Removing wallpaper 101

By no means am I a certified expert on this. But, living in homes of big floral wallpaper and border addicted previous home-owners homes ; I feel like I have become an experience expert of removing wall paper. 

First thing on my list of "to-do's" for my living room

remove wall paper.

That's what I'm doing today. sigh.

If you have hideous wallpaper then it will be well worth your efforts to remove it. It has come to my attention that there are people who don't know how to remove wallpaper or are afraid to tackle the job. So, I put together a quick how-to for motivation.

It's actually pretty simple. If you have some time set aside for the task then don't hold back and tear it down!

All you need is:

a bucket

50/50 mixture of hot water and fabric softener

sponge

scraper

Start by picking at an edge of the wallpaper and rip it away. This is a good time to call in the kids! I'm not sure why, but my son loves to rip wallpaper off the wall and I take full advantage of it. 

After you rip away the wall paper you are left with the paper backing on the wall.

Run some hot water into your bucket and pour in just as much fabric softener. Using hot water instead of cold has proved to work best for me.  I like to add a little baby oil to the mix too-if you have some on hand. If not, it's not necessary . 

Using your sponge , completely saturate the paper backing left on your wall. Work in small areas, once the water-softener solution dries it will have to be saturated again before removal. 

Once the area is completely saturated with your fabric softener/water mixture start scraping . If it doesn't scrape away easily, add more of your solution. This can get messy, just keep in mind the end result and keep going! 

This is a time consuming project, the more friends/helpers the merrier! 

After all of your paper is scraped away make sure you go back and wipe off the walls leaving a clean , dry surface . 

Sometimes I'm left with little cruddy pieces that refuse to scrape away. I like to take a fine sandpaper and lightly sand over the area until smooth. 

....Maybe I should get back to work. I hope this helps in your wall paper removal adventures.

Be sure to stop over at my WhateverWednesday link party to get more motivation from some amazing people and link up your projects too!