Lest you think I'm lah-di-dah hiring contractors and paying others to do it all...

My mission on this three day weekend - wallpaper removal.



Yes, it's weird. The cabinets came out, and small squares of very, very 80s wallpaper had been hidden behind the cabinets to the right of the fridge, with another very random patch to the left of the stove. Obviously those cabinets were NOT the originals, as I'd been told - either that, or this condo had been decorated by the builder with the standard cabinets and wallpaper, and the buyer switched it out. Yeah, that makes sense to me - they came in and slapped up the other cabinets over the wallpaper and cut around it to remove the rest of the wall (a short stretch). Anyway, there is wallpaper to be removed. 30+ year old wallpaper. I tugged tentatively at it, and discovered to my immense relief that it was NOT slapped up over bare sheetrock, but over a painted wall, which makes removal far easier. This Olde Condo was not meant to be all plain vanilla white, either- the wallpaper is actually the stuff I thought was cute when it was in style - almond background with small brushstrokes of rose and blue. Rose and blue will always scream 80s to me.

So my mission on my three days off (in addition to all of my other missions) is to remove the paper, give that part of the wall a light sanding, and paint it a nice eggshell white that will not match the rest of the white exactly, but will at least be white and sort of blend. At a later date, maybe next spring, when I've recovered from the massive spending and disruption that is remodeling, I'll get a painter to paint the room a warm, pretty color, and take down the paper in the foyer and paint that at the same time. I'm not tackling that job - I don't own a ladder tall enough, nor am I crazy enough to climb up and down very tall ladders juggling paint trays and rollers if I'm home alone. I'll de-wallpaper and paint the hall bath, with its standard height ceilings, but otherwise, I need a painter.

I bought the under-cabinet LED lights and shrieked a little when the total came up at the register, but I remind myself that I'll have excellently illuminated work space in the kitchen, and I do love to cook and have cursed the poor light since the day I moved in, so again, no pain, no gain.

The dogs were exhausted today. They think I have it easy, going to work and leaving them here to supervise the contractors.