My long weekends are usually earmarked for a project, so in the name of normalcy, I wanted to get something done. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the kitchen renovation affects more than just the kitchen. When we started to plan this project, we had decided to carry the tile into the bathroom. It would help with the flow. I also have had it out for the wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom since we moved in. It's dated and dark. The space is way too small for dark colors.
So last weekend, while I was packing up the kitchen, I also starting stripping wallpaper. We got most of it down, but we needed the vanity and toilet moved to finish getting the wallpaper.
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| Here's the bathroom with most of the wallpaper down. |
Sunday, we finished removing the wallpaper and then the husband patched the walls. The wallpaper was old and hard to remove, pealing the paint in some places and removing the top layer of the dry-wall in others. It wasn't the easiest thing to do, but it was pretty manageable.
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| No more wallpaper! The pink stuff is wall patching compound. It dries white. |
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| I'm still trying to figure out what to do with this space. There's laminate on the inside edge, and I'm afraid of what I'll find under it. |
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| Once this is all dry and white, it gets sanded. |
Monday, after breakfast, I started sanding. It was a smallish area, so I sanded by hand. I like to think that I have some upper body strength, but this is not the same as lifting hand weights. I wouldn't recommend it. By the time I was done, my arms were jelly.
And I was covered in dust. Remember that necessary evil of renovation? I contributed to it. And then I had to clean up. All of the walls needed to be wiped down. This gets rid of the dust, and it is recommended for the wallpaper stuff.
My recommendation: wipe off the wallpaper stuff immediately when you're done. It makes the wall really sticky.
The towel I used to wipe down the walls left fuzz everywhere. Green fuzz. This isn't good for painting. I don't want fuzzy walls. I've never been into the whole textured wall thing. I went back over the fuzzy walls with damp paper towels. Not the most environmentally friendly solution, but the only one I could think of to remove the fuzz.
The above left is facing into the bathroom; above right is from the doorway; the bottom is from the mirror end.
So once the sanding was done, I cut-in the walls. This is something that takes a steady hand and a lot of practice. Painting in general doesn't seem that difficult, but to do it well and not make a huge mess, you need quite a bit of practice.
When I was younger, I helped my dad on a reno job in our home town. I learned a lot about how to do all sorts of stuff, but what sticks with me was my complete inability to paint. My dad has painted for years. So he tasked me with painting a linen closet and a bathroom closet. Two very small jobs. In the time that it took me to paint both of those closets, he had painted the rest of the main room--which was huge. He hadn't dropped one little bit of paint. Meanwhile, I was covered in it. Gone are those days of having no idea what I'm doing. I've painted enough in the last few years that I am very comfortable with a paintbrush. I still get covered in paint, but it goes much faster.
A tip for cutting in a room is to go a little thick with your edge (below the ceiling that is). It makes rolling easier. I, inevitably, get paint on the ceiling, or gouge the corner some how with the roller. Live and learn.
I had taken the lights down from the wall to get the wallpaper out and then left them to cut in around them. I've decided to replace them, but haven't found the ones yet.
Once is was all cut in, the rolling went quick. Thank goodness for a small space. I did two coats. We live by the paint and primer in-one. The companies pitch it like you'll only have to do one coat, but I have never had that be the case. The color just looks crisper with the second coat. Depending on the base color of your wall, you might be able to get away with only cutting in once with the all-in-one, but I almost always go around twice.
So to recap:
Of course, I have nothing else in there. The floor is going in Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm pretty sure, but not positive, that the contractor was getting us a new corner toilet, though I haven't the foggiest of when that will be put in. And I may have sold the vanity to the same people who bought the cabinets, so I need a new one of those.
...Where is the husband during this amazing transformation you wonder?
He started his own little project with the reno; cleaning out from under the pantry so that we can insulate. (This may have been a deciding factor for me doing the sanding, as it were. I'm 97% sure that there were spiders under there. I don't do spiders.)
And I was covered in dust. Remember that necessary evil of renovation? I contributed to it. And then I had to clean up. All of the walls needed to be wiped down. This gets rid of the dust, and it is recommended for the wallpaper stuff.
My recommendation: wipe off the wallpaper stuff immediately when you're done. It makes the wall really sticky.
The towel I used to wipe down the walls left fuzz everywhere. Green fuzz. This isn't good for painting. I don't want fuzzy walls. I've never been into the whole textured wall thing. I went back over the fuzzy walls with damp paper towels. Not the most environmentally friendly solution, but the only one I could think of to remove the fuzz.
The above left is facing into the bathroom; above right is from the doorway; the bottom is from the mirror end.
So once the sanding was done, I cut-in the walls. This is something that takes a steady hand and a lot of practice. Painting in general doesn't seem that difficult, but to do it well and not make a huge mess, you need quite a bit of practice.
When I was younger, I helped my dad on a reno job in our home town. I learned a lot about how to do all sorts of stuff, but what sticks with me was my complete inability to paint. My dad has painted for years. So he tasked me with painting a linen closet and a bathroom closet. Two very small jobs. In the time that it took me to paint both of those closets, he had painted the rest of the main room--which was huge. He hadn't dropped one little bit of paint. Meanwhile, I was covered in it. Gone are those days of having no idea what I'm doing. I've painted enough in the last few years that I am very comfortable with a paintbrush. I still get covered in paint, but it goes much faster.
A tip for cutting in a room is to go a little thick with your edge (below the ceiling that is). It makes rolling easier. I, inevitably, get paint on the ceiling, or gouge the corner some how with the roller. Live and learn.
 |
| Another trick to cutting in in having a right brush. I like a good angled one with a short handle. But that's just my preference. |
Once is was all cut in, the rolling went quick. Thank goodness for a small space. I did two coats. We live by the paint and primer in-one. The companies pitch it like you'll only have to do one coat, but I have never had that be the case. The color just looks crisper with the second coat. Depending on the base color of your wall, you might be able to get away with only cutting in once with the all-in-one, but I almost always go around twice.
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| This is the paint in the tray. It's hard to see the color. Also, I managed to paint the whole room without getting any on my toes. That, friends, is a victory! |
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| This is after the second coat. The lighting in the room is not photograph friendly, so there really wasn't a discernable difference between the first coat photo and the second. You'll have to trust me, it's better with the second coat. |
So to recap:
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| The bathroom went from all this, everywhere... |
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| ...to this. |
...Where is the husband during this amazing transformation you wonder?
He started his own little project with the reno; cleaning out from under the pantry so that we can insulate. (This may have been a deciding factor for me doing the sanding, as it were. I'm 97% sure that there were spiders under there. I don't do spiders.)
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