The blog has been quiet lately. We are all wrapped up in the adventure of being first-time home buyers. We have found a roomy townhouse in a nice area and are very excited. On our first visit, we noted it was in near move-in condition and lovingly decorated. On our most recent visit, we realized some of those styles are just "not us." We cannot live with green and red chickens on the dining room walls. The master bedroom has different wall papers above and below the chair rail, with borders on both. It looks like a picture from "Good Housekeeping", but for us, it is too busy, too dark, and the colors don't go with our stuff. First we heard the way to deal with bad wallpaper is to cover it over with new wallpaper. Then we heard that doesn't work with the modern latex papers and must be stripped. What to do? What to do? I think I will paint the master bedroom and put one border along the top, but not sure whether to use different colors above and below the chair rail. I want wallpaper downstairs in the higher traffic areas, but no luck yet choosing anything we both like. The store had hundreds of sample books, and we just got fatigued looking at them. The dining room wallpaper must be replaced, and the living room might be. So here I am gripped with indecision. Plus, I have all this sorting a packing to do....
So meanwhile, only a small amount of top secret tatting has been going on. But here's a question: whose heart is this?
I found it in a bag of UFOs and rough draft tatting scraps. It bears a resemblence to Mary Konior edgings and Riet's angels. I honestly don't know if this is someone's pattern or one of my own doodles. Does anyone recognize it?
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Congratulations on buying your home! It makes a huge difference to own your own place, and I know how excited you are. And you are buying at a cheap time with great rates! Good for you.
ReplyDeleteThis may help you with the dreaded wallpaper - http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Wallpaper
All my walls are painted - no wallpaper for me!
Congratulations on your new home. Paint covers alot of sins. Fabric softener watered down helps to remove wallpaper. If you're lucky the wallpaper will just pull off. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing a heart done in that pattern but don't know who did it. I have a printout at home that I'll try to remember to look for. Seems like it was in the tatting RR way back and I'm not sure I knew who tatted it. Maybe you? It was the same color thread.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh, so many decisions when you move house. I love moving and used to love decorating. Send me your new address and I'll come and help!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe very best way to remove old wallpaper is to hire a steamer designed for the job. Unfotunately it's labour-intensive, but it works!
ReplyDeleteDon't paint over the wallpaper, it's never a success - bite the bullet and strip and clean the walls down properly.
My youngest son and his new wife bought their first home when they returned to Brisbane, and this young man, who had never hammered in a nail in his life, now lives at Bunnings - (hardware super-store) - and is doing a magnificent job in restoring their lovely old home.
Congratulations on bravely going where no renters have gone before. (Sorry for the bad Trekkie pun.)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new home! That is so exciting.
ReplyDeleteThere are some beautiful wall papers out there. However, I prefer painted walls because my framed tatted pieces do not have to compete with the wall paper design.
Good luck with all the decisions you are facing.
Sorry, I don’t know whose heart it is either. I concur with Maureen...NEVER paint over wall paper...Rent the steamer/stripper...works best even though it is labor intensive. I’m a non wall paper person altogether and all of our bathrooms have wall paper and carpeting. The carpeting HAD to go and we put floor vents in the bathrooms (they were unheated except for those 1970’s overhead thermo heaters).
ReplyDeleteMy DH loves white...I love color. I tried to sell him on the idea that his domain was the outside and the garage and I got to pick the pain...hardy harr...didn’t get far with that one. But he did let me do decorator painting in my bedroom suite.
We hope to move to a new home this year also...Now he wants to move back to Sacramento instead of Tucson...sigh...
It is an adventure to know where I’ll end up! The idea of a posh condo sounds great to me! There are some nice ones in East Sacramento around the American Ri ver...
I’m so excited for you that you are getting your very own place...so much fun.
But first ~ the packing!
xxxx bev
Don't worry, folks, I'm not planning to paint over the wallpaper. I just can't decide what to do after I strip it. Our apartment walls always look dirty, so I thought wallpaper might look good longer in the living room and dining room. Paint is good enough for my bedroom, but I'm waffling about color schemes.
ReplyDeletepersonally I think that the heart looks like something that Mary Konior would do.
ReplyDelete