Let the Painting Begin!!

As most of you know, Ben & I are doing some "home improvements" to his house before our wedding in May; all in the quest to make his bachelor pad more like my dream home. There is a lot that needs to be done to update the house. The kitchen needs to be redone, the back bathroom needs to be gutted and the walls need a to be less the the grass-cloth wall paper of the 70s and more of a beautiful neutral color.

The first project we decided to tackle is the walls. We started in the hallway and are doing this as a test area since this is our first time taking down wallpaper and painting. I found a gorgeous color for the walls called "Natural." It is a very light khaki color, almost a latte color, and the chair railings will be "Clean White," a soft white. I'm so excited about the way they will look when finished but the work is quite a job. And we are learning quite a few lessons before we embark on the living room/sunroom.

Lesson #1 Put tarp or newspaper on the floor before pulling the paper down. We learned the hard way that the soggy mess that results from the Dif soaked wallpaper DOES stick to the floor. Seeing as how those original hardwood floors are one of my favorite parts about the house, I am determined not to see them get scratched.

Lesson #2 You need a mini scrapper for areas around door frames.

Lesson #3 The huge bottle of Dif is too heavy to hold, it is better to get lots of small bottles.

We are hoping to prime the walls this weekend and my optimistic hope is to paint as well. Something tells me this is not going to happen though. Here's dreaming...