The 90's Have Left The Building

Remember this amazing wallpaper? IT'S GONE. I can't even describe how incredibly excited I am about this. EVERY SINGLE DAY since we bought the house last March, (so, for 423 days....but who's counting) I have looked at this stuff and longed for the day when it was gone. But I'd heard horror stories of taking down wallpaper in microscopic pieces, so I was scared to get started.

And then, on a whim, this past Saturday we decided that we couldn't take it any longer and took it all down. So, here's a few more "before" pictures so you can get the full picture of what we were dealing with...

The border. Because one layer of floral patterns isn't enough.

The mirror only made it worse. It was like flowers bouncing off all the walls and reflecting EVERYWHERE. The things nightmares are made of. 

I felt like I was being attacked by pollen every time I went in there. 

So now that you get a feel for how desperate the situation was, you can understand more fully our "I'm so excited about this" faces in the photos below. Although, on second glance, mine looks more like "Holy moly I'm really nervous about doing this," which was also accurate. 

We looked up a bunch of different ways to take down wallpaper (using vinegar, using hot water, scouring the walls with a "tiger" scraper, using a steamer, etc) but ended up deciding to use a product called DIF after a friend recommended it. Basically, you mix it with water and put it into a garden sprayer (like the one below). Then you simply spray it on the walls a couple times to get the paper soaking wet, let it sit a few minutes, and then pull off the front paper. You then do a third coat of the DIF mixture on the paper backing that is left behind and once that soaks in, you follow the same process and just pull off the backing. Then you're left with clean walls and a smile in your heart. 

Here's an "in process" shot. You can see that most of it was coming off in pretty large chunks, although there were some smaller pieces. All in all, it took us about 3 hours to complete the whole room, which from talking with others I've discovered is apparently REALLY FAST. We were thankful that it came down so easily! 

Side note, below you'll see a photo of the first time we've ever used our bathtub. True story. (When you're looking for a house, don't say "Man, I really want a jacuzzi tub! That's a must have!!." I don't care what you say. You won't use it, I promise).

So, without further ado, here's the "after" photos. For comparison's sake, I've also put the before photos with them. HUGE difference. Now the fun part begins of deciding what to do in here next....