The wallpaper stripping project

I've made mention off and on about my wallpaper stripping project. I started this back in May with my unofficial deadline of the end of July - done as in all the paper off and new paint on.

Our house was built in 1910. I would love to know what they used to hold the paper to the wall. If it could be used in a paving project, those of us in Northwestern Pennsylvania would never know what a pothole is. Anyway, there were two layers of wallpaper and two layers of paint on the walls of the bedroom I wanted to redo. I mentally divided the room into five sections. My friend NancyF came over with her equipment and got me started. The paper came of in small chunks - as in about the size of a half dollar if I was lucky. My son in law, Randy, came to the rescue. His dad is a professional painter and strips paper as a side job. Doug gave me a gallon of a professional liquid that would help the paper come off easily. Yeah, right.

Fast forward to Labor Day weekend. I had completed two and a half sections of this room. I was to the point where I was ready to throw in the towel and just start painting. Doug was at our picnic that weekend and went to check out my work. I could tell by the look on his face, the news wasn't good. He told me and even showed me that the old-fashioned cement board that was covering the lathe needed to come down and new drywall put up. He said I could go ahead and paint but that someday down the road I would end up with problems.

Ok, thanks Doug! As I broke the news to my husband, our neighbor Jeff overheard me. He suggested that since we were going to all that trouble, we should consider putting a half bath in that room as it is directly over our bathroom downstairs. Yes, that bedroom is huge. And after having two teenagers living in that room for 14 years, the hardwood floors really need to be sanded and restained. And did you know that a lot of old houses were built without closets? Yep, that's us! So as long as we're going to all this trouble, we really should be building a closet as well.

So now we are waiting for a quote from Doug to do the drywall project. I'm not sure what all will happen to that room, but for sure it won't be a gallon of paint and a few rolls of wallpaper!