Foyer 1

This is my new foyer.  It is dark, flowery and SO not me !  Not only does it have ugly wallpaper but it also comes with matching valances and lace curtains! If I was 80 years old I would probably love it! But, I am not so it needs to be changed!

Under this beauuutiful wallpaper there is plaster.  I was honestly worried about the plaster and pictured it all coming down around me in chunky, dusty pieces. So I read up on removing plaster from the Internet. I read an article on This Old House, which tells you how to use diluted wallpaper stripper and water and a pump sprayer. They followed up with a 2nd method which was to use a steamer. I read a bunch of DIYer feedback in different sites and saw DIF over and over again. We also had to figure out how to protect the beautiful wood stairs, floors and window frames.  Our first go-round starts here:

First attempt - The darker yellow is old wallpaper
 adhesive while the light beige is the plaster underneath.

My little DIYer!

Our brilliant thought was to cover the floor with plastic and cover the wood with some butcher-like paper taping down the edges with painters tape. We went with the diluted solution in the pump sprayer suggestion.  Here is what we learned:

1. Liquid soaks right through paper (duh)
2. Liquid remains on plastic and anything else that is set on said plastic (double duh) which then gets on any that the first thing sits on.
3. Liquid removes painters tape in record time (doh!)
4. Pump bottles meant for spraying lawns with chemicals has a large spray radius. I would not recommend this product for inside the house.

Here is the same wall with the wallpaper and adhesive removed down to the plaster. So, now we knew we CAN do this...we just needed a cleaner way to do it!

The end of day one! Most of the dark blue flower wallpaper is down only the adhesive and backing to remove.

More to come!