The One That Got Away: Sticky Bits & Draft Dodging

When you are living in an old house, the norm is for projects to take longer, cost more, and generally become way more involved than you anticipated.  We've had plenty of that here at TOPH, but I must say there is one that is d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g.  My poor son's room is still not finished.

Last year, I jumped right in on my daughter's room.  The wallpaper was a willing participant in the removal process and, aside from the month of humidity we managed to bring with us from Annapolis, which made paint drying a bit of an issue, her room was done in a reasonable period of time.  My son's room was slated for this past Summer.  Specifically, I was going to get it done with all of my free time when they were at day camp for four weeks.  Yea, right.

Before Pics of My Son's Room

Suspect Closed-Up Fireplace Here

Some Old Water Damage

Some Failed Lath & Plaster Marriages

First, I needed to get in the right mindset for the project.  So, I flew to Maryland and went sailing for a long weekend (Thank you, L'Outrage peeps!), which turned into a week due to last minute while-I'm-here business meeting and the monster of all flight delays which resulted in driving all the way home in a shared rental car (shades of John Candy and his polka band in Home Alone)...  

The bits and bits and bits...

Anyway, when I finally got back, I had three weeks to finish one room.  Doable, right?

Well, the wallpaper in his room would not come off.  At all.  Except in little itsy-bitsy bits.  I tried water and vinegar and orange infused vinegar.  Nothing worked.

I went to Lowe's to buy a steamer and try that, but instead was led astray by a know-it-all paint-counter-chick at Lowe's.  She offered up a "trick" her father used to swear by.  He swore about it all right.  I painted over one entire wall of already-permanently-adhered wallpaper with KILZ on the theory that it would somehow bond with the paper and react with paste and basically fall off the walls.  Not.  I ended up with still-permanently-adhered wallpaper, which was then impermeable to liquid, which,  according to my husband (aka The Wallpaper Whisperer), was the trick all along.

The Wallpaper Whisperer

He took pity on me one afternoon and stripped the other three walls of the room with hot water and a dull putty knife.  Which, of course, left me with "that" wall.  Eight days later, with help from my mom, "that wall" was finally clear of bits of paper along with several chunks of the plaster wall that decided to go for the ride.  

Really.  If we just ripped off all the
 plaster and painted the lath,
 wouldn't that look cool?
  OK, so it would have
 been a bit breezy...

Midway through, I was absolutely convinced I could make painted lath look really good in a rustic kind of way.  Hubby was morally opposed to that little bit of avoidance-DIY decorating nonsense. (I still think I could have made that look good.)

Anyway, enough about the wallpaper.  It's over, along with six good-sized tubs of DAP Fast and Final spackle-product (like cheese product?)  That stuff is like "Wall Meringue" -- super light and perfect for filling in the spaces in crusty, crumbly surfaces that won't hold up to much sanding.  So, although the texture of my son's walls, like his sister's, is akin to a Mexican Mission, they are free of cracks and holes.  Draft dodging achieved!

Now, I wonder what's under that faux wood linoleum floor?

PS Yep, there was a fireplace there.