Wallpaper border removal commenced in all seriousness. DH was worried it would be hard to get the border off the wall. He has never removed wallpaper before, only seeing nightmare removals on DIY shows. I have a secret weapon that has yet to fail me - hot water with a bit of dish soap.
I peel up a corner of the top layer off, pulling it as far as it will go. Then I use a sponge and soak the under layer edges in the water. The soap dissolved the glue and I use a plastic scrapper to get another strip to lift up and then pull off as much as I can. Repeat over and over. This border was easy to get off.
What amazed me is how much taller the room looked once the border was off. It was a wide border.
Couple that with the wide top trim board and you have a visually low ceiling. Add in the dark wood and the ceiling beams and the studio was a low ceiling, light absorbing, dark-ish tunnel.
Couple that with the wide top trim board and you have a visually low ceiling. Add in the dark wood and the ceiling beams and the studio was a low ceiling, light absorbing, dark-ish tunnel.
The DH offered to try removing the beams entirely but I declined at this point. So don't want to create another project that could be a huge kettle of fish!
it helped a lot , i hate these jobs that turn into a fortune in costs
ReplyDeleteWe've had a few of those jobs where one thing leads to another and then another. Trying to keep this just a cosmetic redo.
DeleteLooks loads better now that you have removed it. Our kitchen was very dark with a wooden ceiling, we painted it gloss white and now the room feels so much brighter (and bigger) may be you could do that with the beams? Less hassle and lower costs.
ReplyDeleteNot using a paint, but a white oil stain and polyurethane. It lightens the beams up quite a bit.
DeleteInteresting that removing the border added to the feeling of space! I wonder if whoever put it up in the first place felt that they had lowered the ceiling when they did it?
ReplyDeleteDon't think I'd want to get rid of the beams without having a very good idea what they were holding up... A coat of paint sounds much less fraught with expense!
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DeleteThe person who put up the border was me! And yes, I kind of felt it lowered the ceiling but at the time, I didn't realize this space would become my studio and just how much time I'd be spending down there. It was 12 years ago and this was going to be more of a second living space. HA - I've come a long way since then!
DeleteThe beams are completely non-load bearing, just cosmetic. But I have no idea how the wood wall finishes at the ceiling line, behind the top trim board. We don't have any spare boards to match any of these. So don't want to create three more projects! I'm sticking with the refinishing.