A new (to me) room

I was so sick of the ugly old, dusty wallpaper in my bedroom.  It wasn't in your face obnoxious (like some of the other things in the house i.e. bright purple shag carpet in the bathroom), so it was pushed aside until other things were done.  

 I finally just decided to jump in.  I pulled the first layer off.  It came off so easy!  Under was this peach rose pattern.  I kinda liked it, but I knew Kent wouldn't go for it.

 So, my mom came down with a wallpaper steamer and we got to work.  From my best estimate I thought there were 3 layers of wallpaper and then paint.  Not too bad.....right?

 WRONG!!!  There were 6 layers of wallpaper and up to 9 in some spots (accent walls and borders)
First rule of remodeling a 100+ year old house:  Things will NEVER be as easy as it seems.  

Below is a picture of 5 of the layers.  Can you identify all of them?  It was kinda fun to see all the different layers, like a little walk through home decor history.  But, the novelty didn't last long.  After 4 days of pulling of wallpaper one small piece at a time.  I thought maybe I made a mistake jumping into this job.

My mom thinks that maybe they used hide glue to attach the bottom (blue) wallpaper to the wall.  Personally I wouldn't know what hide glue looked/smelled/felt like, but my mom knows random stuff like that.  Anyway, the blue stuff was CRAZY hard to get off.  It took hours to get a 3x3' patch off the wall.  For the first time, I was so glad my room is very small.

 I was grateful for my mom's help, but she could only help for one day :(  the rest was up to me......
(I think this is funny.  My mom is a very resourceful person and she went and got an old rake out of the shed to clean up the wall paper).  The super sticky blue wallpaper was EVERYWHERE (in fact, I found another small piece today).

 After the wall paper was off, we had to patch the walls (old plaster).  Rule of remodeling #2:  Everything takes longer than you think/plan on.  The patching was easy, but time-consuming.  You have to wait for the plaster to dry between each step, and you have to go over the same area several times before it is done.  Like I said, lots of time.  Kent also took the glitter off the ceilings (can I get a HALLELUJAH) and repainted it.

After the patching, we retextured the walls (just to hide the mistakes we couldn't fix). Again, time to wait, and sand, and clean and wait....

Finally, time to paint.  I picked out the paint, and I thought I did a good job.  Rule of remodeling #3:  Things don't usually come out exactly as you planned.  Half way through I wasn't so sure.  Kent told me I either had to stop painting and go get new paint, or stop complaining and just finish.  I decided to see where the color would go.  Now, the color is actually growing on me.  So, I guess it's good I didn't throw in the towel.

After paint we replaced the trim.  That was a trick.  We don't have anywhere to purchase trim in town, so getting supplies is always a bigger trip than it should be.  Of course we didn't buy enough, and of course we cut the first few pieces wrong.  Needless to say, I was back to buy more trim at 9:00 p.m. that night.  (That also means we have to paint the new trim wait for it to dry and then measure and cut again.  In other words another day lost).

 Honestly, we are still not "done".  We still have crown molding to put up, and doors to paint (waiting until it stops raining so I can take them outside to paint, not sure I will ever get to paint them), and we are also putting in new windows (again when it warms up a bit).  That said, I was so anxious to get back into our room (we were living in the living room, a place you actually don't want to live in), I had the kids help me put the bed frame back together and drag the box springs/mattress back to the room.

 I really do LOVE my new room.  It was crazy, but I am so glad we did it.  It feels and looks so much cleaner.  It makes me happy every morning when I wake up.

I saw the quilt set on-line and fell in love.  It spoke to me :)  It is an off-white quilt with taupe quilting and the cutest little doilies around the edge.  I still have some home decor type work to do.  I want to make some throw pillows (I'm thinking vintage embroidery patterns), pictures to hang, and I want to spouse up the dressers a bit.

I would replace them (they are cheap an not super stylish), but they are the ONLY thing I can find for the space, and we don't have room for another dresser anywhere else in the room (again, super small room, this is the only way we can put the bed so we can both walk around it).  So, I bought some cute new knobs (red and blue) and I am thinking of painting them (yellow).  I'm still not sure if I want to paint the entire thing yellow, or just the frame, or just the drawers.... what do you think?

Rule of remodeling #4:  If you stick with it, it really is worth it.