Next up... guest room! It wasn't awful, except the wallpaper border. That was pretty awful! Plus, once again, it had that yellowish brown paint color. I knew this would be the last room that I would do, because my old bedding matched this room pretty well. But, I've had this bedding for about 5 years, and it wasn't hanging in there so great anymore. But this wall color compliments the blue carpet so nicely :P
I'm not sure if I've mentioned before, but there are THIRTEEN different types of flooring in this house. Thirteen. So, this was the lovely carpet that was selected for this room.
One night, I had a friend staying over- the first guest in this room. We were looking around the room and she asked if I had put the border up. I laughed and mentioned it would be an upcoming project- and I noticed the edge was starting to peel up. So, at 3am, we jumped up on the bed and started pulling, To our surprise, this is what we found underneath:
Not at all what I expected. She then said that the bluebirds were so nice, and that she got to sleep with the bluebirds. Then, as I went to shut the door, we just started laughing about the back of the door. Because, it was of course painted- why wouldn't it be?!
So, I decided this would be a good winter break project. I figured I'd remove the border quickly one day, make sure the surface was wiped down, and then work on some other projects the next few days to make sure it was totally dry before I painted. My plans were quickly changed. I ripped off the Live, Laugh, Love border within about five minutes, with just a pull, but I was neither laughing or loving this project.
I wound up with really jagged edges, but I could see the bluebirds. I used the same solution of ammonia and fabric softener as I had on all of the other wallpaper. But this time, it was coming off in the smallest strips ever. And I found yet another surprise- another border! Do you spy that deer?! Yea, he was part of the third layer.
So I kept peeling and peeling, and about an hour later, this is what I had accomplished:
Since they had painted over some of the border (s), it made it super difficult to come off. So I finally decided my sanity was worth the $50 it would cost me to buy a wallpaper steamer. So I ran to Lowes, and came back excited to give the steamer a try. And then it took forrrrrever for it to warm up. So I sat at the computer and watched Netflix while I was waiting- I didn't want to go too far since I had read the reviews about it starting to boil and spill hot water all over the floor. This steamer was worth every penny for this project. It wasn't needed for the other wallpaper projects, but it was perfect for this border. After hours of scraping the border, I got to what was below. And what was below? I still have NO idea. Some weird paint job involving a navy blue, then a red, and then a lovely blue sponge painting job. I have tried and tried and tried to visualize what this room looked like before all the layers, and I still can't imagine it!
This was a huuuuge mess. I tried using the wet vac to get it up, and that wasn't really working. So then I used a regular vaccuum which worked pretty well for a bit. I did have to stop a couple times to unclog it. I also had to continue moving the bed as I went around the room. The room is so small, there was very little space to get to the walls. This was my stopping point for the day- I couldn't imagine spending any more time in this room. The next day, I just went over the border again with the steamer and a big sponge to make sure all of the glue and tiny pieces had been removed. While waiting for it to dry, I decided to start painting the closet, closet doors, and bedroom door. Again, the closet was also painted a crazy dark color. I had made the decision to prime the closet and doors since I was painting them white- I was afraid with the colors already painted, they would show through the white.
I was amazed at how much this already freshened up the room. This made me (a little) more motivated to get painting. So I started prepping the room for primer- removing the outlet covers. But again, I ran into a problem. One of the outlets was not only painted, it was painted to the outlet itself, and I could not get it off without ripping the outlet out (luckily, no sparks or shocks). So I quickly replaced that outlet, and waited till after painting to replace the rest. The vent cover also had a fantastic painting job!
Once I got everything off, it was time to prime. Since I removed the wallpaper, this primer would help cover up any remaining residue, and I was afraid I'd wind up with another funky border if I just painted directly over it. So I started priming.
And priming....
Finally, the room was ready to be painted! All this prep work just to paint the room. I was exhausted, and my foot was throbbing. Turns out, according to the doctor, standing on a ladder is about the worst thing you can do for Plantar Fasciitis. It also didn't help that I kept running into the same corner of the bedframe, with both shins. You would think I'd learn after doing it once, but I guess not. I had huge bruises- the doctor assumed it was from Crossfit. Not so much.
I decided to use the Yellow frog tape for most of this job since I had used primer- I didn't want it peeling up the primer, and then the paint job too. After much debate, I decided to go ahead and use the same gray that I did in both of the other bedrooms. I had some leftover, and figured it would be best for consistency upstairs. I know as a buyer I hated how all the floors were so different- so I figured some buyers might not like the different colored rooms. Plus, with the white I chose for the doors, I knew it would look really fresh and clean.
I then knew I had to buy new bedding to match the room. I dug through my closet for some color inspiration, and decided on black and white, with red accents. So I began searching for bedding that would complete this color scheme. I wasn't able to find anything on Amazon, so I knew I was going to have to wait for shipping :( About a week later, my $50 bed in a bag set arrived from Walmart! I couldn't wait to tear into it.
I still need to add the red accents and change out the curtains, but the colors help tone down the blue carpet (a bit). I can't wait to get the floors installed, but the upstairs is well on it's way to being complete!
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