It had to happen. I've been surrounded by quaint, country-ish wallpaper for over 6 months now and I've finally reached the tipping point. (Never mind that the tipping point really was the two-year-old removing a significant piece of wallpaper on a conspicuous section of family room wall -- the room we spend the most time in.)I'm about to embark on a new adventure in home improvement. Wallpaper stripping.
In a burst of optimism, I also stopped at our local Sherwin Williams to buy two gallons of primer. We could totally get lucky and need the primer before the weekend is out. I know it's a long shot. But I believe in being prepared.
Yesterday I visited a fabric store specializing in drapery and upholstery fabrics. It was grand poking through huge bolts of fabrics in all textures, patterns, weights, and colors. It was also a bit overwhelming. I'm rather glad my family room and kitchen are NOT blank slates. We have an orangish red brick fireplace and cherry kitchen cabinets setting the general color scheme -- warm.
I have my own preferences too -- I want to let as much light in as possible. So I don't want heavy dark fabrics covering the entire window -- they could frame it, but that's it. I'm a less-is-more kind of gal too, so I'm only planning on cornices or valances or scarves in the two rooms I'm starting in.
But I've really gotten the cart before the horse. Every inch of every wall in the kitchen and family room are covered with wallpaper. Even the back side of the kitchen peninsula is papered. The kitchen has a border on top of the paper. While not offensive, that pattern really isn't us, and since we're going with such different colors in the family room, we have to do the kitchen too -- it's really one huge open room.
So I'm armed with a friend's steamer, scrapers, and tiger claw (pokes itty-bitty holes in the paper so the steam can get under it). I'll let you know how much we get done over the weekend.
