About Me

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Let the stripping begin...

As I said in my previous post, re-doing the downstairs bathroom has moved up the list of our priorities, so it seemed sensible to make this our first room to strip the wallpaper from.

We had researched hiring a wallpaper stripper and HSS for example charge £45 a week.  In comparison you can buy an Earlex wallpaper stripper from B&Q for £30 - and given it is going to take considerably more than a week to strip the entire house (!!), we figured it was economically sensible to buy instead of hire.  Plus, y'know, gadgets make us happy.

We purchased this at the weekend and I've been itching to try it out ever since, and tonight was the night!

I forgot to take a "before" photo so here is one I took during our second view of the house before we bought it:


(The curtains and net curtain came down pretty rapidly once we moved in!)



This was after the first tank of water (3.5 litres) had been used up.  We started by the door and moved left.


You can see the score marks on the left, the layers of wallpaper (only three, we think!) and the smooth painted layer underneath on the right.


Me!



This is where we had got to by the end of the second tank of water tonight.  It was then 10pm so we decided to stop for the night.  We're about halfway through the room!  The weird patch on the right hand wall is where there was originally a medicine cabinet which our vendor took with him when he moved.  It must have been put up very early on in the house's life as it's a slightly different paint level to the rest of the room.  We will put a mirror up here in time so it doesn't bother us too much.

We're trying to decide what colour to paint this room - brilliant white will be going on the ceiling but we're not sure what to go for on the walls.  Any suggestions? (The suite will be replaced with a white one!)

5 comments:

  1. We just did our downstairs bathroom in grey - Chic Shadow from Dulux. Looks nice with a white suite!

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  2. Thanks Lucy - just looked at your pic on Facebook and it looks great - definitely a contender! I love grey at the moment - Ian says I'm not allowed to paint the entire house grey :(

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  3. I think you want to go as light as possible in here - it's a small room! Maybe mirrored tiles or something, too?

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  4. Definitely second the idea for lots of grey in the house - it's fashionable right now but I can't see it dating, it can be paired with other colours for different moods anyway :) For the loo, I would go for a slightly crazy wallpaper (though not dark or oppressive in the space) - I love Kirstie Allsopp's philosophy on downstairs loos in her Homemade Home book, it's the smallest room in the house so you can go for something you wouldn't necessarily put anywhere else! I also read an interview with Emma Bridgewater who said in her house (I think the hallway but I think this would be cool in a downstairs loo) she has papered it with ordnance survey maps of places she has visited/wants to visit, to plan walks etc - love that idea! Millie x

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    Replies
    1. Yes I *love* the idea of papering with maps!

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