This past weekend we got start on what we thought would be relatively simple renovations on our new house. The game plan: frame out new walk in closet, finish and insulate garage for Charley’s studio, prep the walls for painting.
My job was to prep the walls for painting. We have a few walls that the previous owner had texturized…not our thing. So, I was planning on sanding them down and smoothing them out. The walls in the basement have “Tuscan” plaster treatment which will be difficult to smooth out. So, I decided to start in the living room, where the one textured wall seemed to be the result of texture paint (a bizarre product if you ask me…the paint has little lumpy particles right in it) and I thought it would smooth out easily. I was right, the texture did come off easily…but that’s not the end of the story.
After sanding for about 45 minutes I noticed a pattern starting to emerge…wallpaper! We quickly realized the whole living room, dinning room and upstairs hallway had wallpaper under the paint. Fortunately, it peeled of relatively easily and after 2 days of pulling a peeling and scrapping it's 99% gone.
Over all, we got a lot done (with a lot more to do): wallpaper peeled, walk-in closet framed, and studio half done. And I learned a lot. Charley taught me how to use a power sander and how to apply dry wall mud. All in all it’s satisfying work.
Next Saturday I will move my stuff in and the work continues.
