And, you're outta here: Part 1

Every time one of my real-life-friends deletes one of her Facebook friends, she posts "And, you're outta here." I've adopted this saying while removing the ugly vintage wallpaper throughout the house. When I say throughout, I mean THROUGHOUT. This stuff is everywhere. Even. On. The. Ceilings. EVERYWHERE!

Once we closed on the house (note to self: write up the crazy home loan/closing process in a separate post), we mapped out a few projects that we could accomplish before moving in. Nate and I went back and forth and finally concluded that having one room, completely finished, would keep us motivated and inspired to keep working. We also jokingly refer to it as "our safe place." It's away from all the other improvement projects.

So, we tackled the living room in two weekends and a Monday night. With our daughter sleeping in a pack-n-play upstairs/entertained by Yo Gabba Gabba on the iPad/with a babysitter/trying to help us paint, Nate and I steamed, patched, filled, sanded, painted, ran out of paint, bought more paint, and painted some more.

We were really lucky. There is a fine parchment-like paper covering the plaster walls behind the patterned wallpaper. The wallpaper (knock-on-wood) was not THAT difficult to remove using the steamer and we decided to paint right over the parchment paper after filling in seams with spackle and sanding.

The color is Sherwin Williams' Agreeable Gray. I think you will "agree" that it is a big improvement from before. 

Before picture of the blue wall paper and lace curtains. Each window had a lace curtain and roller shade that we removed.

Progress

It occurred to me at this stage, that we might have just ripped down 99 year old wallpaper. Crap! Maybe we should have preserved it? Then my senses returned. There's no way I could have left it. Too dark and too ugly.

Cinderella showed up and we put her to work. (note the nasty roller shades)

Action shot! We also painted the ceiling a bright white and it made a huge difference.

Then, magically (ha!), it was done!

And, if you want a side by side comparison

After we moved our furniture in...

We have since installed white faux-wood blinds in the windows and still have a long way to go with decor and new furniture, but I love the way this room is starting to come together.