Steam-o-Rama

Spent all day Saturday with my new friend, the wallpaper steamer. I can't believe this is the first time I've ever steamed (except at Mr. Hubby, of course). We've previously owned two older homes, one built in the 20's and one in the 30's, yet I've never removed wallpaper. I think in the past I've been smart and just painted over it. But that was before my obsession with HGTV -- Candace Olsen would never do such a thing, so I won't either.

Before actually steaming, I imagined long strips of paper magically flying off the walls after being touched by the warm mist of the machine. After trying it, not so much. I guess that's why they never show it being done on TV -- it would make for VERY boring television, plus there would be so much bleeped out language, viewers would never hear any actual dialogue.

But I persevered ... and scraped ... and tugged ... and dug with my fingers and, well, you get the idea. But every once in a while, I'd pull a long, wide sheet off in one piece, and it was like what I imagine that first-time drug high must be but can never be reached again. There must be thousands of steamer addicts out there, desperately trying to repeat that first easy pull, never to attain nirvana again.

It was like when we were kids after an intense sunburn (before anyone told us to wear sunscreen). Remember pulling off the dead skin after a few days? You'd get a huge piece, and it just felt so cool.

I steamed most of the day but didn't get nearly as far as I had hoped. So we think we may buy a steamer instead of paying rental fees. Goodness knows there's enough wallpaper in this house to get a tidy return on our investment and then some.

Sunday, Mr. Hubby and I greeted the most holy of Christian holidays by having a big fight, full of thoughtless accusations and unresolved issues from every previous argument we've ever had. He's all like,"this reno isn't moving forward at all", and I'm all like, "these projects take time. Rome wasn't built in a day." Yada yada you're a jerk, blah,blah, you can be so cruel ... you know the drill. We resolved our differences by agreeing that I will try to get some forward movement from contractors, and Mr. Hubby will spend more time on outside projects so he doesn't have to see the mess.

Today, I will try to find info about asbestos testing (government offices were closed on Friday) and see if I can find someone to do some soffit demo to replace Mr. Hubby/Destructo Boy, who is entering a super busy time at work.

Onward and upward ...

Photos courtesy of LevelHead, Jr.