I'd had this idea in my head for over a year and finally all the stars aligned.
I found the wallpaper I liked at a price I liked. I found some time. But most of all, I found someone experienced and excited willing to help me.
(There will be a later post about the shrine I erected to Debbie....)
So, here is how it went down. Saturday night, my husband helped me move all the furniture from the project wall to the other side of the room.
I then prepared to mix the wall sizing. I had to call the hubs at home to find out how many cups in 16 pints because, of course, this is not in my brain's readily available information banks. Thirty two cups. Now, what do I have at the store that looks like it's a cup??? Got it. And this spare trash can is a good bucket to mix it all up in.
So, now I dump the powdered sizing into the water and read the directions. Opps. Sprinkle the powder....uh oh. When you dump this powder in, it immediately forms a gelatinous wad of glue at the bottom of your water. Instead of stirring "until dissolved", you massage this gunk until it (pretty much) is dissolved.
Then because of all the lumps floating around, it would be best to strain this mixture. Well, surely I have a sieve around this place. Wait!! The tulle I use in some displays will work perfectly! Yahoo!!
Except the tulle is currently worked into a display. Behind all the furniture that has been moved to the opposite side of the room. No problem. Grab the step ladder, climb up on this piece of furniture, snag the tulle and gently, gently pull it closer without upsetting the bunnies standing on top of it. Then cut off a couple feet and, voila! Strain that sizing, put it in your paint tray and go to town.
This is what a wall looks like after wallpaper sizing is painted on. Yep. It was pretty much almost exactly like painting with invisible paint.
Time to go home for the night.
Right at 11o'clock sharp on Sunday morning, Debbie shows up prepared with tools for the job. Now me, on the other hand, announce that I have forgotten the wallpaper and have to run home to get it. I saw the hesitation in Debbie's eyes and then the realization that she had blown her chance to back out of this project. What a sport. Thankfully, the round trip to my house only takes about eight minutes.
(and now that I think about it, enough time for Debbie to take a half dozen Valium.)
That's it. We are ready to wallpaper!! Only, I don't have a water tray to wet the paper in. Again, a hunt around the store for a substitute. And there it is. An antique copper boiler is the perfect width and depth! Fill that up with water and we're ready to start!!! Let's wallpaper!
It is amazing how much water can pour out of a microscopic pin hole in an antique copper boiler......do you see the dark "wetness" surrounding the teeny towel I used to try to stop the flow?? Yea. Not really working. Oh heck, we're working near the front door, we'll just stick the water outside in the 40 degree weather. Let's wallpaper!!!!
And there she is. Our first strip is done about an hour and a half from our starting time!
And a half hour after that.....our second strip! We are cruising now!
At around 7 pm that night.....the wall is done. And so are we. We could barely make it over to the counter.....
...and reward ourselves for a job well done!!
