Our first project!

We closed on a Tuesday and by Wednesday night we had the wallpaper in the kitchen completely off the walls and the carpet out of the living room. I'm really not sure why Shoobies think their beach house needs to be covered in lighthouses, seashells and wicker, but I digress...

Here's a reminder of what we were working with:

Bill researched the best methods for taking down wall paper and found that it's best to peel the top layer off and then soak the walls with a mixture of hot water and liquid fabric softener. We used about 4 parts water to 1 part fabric softener. After soaking the walls, the paper backing and glue easily wiped away with a plastic paint scraper. We got ours at Home Depot:

source

I only thought to take one picture while we were feverishly tearing away...

The whole process took about 4 hours using our system- I peeled off the top layer and my mom and Bill followed behind soaking and peeling the glue (my mom taking the lower level and Bill taking the top of course).

In addition to peeling wallpaper, Bill also tore up the carpets in the living room and hallway to find hardwood floors in great shape!

We went from this:

 To this:

In minutes!

As soon as the wallpaper was down, I had to get home to finish up my Christmas Gaga costume for school the next day (you don't want to know), but Bill stayed until about 1 a.m. pulling all of the staples out of the floor.

And with that, we were on our way!