November 2012 | Vintage, Paint and more...

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Finally....

Good morning to you all....
I had a "small" project I was going to work on last week
one that would be fairly quick
I thought....
And then I would blog about it.
But, what I thought would only take me two days.......
Wound up taking me a week.
What a miscalculation on my part.
I was so exasperated by I the time I got half way through
that I had to take a couple days away from it to
gather enough steam to head back in and finish it.
Ever have one of those projects?
What could be so bad - you ask...
Well, get ready for this because this pic is not for the weak.....


The wallpaper on our bathroom walls.
This is what I wake up to each morning.
It's way beyond jarring to  me.
Our landlord gave me permission to remove the paper
and repaint.
Boy, was I all over that in a heart beat.

Even though the corners were curling slightly in some areas
it was not the easiest job
I have ever done.


This was a vinyl coated paper.
That means it has a vinyl layer over a paper layer.
So, basically
you have two layers to peal off.
I scored it with a scoring tool
then
sprayed it with water as I have used in the past.
The vinyl layer peeled off but,
the paper layer would stay behind.


I used steam, I used vinegar and water,
I used bruit strength in my scraping.
There were areas that whoever had hung it had put on
large glops of glue.
Some of these pieces were meant to stay forevah.....
As you can see in the above pic
some of the pieces came off an inch at a time -
while others peeled right off quite easily.


This definitely was not a fun job.
So,
after all the paper was finally removed
I had to fill in gouges from the bruit scraping
with spackling compound
and then sand.
I let it set for a couple of days because I was so
frustrated with the whole job.
What a major job it had turned into.
I had planned on one day to strip paper
and
one day to paint.
I was now like 4 days into this job and it was still
looming over me.

But....
then came the paint
and, wallah.....



It was worth all the work when I look at this.
The color is
Valspar Seashore Fog
and I am so loving it.
It really makes all the white pop.

Before......

After....


So clean and sharp.
I have all the accessories to put in yet
but,
that's for another day.

Right now I am just going to sit back and enjoy
this transformation.
Just, because it frustrated me to no end.
I am so happy it turned out so well.....

Oh, and after it was all done
my sister told me I should have used
fabric softener in water to spritz the scored walls with.
Where was she when I was scraping my brain out???
I had never heard of this
but,
believe me I will certainly try it the next time!

Have you ever had a job that was so frustrating and
took you way longer than you
had planned?

What do you use to strip wallpaper off with?

Until next time
have a great day and create.....


Lovin' my life in Carolina,
Cathy


linked to
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and to
Domestically Speaking
Power of Paint Party

and to
Embracing Change

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Friday, November 2, 2012

Buterfly Collection

 
 
Good day to you all.
Today I would like to show you
an art project
I made for Miss A's room.
 
 
A very simple but trendy
butterfly collection shadow box.
 
I don't have a before pic
but
I found this frame/shadowbox at a thrift store
for $1.00.
It had an old cross stitch picture in it.
I painted the frame white
and took the whole thing apart.
Then painted the frame on the inside with
black chalkboard paint.
 
I had some scrapbook paper that had butterflies all over it.
So, I cut several of them out.
 
 
Then I blinged them up with
glitter glue.
 
 
I used another piece of green printed
scrapbook paper for the background,
arranged the butterflies in a formation I liked
and
glued them in place.
 
Put the frame back together
and
wallah......
 
 
Miss A loves her butterfly collection.
It's blinged, colorful and just right
for her room.
 
What have you done lately?
 
 
Until next time....
 
Lovin' my life in Carolina,
Cathy