We're poking along in the kitchen slowly, but it's starting to look like we're moving forward. The drywall guy has done his thing, so as of tomorrow I'll be a painting machine again. (Technically I'll be a mudding, then priming machine, but you know what I mean.)
I have to get something off my chest before I can start stirring the primer however. Our house is a victim of what I call "Trading Spaces Syndrome." I get the feeling that the previous owners may have spent a little too much time watching Hilde glue hay to the wall and Doug painting over things that he shouldn't. Our kitchen and bathroom walls fell prey.
I know that in the 70s and 80s wallpaper was hip, I have no problem with that. I think the patterns and colours they chose we're icky, but I have no problem with that either. Here's what I do have a problem with:
In our loo:
- People who paint over wallpaper
- People who wallpaper over tile. TILE!
- People who paint over wallpaper over tile
In our kitchen:
- People who paint over wallpaper.
- People who then re-paper over the painted over wallpaper.
- People who THEN tissue paper (I hate you TLC!) over painted over wallpaper over painted over wallpaper.
- People who then paint over the tissue paper over painted over wallpaper over painted over wallpaper (Confused yet?)
Yeah. Safe to say it's a mess. To fix the kitchen we're going to lightly roll on some thinned drywall mud for a mild textured treatment to match up the new parts of the walls with the old crap *$^%#(* painted tissue nightmare. Our drywall guy seems to think it will only take us a day. We'll see about that. Don't even get me started on the loo...I can't think about that yet.
*the pic was blended together using autostitch. It's an awesome little program that will take a whack of photos and mix them together for seamless panoramic results.
whoa. wtheck!
nightmare.
Posted by: heather | January 25, 2006 at 15:41
I feel your pain! I was watching the British version of Trading Spaces and they painted over the wallpaper for a quick fixer-upper. I screamed as the roller hit the wallpaper. Why do they do that? It gives me agita just thinking about it.
And can I add to that list?
1. People who paint of the most gorgeous cherry-stained wood doors.
2. People who paint over glass doors and transoms. (oh, yes they did!)
Posted by: Debbie | January 25, 2006 at 18:02
Just the thought of painting over wallpaper makes me twitch. What a lazy way of doing things. One of my prior apartments had a bathroom in which they had painted over all of the tile. Once I was living there awhile I realized that it was to hide the fact that the tile was rotting away. As soon as it got steamy in the bathroom the paint started coming off in sheets to reveal the rot. Horrible!
Posted by: Christina | January 26, 2006 at 11:48
Oh Caro! WHAT a mess! My mum's an interior decorater, and she always says "If I had a dollar for every house I had to fix because someone watched Christapher lowe, or whatever his name is... " Oh the Horror!
Hey, how's your left-over cat doing?
Posted by: Julia | January 26, 2006 at 12:49
Oh mother-of-all-things-holy! What the hell are people THINKING when they do stuff like that?
Criminy, I wasn't even aware that you COULD wallpaper over tile. That's madness.
Posted by: Kellee | January 26, 2006 at 13:32
Oh MY! isn't it amazing what you find when you start remodeling. We found the strangest- maybe not quite tissue paper over painted over wallpaper over painted over wallpaper, but close and perhaps more dangerous- like wiring issues and outlet boxes just sitting under the dishware that leaks...
It is starting to come together- looks great so far. so luck that you didn't have to do the drywall yourself- never ever again will I agree to do that!
happy friday~
Posted by: NessieNoodle | January 27, 2006 at 17:16
Girl, it's looking hot. Nothing is more satisfying than fresh drywall up over a previously gutted kitchen. We've seen some crazy crap redoing our kitchen, too. Like a chimney (yes, bricks!) sheetrocked in, taking up an entire corner of the kitchen. And for what? So that the lazy contractor who renovated our house didn't have to take down the useless old chimney. So, we got to do it. Well, our nice capable contractor did it. And what the hell is the deal with selling someone a house that doesn't have room for a fridge?! We couldn't open our freezer until two weeks ago when we moved it to it's new, proper home.
Patience to us both and good luck!!
Posted by: FinnyKnits | January 27, 2006 at 21:18
Thought I'd say hello and that your post gave me such a chuckle. Looks like you've got a lot of work going on, but it also looks like it will be a wonderful space when its all done. So excited to about the autostitch program you linked to, great info!
Posted by: Blair | January 27, 2006 at 21:34
Our house had 14 different wallpapers and six kinds of wood panelling. Yeesh,
Li
Posted by: Li_B | January 28, 2006 at 05:03
How are you dealing with the painted-over-wallpaper? We close on our house next week, and we're not sure how to tackle it. Everyone's saying just paint over it again because it'll be a big mess to take down, but I'm not sure...
Posted by: Kristin | January 28, 2006 at 07:28
SOUNDS horrifying, but it's LOOKING good. It's so exciting to see it coming along (saw your new flickr pics, too)!
Posted by: julia | January 28, 2006 at 22:17