The last several weekends have been devoted to removing the covering from the plaster walls in what is now the dining room. There was inI don't believe this is the original dining room, but we did not re-open the doorway from the kitchen into the previous dining room. We decided the best traffic path would put the dining room into what was probably the original back parlor. Otherwise we would be doing through the family room/gentleman's quarters into the dining room. Eh - it is what it is. For a few days we thought about returning the pathway from the kitchen through the bathroom but decided we preferred to have a larger bath and more wall space in the kitchen for cabinets. We'll see how that plays out. I guess we can always undo what we've done.
Uh, no!
There was actually THREE layers of wall paper and one layer of green latex paint - thank goodness it was latex. However, in some places they painted the latex on the plaster where they had pulled some of the wall paper off. Not completely, mind you. Why? Why did you do this? Good grief! Who does that?
We used a Wagner Steamer to remove said paint and paper. It worked pretty well honestly. Sure a lot easier than that rotary thing. Easier than scraping alone. Easier than just thinking it away. I tried that as well - did not work AT ALL! Ugh. Who knew??? Okay - well maybe everyone including me - but it was surely worth a try.
Now we have to take all the remainder of the glue/paste from the wallpaper off the walls before we repair the plaster and paint the room. Nicole Curtis used vinegar to clean off the glue from the plaster, so I'll be looking for what strength we should use to do this. Do you think vinegar will eat away at the plaster - lime - vinegar - I dunno. Any thoughts out there? I know from teaching science when we put vinegar on a rock we can determine that it is limestone because it bubbles up. Just makes me concerned. Maybe there's no relationship.
Very excited about the changes. We did lose a little plaster in the paper removal...seems as though the paper was holding the plaster on the wall. Rut ro.....
Also contemplating the building of a dining table with draw leaves. Very interesting. So little on the web about it OR I haven't typed in the right key words. Maybe they are called something else to most of the world.
Also on the to do list is: finish fireplace area - put trim back on, finish bathroom little things, some touch up paint, shelves in cabinet, remove paint from wood trim in dining room and gentlemen's quarters. Not sure about front room yet as far as trim. Some pictures will follow soon.
