Monday, November 24, 2014

Removing Vinyl

I thought that there was hardwood under the vinyl but I discovered that I was wrong.  I spent 2 days scraping up the incredibly ugly vinyl floor.  Fortunately for me, my neighbor brought me a floor scraper which definitely made the task easier.  It was still hard work, however. The continuous scraping caused a blister on my right palm which was not aware of until I accidentally popped it.  Surely, I should have considered wearing gloves!  

I now have no idea what I will do about the flooring but I am pleased to have the old removed.  Another task completed.


I plan to take the week from renovating to prepare for Thanksgiving.  I do not need the aggravation or inconvenience so I am putting the appliances back in place and trying to resume to "normal".

Thursday, November 20, 2014

One Task Down....



The wallpaper is now completely removed.  I detest the color yellow and now I see yellow every time I walk into the kitchen.  This is definitely great incentive for me to paint the room. 

I still need to wash the walls and remove some of the glue residue.  I am not washing down the walls until I finish sanding the trim and cabinets.  "Work smarter not harder" is my motto. Why scrub the walls twice?

I finally feel a measure of satisfaction with the completion of that nasty job.  Next task on the list is removing the horrible vinyl flooring.



This is the wall and floor behind the appliances.  Horrible!  Looking forward to this being GONE!

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Scraping Wallpaper

Wallpaper removal has been tedious but I was progressing at an acceptable pace until I discovered a complication.  The wall behind my appliances was a painted wall and I realized that someone had simply painted over the wallpaper.  Once again, I resorted to online research to solve this problem.  I discovered that more elbow grease was the only answer.  First, I scraped off the paint and then resumed wallpaper removal.  It was frustrating and time consuming but certainly not impossible.





Another obstacle was the arched wall above the appliances.  It had not been painted but it was difficult to get the vinegar/water solution to penetrate because it dripped off too quickly. This problem sent me back to researching a method to ease the difficulty of this task.




I found a great product, Chomp a commercial wallpaper stripper in a spray bottle.  It was very effective and definitely mad my life easier.  Chomp is relatively inexpensive and is non-toxic.  I bout my bottle at The Home Depot.  This is not an advertisement  but I want to share products which worked well for me.
     


As I mentioned earler, this process is slow and tedious but I am making progress day by day.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Kitchen Remodel

I love my nearly 70 year old house.  I love the structure and the details of this house.  I love that it is larger than it appears but it is so cozy.  However, I hate the decor.  

After reading numerous DIY blogs and watching hundreds of YouTube videos, I was eager to start my kitchen remodeling.

I decided that I will begin with three changes.

  1. Remove the wallpaper and paint.
  2. Remove and update the flooring.
  3. Update the countertops.




I started removing wallpaper only to discover multiple layers of wallpaper covering the lathe and plaster walls.  I began scoring the paper and spraying a solution of fabric softener and water on the walls and letting the solution set for 10 minutes and then scraping the wallpaper off with a putty knife.  This was messy but it worked well.  The upside was that my kitchen smelled great.

My friend, Leslie, told me that vinegar and water work great, too and is much easier to clean so I switched and realized it is cheaper, too.  The vinegar solution may even work a little better because the acid breaks down the glue.  

I have not really set a time table for completion but hopefully will be able to have the kitchen painted by December 7.