and spackle.There was a large anchor hole in one wall that was too big to patch, so I bought a patch plate but it was too noticeable.  After taking a free Home Depot 'How To' seminar I was told to cut a square in the drywall around the hole and then cut a new piece of drywall to fill that hole and add a 2x4 behind it in case you want to hang a picture later then spackle it up. It was all quite daunting but I was pretty sure I could handle this...'Okay, I can do this' was what I remember telling myself.  Hahahaha - crazy girl!  I bought some drywall - that was interesting - and took it home...cut out my hole in the wall and to my surprise found this...

Yep, that's a PBR bottle in our foyer wall!!  Pretty sure it's from when they built the house in 1977!!  Hahahaha - still makes me laugh remembering my astonishment and wondering what else was in our walls.  That was eventful...  (Side note - We saved the PBR bottle...it now sits on our dining room mantle.  I might put it in a shadowbox one day with the piece of wallpaper I saved from the foyer.)  I trudged on, cutting my square out and a similarly sized piece to fill the hole then spackled around to secure it.  It didn't turn out very good - lumpy, noticeable and nasty.  Luckily Jay fixed it while I was out of town for work (he was getting annoyed with staring at it I think) which thrilled me to no end!  It's still a bit noticeable with the glossy paint, but it looks like the perfect place to hang a picture!

Last winter, we never got to steaming the backing from the hallway...fast forward eight months and it's finally done!  I did it tonight and am so glad it's over.  It bothered me each time I walked down the hallway and I'd make comments shortly after the foyer was done, but no bites from The Husband.  So, I sucked it up... I was steaming and scraping as one team and the process moved along quite efficiently.  Honestly, as I got paper stuck to my feet and glue on my fingertips, I felt accomplished but I wanted Jay to be there to help, to help make this house into our house.  I realize there are other ways we can make this into our house together... So now, this indecisive girl, gets to choose all the paint colors since this husband of mine doesn't paint either! :)