Renovation Part 2: Demolishing Things and Removing Wallpaper

I was really excited to get the wallpaper off the walls, partly because it was all patterned and pink.

The wallpaper in this room wasn’t too bad, and I could have lived with it, but that carpet!

You can’t tell from the photo but it was all worn through in several places, especially around the sofas where people would sit down. And look at that brown patch by the double doors.

Exhibit B manages to ever-so-gracefully demonstrate all the ugly carpet and wallpaper that was throughout the whole house.

The carpet downstairs was pink, and upstairs, green. Though not just one shade of green, but two or even three! The wallpaper is a combination of pink and green with big flowers on it. It is quite obvious that this place has not been decorated since the 1950s threw up on it.

Exhibit C shows what will be our office, with TWO DIFFERENT CARPET PATTERNS. The second, 70s-esque carpet was hidden beneath two wardrobes when we looked around the first time. So that was a lovely surprise.

I think the combination of the three pictures have demonstrated the datedness of the house. Yet, we still thought: “We’ll just remove some wallpaper, get some new carpet and all will be fine”.

Removing the wallpaper took me about 3/4 weeks. It was in every single room of the house, including the bathroom and kitchen. Once it was removed, we quickly realised that we’d need the whole thing plastering.

Next time we buy a house, I’m making a point of seeing how much wallpaper there is. This wall alone took me about 4 hours. I used a steamer, which just made the adhesive more sticky and therefore it stuck to the floors, the skirting boards and myself.

Who knew it could be so messy!

Keep coming back to the blog to see how the plastering turns out.