Wallpaper Sucks
Oh how I want the living, dining, and commons areas of my house to look pleasant. The ugly Institutional White seen in so many domestic situations bores me to tears. To make matters worse, there is this slight but visible pinkish tint to the paint currently on the walls. That is simply unacceptable.
I've painted my two rooms and my bathroom and Cameron painted his bedroom, but that still leaves the most-seen parts of the interior covered in the almost-white horror. So, we agreed to turn the dining area into another conversational hangout place and move the table elsewhere. The first step in transforming the old eating spot is to do something with the walls.
So we bought one of these:
Little did we know that I'd fuck up the first try.
You see, the directions that came with the wallpaper ("easy assembly!") asked that textured walls get some special treatment before pasting the paper up. We had to put up "liner paper," cover that with two coats of latex base paint, and then we could mix the water-based paste, apply it to the eight picture panels, and hang the damn things.
I screwed up by getting contact paper, the kind for using in kitchen cabinets, not on walls. It couldn't take the weight of the two paint coats and the paste-laden wallpaper. Less than an hour after we were done, the contact paper came loose from the wall and started sagging. We stapled it to the drywall in the hope things would look better in the morning. They didn't: more than half of the damn thing had parted ways with the drywall and left the rest to gravity.
Some additional problems: this thing's going in a corner, it is taller than the available wall space, and it does't come in "strips" like the UrbanOutfitters description said. It comes in eight roughly square panels that must be overlapped to allow for paper expansion and contraction as the paste wets and dries on the surface.
So we carefully removed the wallpaper from the painted surface in order to use it a second time. I wasn't going to pay $140 for a brand new picture. If my walls weren't "textured" this wouldn't be a problem, but I'd say most walls I've seen had some texture built into them beyond the variations a paint roller will leave behind.
This time, we cleaned off the residue on the wall from the contact paper and applied wallpaper primer to the surface. Tonight, we'll put up the liner paper and let it sit overnight. Tomorrow, we'll paint the two coats on. Hopefully we'll have the entire thing done by the weekend.
I'll try to get an after picture taken. I've got a before shot, but it needs to be scanned first.
UPDATED 9/19/2005 9:51am
On the other hand, sanding and staining my new desk wasn't so difficult.
Comments
Do you have an ugly bathroom or know someone with one?
Home & Garden Television is on a quest to find America’s ugliest bathrooms! We’re looking for bathrooms you’d never want your neighbor to see or use.
It could have peeling wallpaper, cracked tile, mismatched colors, a leaking shower, a weird-shaped tub, or a slanting counter top. You get the picture!
We don’t want dirty…we want UG-LY.
We’re searching for fun, young homeowners with outgoing personalities for this exciting, upcoming prime time television special. Whether your bathroom disaster came with the house you just bought, or, it was actually your own design disaster -- we want to hear from you! This is your chance to be on TV.
Hey, we’ve all been there at one time or another. Feel no shame.
Our bathroom owners should be proud to say they have the most hideous bathroom in America!!
Sound good? Contact us today.
Please visit us at: www.nancyglassproductions.com.
Go to: Be On Our Shows to submit your ugliest bathroom!
Posted by: teabanks | July 29, 2005 09:26 AM
I've just sent the following message to the above business:
My name is Charles Hueter and I own and operate the website at www.drizzten.com.
The person who left the comment below used, in my comment form field, the teahnna@nancyglassproductions.com I've CC'ed in this message. If there is someone at this e-mail address, I wish you would discuss the following. Managers are also invited to explain the following.
On 2005-07-29 at 09:26am Central Time, someone from the IP address of 68.162.88.239 left the following comment in this post of mine ( http://www.drizzten.com/blargchives/001260.html ) :
```````````````
Do you have an ugly bathroom or know someone with one?
Home & Garden Television is on a quest to find America’s ugliest bathrooms! We’re looking for bathrooms you’d never want your neighbor to see or use.
It could have peeling wallpaper, cracked tile, mismatched colors, a leaking shower, a weird-shaped tub, or a slanting counter top. You get the picture!
We don’t want dirty…we want UG-LY.
We’re searching for fun, young homeowners with outgoing personalities for this exciting, upcoming prime time television special. Whether your bathroom disaster came with the house you just bought, or, it was actually your own design disaster -- we want to hear from you! This is your chance to be on TV.
Hey, we’ve all been there at one time or another. Feel no shame.
Our bathroom owners should be proud to say they have the most hideous bathroom in America!!
Sound good? Contact us today.
Please visit us at: www.nancyglassproductions.com.
Go to: Be On Our Shows to submit your ugliest bathroom!
```````````````
I want to copy the text I have directly beneath my comment form:
"Comments are the property and responsibilty of the commenter.
"I reserve the right to delete any comment I wish as this is my property you are commenting upon, but I'm pretty laid-back so it isn't likely to happen unless you are some psycho idiot jerk. Oh, and unless you have my permission to promote your good or service, you are wasting your time: unsolicited advertisements will result in comment deletion and URL banning. This blog ain't for you spammers or the crap you want to sell."
I was never contacted by anyone from Nancy Glass Productions for permission to post an advertisement on my website. No one contacted me before using my website as a promotional tool for Nancy Glass Productions. I view this as vandalism.
If Nancy Glass Productions employees are responsible for this, I want an apology left on the same post with the promise to never do it again. If the apology is not posted there, I will post it publicly in an article describing the situation.
If Nancy Glass Productions employee(s) are not responsible for this, the company should be aware someone is posing as one of it's employees and spamming websites with advertisements. It does not do your company's image any good to have this happening.
If I get no response to this e-mail, I may decide to write about my experience with Nancy Glass Productions and make it clear that I view the company with suspicion and distrust.
Sincerely,
-Charles Hueter
www.drizzten.com
Posted by: Drizz | July 29, 2005 12:54 PM
We (NGP) apologize for this misunderstanding, since you feel so strongly about us posting feel free to delete it. Thanks for letting us know about your issues.
Posted by: teabanks | July 29, 2005 01:08 PM
I appreciate the prompt reply and I thank you for understanding.
I'll leave the post as it is so readers won't get confused.
Posted by: Drizz | July 29, 2005 01:22 PM