Can you please run to the store? I just ran out of elbow grease.

Well, day two and three of our wallpaper attack...we're back at it:

Here we go...

We spent most of day two finishing scraping off the upper four layers of wallpaper and paint.  Actually, I spent most of it doing that...Sean worked on getting our water softener set up, our dehumidifier working, and other various errands until I finally screamed at him that I couldn't handle scraping wallpaper by myself any more and could he PLEASE come and help.  So he did, and we were able to get all of the top layers off by the end of Saturday.  Which left removing the bottom layer for Sunday!

We started by scoring the entire room with a Paper Tiger (which I found floating around in the basement of our current rental--there's a few bucks saved!).  Then Sean would wet down sections with a spray bottle containing a vinegar/hot water solution we mixed up.  Wait a few minutes, then scrape away.  Most of it came down pretty easily, but there were a few sections that they must have put up with super glue. Those required some extra work.

You can't tell from this photo, but Sean is having SO much fun...

...see?

I followed behind Sean, doing the edging on the floorboards, crown molding and windows/doors.  

Everyone who might be reading this probably knows why the blog address is "spoxie," but for those who don't, here's the reason why:

Spaniel + Dachshund (Doxie) = Spoxie

Our little guy Brody came along with us to the house this weekend, and was very good...though he really wanted to watch and see what on earth we were doing.

After we got the bottom layer of wallpaper down, our mess looked something like this:

We still needed to clean the walls.  I used the vinegar/water solution again, but this time wiped the walls down with a sponge and scraped off any remaining glue.  It was pretty amazing how well it worked.

Left side: dirty, right bottom corner: clean!

Look at the difference!  

By the end of Sunday, I was running out of steam pretty quickly, but we were so close to finishing the room that we just powered through and got it done.  And voila...80 years of wallpaper gone!

Before...

...and after!

Move-in ready!

Seriously, it almost looked so nice (and we were so tired) that we briefly considered starting a new "bare plaster walls" trend and just keeping the room as-is.

But, of course, we won't do that.  Yesterday was the last day of a major 40% off paint at Sherwin-Williams sale, so I stocked up on massive amounts of primer, and a few colors for the downstairs.  We haven't chosen colors for the upstairs yet, but we will soon...I have ideas.

I should add that this project took us a total of three days (Friday-Sunday), but we weren't both working on it full-time for all three days.  We had to do other errands and take care of other house stuff during that time. I think if we had both been working on it non-stop, we could have done it in two.

I am hopeful that this is the worst of the wallpaper removal.  The bathroom and entryway both appear to be single-layer, and we already looked at the disaster that is the dining room...but that's a smaller room and there isn't a layer of paint to contend with as well, so it should go more quickly.  We also have a technique now, so we're able to move a lot faster.

A few days off to tend to our "real" jobs, and then tomorrow we'll dive back in...