Removing Wallpaper with Wagner: Welcome to the 106th Metamorphosis Monday!

Meet my new best friend, Wagner. He's a little finicky but for the most part he and I are getting along okay.



He tends to drool a little and runs out of water sooner than he is supposed to...but that's okay. He gives me an excuse to take a little break every half hour. With Wagner, I can pull off strips of wallpaper this size...




And sometimes, this size. Pretty cool, huh? Sure beats the heck out of the micro-strips I was able to peel off before Wagner came into my life.



The Nitty-Gritty: (You can skip this part if wallpaper removal isn't in your future.)

After trying M-1, DIF gel and regular DIF...and fabric softener today, I found the fabric softener worked the best out of all those. But it was still going painfully slow and very messy. So here was my thinking: Since I have at least two bathrooms I'll be removing paper from in the future, I might as well go ahead and invest in a steamer.

Lowe's had two sizes of steamers and I went with the bigger one because the handle has a little button that will lock the trigger button down so you don't have to hold it down. It's kind of like when you buy gas, you can lock the little thingy down so you don't have to keep pressing the lever the whole time while you're gassing up your car. That saves a little strain on the hand.

Wagner isn't perfect, though...he drips just like you guys with steamers warned me about. Mostly he just drips right when you first begin using him after he's been sitting a minute. Apparently, the water in the hose cools down while you're scraping, so when you press to steam some more, some hot water runs out before the steam does. So I found it's best to start at the top, that way when the hot water drips out, it just runs down the wall loosening up the paper, instead of dripping straight onto the floor.

Also, I found Wagner runs out of water after about 20-30 minutes...not 45 like the little directions say. If you buy one of these, be forewarned that the steam makes the paint/wall pretty soft so it's even easier to gouge the wall if you press too hard. I am not looking forward to repairing all my gouges and nicks. Does anyone have any great suggestions on the best product for that? I was thinking about using one of those light weight spackles.


One Thing Marked Off the "To Do" List:
I did manage to mark one thing off the "To Do" list on my sidebar today. I swapped out the old baseball door knob that went with my son's baseball-themed bedroom. It was beginning to deteriorate after 18-20 years. When my son was here for Christmas, he reached for the knob to open the door and was totally grossed out. Apparently, rubber (or whatever it was made of) starts to leak oil or ooze after 20 years. Gross, indeed.




I went with a normal brass knob. I would have considered going with a different color knob, but since all the knobs in the house are polished brass, I just went with a standard old knob...nothing fancy. Yay...one thing done...a gazillion to go. ;)




The hardwood flooring guys are coming back tomorrow and Tuesday to add the final polyurethane coatings to the flooring. Once that dries, I'll be moving the furniture into the room. The cable guy comes out on Thursday to move the connection for the High-Speed Internet to that room. In the meantime, I'm still searching for the perfect rug and light fixture. I have some ideas on the rug but just haven't found one I really love, yet. I wish I could give you guys one huge, awesome reveal...but my rooms tend to evolve as I find the pieces I really love. But it will get there, right? ;)


A Small Change for BNOTP:

I made a little change on the blog last night under the header, Tabletop♦NapkinFolds♦PartyIdeas. I separated out all the holiday tablescapes by their specific holiday.

In other words, the holiday tablescapes are no longer all in one big group, they are now separated out according to the holiday like you see in this screen shot below. (Please Note: This is just a picture so these links aren't active. To view the tablescapes, click on the subject header at the top of the blog and you'll find the live links there.)




Hopefully this will make it easier to find what you need if you're seeking some ideas or a little inspiration for an upcoming holiday tablesetting. I'm hoping to add links for "holiday decorating" real soon. Most of those will be Halloween or Christmas oriented, I think. I'm trying to make all the the old posts/content more accessible so when you want to refer back to something, you'll be able to find it with ease. :)



Thank you for all the suggestions you've been making to help with this wallpaper nightmare. But most of all, thanks for all of your encouragement! :) You guys are awesome! I can't wait to see the "Before and Afters" linked for this Met Monday!


ADDITION: I found an even better way for removing impossible wallpaper. I posted about it HERE. It even beats Wagner! It's what the professionals use and it works!



I'm linking this post to Sarah's Organize It Party. Thanks, Sarah for hosting!



Metamorphosis Monday:
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