Peeling back the layers: The Story of a girl, a 100-year-old house, and lots of wallpaper
Oct 20th, 2009 | By Colleen McKie | Category: Featured
October 1st. I anxiously open the front door and stare in amazement at our new house. I’m giddy all day as I walk through it, finding it hard to believe that this beautiful house is all ours. Sure, it needs some touch ups here and there, but that’ll be easy. The important thing is it’s ours.
October 19th. After crawling out of bed, throwing on yesterday’s clothes, and slapping on some deodorant, I head out the door. Arrive at the house, otherwise known as the 10th level of Hell. Walk through the door and kick wallpaper, plaster, and stove pipe out of my way. Set my purse down, grab a scraper and climb a ladder. Try to go to a happy place in my head.
No, I didn’t have a mental break down (at least not a full one). And no, we didn’t buy a money pit. What we bought was a 100-year-old farm house that needed a lot of work. Work we stupidly thought we could get done in a week.
Damn you HGTV!
I blame HGTV. Yes, you heard right. After years of watching Design Inc., Home Heist, and Design to Sell, I stupidly thought that while home renos weren’t necessarily easy, they would be quick. After all, Colin and Justin transform rooms in half an hour, right? Less if you consider the commercials.
Three days into scraping wallpaper and discovering layer upon layer of the evil stuff, I knew our seven day self-imposed deadline was a dud. Hubby, on the other hand still thought it was well in the realm of reality. He kept saying things like “If Extreme Makeover Home Edition can build a house in a week, we surely can reno a house in a week!”
And you know what? If I had a design team and about a billion volunteers, I could have done it. As it stood, it was hubby and I and some friends who were stopping by when they could to help. Also my folks, but the only ones who were there, day after day, were Jason and I. And once he hopped on the plane back to work out West, it was just me.
Hence my foul mood on the 19th as I scraped wallpaper for—you guessed it—the 19th consecutive day. Each day had me discovering something else new and wonderful about the house.
The wallpaper journey
Oct 7th. Tried to peel the wallpaper from the closet in the living room to discover that they wallpapered right on the drywall. Which was covered with drywall paper. Living room closet is no more.
Oct. 10th. Spare room was wallpapered, then painted with an oil-based paint and then wallpapered. When I sprayed the top layer of wallpaper with hot water and fabric softener (my new best friend). the water soaked through the oil paint to the bottom layers of wallpaper, lifting the paint off of part of the room. Now hunting down wallpaper for spare room.
Oct 13th. There’s a reason there’s 10 layers of wallpaper in the kitchen: it’s holding the plaster walls together. Drywall now on order.
Oct 15th. Old fashioned, 100-year-old wallpaper was basically made from cardboard and glue, the glue being almost impossible to remove completely from walls. Big living room also being wallpapered.
Oct 18th. A wet metal scraper + open electrical outlet = fire, a scared Colleen, and no lights in the sunroom.
Oct 19th. I can strip wallpaper for about 18 days before breaking down in tears and wanting to sell the house.
And if that wasn’t enough…..
In between hours and hours of dealing with wallpaper, there were also carpets to tear up, floors to scrap, and sand and plaster ceilings to come down. Not to mention a wood stove to be moved and set up. Oh, and three kittens that were supposed to be barn cats to tame (Note to self: next round of barn cats must be adult cats).
And we haven’t even started painting. That will happen after we patch all the holes and cracks in the plaster. Once all the wallpaper is down, that is.
So there’s plenty to keep us busy and we now have a new deadline: two weeks. I keep hearing there’s a light at the end of the reno tunnel, but I can’t seem to see it. I personally think the previous owners wallpapered over it.
Related posts:
Oh, man. How I wish you had talked to me about your schedule before you plunged in! I could have told you the basic tenet of renovation where it comes to 100 year old houses: everything will take three times longer than you think, will have to be done in a different way than you first thought, and will create a new problem that will have to be solved that will take three times longer than you think, will have to be done differently than you first thought, and will create a new problem that will have to be solved that will take … (I’m sure you see the pattern)
That said … once you have lived in a cozy old country farmhouse for a while you will not imagine yourself living anywhere else. It does step up and grab you, and won’t let go.
This takes me back to our first house and all the crazy things I found beneath layers of wallpaper. My favorite- rather than actually attaching a piece of drywall that was patching a hole created by a reno, they simply wallpapered it all together!
If you are still stripping, I highly recommend renting a wall paper steamer. It saved me a few times.
Hey Nils,
I have my days where I hate the place (hence the 10th level of Hell reference) but overall I’m infatuated with the house. New goal is to move in my December. Of course we just took all the plaster down in the living room and decided to put in a new tub and move kitchen cabinets……….
Hiya Erin,
I am at the very tail end of the wallpaper stripping. And yeah, the weirdness I found! In the kitchen two walls were being held up with the wallpaper. Removed the paper and down came the plaster with it!