A View of the Return

Reading "Rhymes With Orange" won't reduce your clutter, but it will increase your laughter. Check it out.

I'm back! Yay!

You'd think that wallpaper stripping and painting one room would be a pretty straightforward job, right?

Not when you're in a 60+ year old home. It took two days to strip the wallpaper off the walls. It took a day to repair a section of plaster that buckled and crumbled as I stripped the wallpaper. It took three days and about 2.5 gallons of paint to cover the room. It took nine hours, three people (including an electrician), and just under $200 (payable to said electrician) to put up a new ceiling fan in the room because I found out the hard way that one wire can control lighting in at least two rooms. I'm still cleaning up the dust from the two days of wallpaper stripping. Flocked, gold foil wallpaper does not go out without a fight or leaving evidence of its existence behind in any way it can.

Anyway, the work is done (aside from the mopping) and the room looks 200% better than it did. Next up will be painting the ceilings and trim in my den, sewing room, and bedroom - but not until the fall. I need a vacation from the paint brush and I need a bit of time to take in some of the valuable lessons I learned as I prepped, primed, and painted.

1. You will go over your budget when you take on a DIY task. Accept it. Deal with it. Increase your credit limit. Things will go a lot smoother if you face this fact from the beginning.
2. A sander has the potential to maim until it completely stops running. I'll have a scar on my left index finger to remind me of that for the rest of my days.
3. A cat is more frightened by the sound of a sander than he is curious about how that funny colored liquid in the long pan tastes. (It took the cat about three times to learn this lesson for himself.)
4. You will never have enough paint. Accept it. Deal with it. Be ready to buy more. Things will go a lot smoother if you face this fact from the beginning.
5. When you move furniture, you will find items you lost long ago and forgot about or things you never knew you had. I discovered my ex-husband's favorite spot to stash his empty bottles of vodka (his liver must look like crispy bacon), about 30 assorted cat toys, two wall outlets I never knew about, and a layer of shedded cat fur that was roughly three inches thick under my china cabinet.
6. Someone will always have a suggestion on how to do some task better, faster, easier, or different - once you've completed said task. I heard about a gazillion tips about removing wallpaper from plaster after the last bit of paper was off the walls - and my finger was just beginning to heal from my run in with the sander. I got a suggestion to strip the paint off my windows and part of the ceiling "to let the wood show through" after the last coat was applied. I'm still hearing about how you never paint a ceiling any color except white, or little remarks like, "Wow, I didn't think that color would come out looking so nice...."
7. You will get paint on you in the most unexpected places. Doesn't matter how much clothing or protective gear you wear. Fortunately, latex paint washes right off.
8. It's hard work, but taking on a large task and finishing it gives one an enormous sense of pride and accomplishment. It feels good to have this project under my belt.

More later, and pics too, as soon as I stop being lazy, mop the floors and put down the rugs.