Wallpaper: Some of the Devil's Finest Work

We are back from our Thanksgiving work trip to the house and I have (sort of) regained the use of my arms.

I love our beach house. I really do. But, like all relationships there are ups and downs and times of....well.....questioning.

I wanted to break up with our house this last week.

There. I said it.

I'm not proud of how quickly I lost patience with our relationship. I mean, the honeymoon's barely over. But it is.....over.

And here's why: Wallpaper.

Hoo boy.

In the past I've been fairly ambivalent about wallpaper. My mother used it in all our houses and it always looked great. We did have to remove it in our current house and I hear it was a nightmare. Ahem. (To be fair, our kids were young and someone had to watch them. I did do a little bit...it sucked.)

So this was my first real "one on one" with wallpaper removal. It tried to beat me. (Think: "Hey hon, how much harder would it be to just re-do the drywall?" That, apparently, was not an option. Sigh.)

First, I tackled the bathroom. And after a hard-fought battle, I won! Here's the carnage at the mid-way point:

Buoyed by that success I went after the border in the dining room. I mean, how hard could one little strip be?

Holy smokes. It was like a giant sticker that your kid puts on the car door and you just. can. not. get. off. I had to walk away and try the kitchen back splash. Thankfully, that came off like a dream:

Eventually, every last bit of wallpaper came off. And I stopped wanting to break it off with my dear, sweet house.

I also did lots and lots of powerwashing:

And my hubby took the downstairs bedroom from this (brown trim and off-white walls):

To this! Clean white trim and beautiful pale aqua walls:



(Yes, that flooring is going, too.)

Up next, the whole inside will be painted. Goodbye dark wood and paneling! Hello bright, fresh, and beachy!

And seriously, when you get to witness sunsets like this on Ocracoke Island, how can you stay mad at anything or anyone?

I still love you, house. Let's just never say the "w" word again, OK?

~Betsy xoxo

P.S. Even though it's only November, summer months are already starting to book up. Only one week is left in July, so don't put off making your reservations!