There is SO MUCH wallpaper in this flat! There is now ever so slightly less, but still SO MUCH! I'm starting to dream of wallpaper. Every room I go into I'm checking the corners for wallpaper sections that are lifting, providing starting points for stripping. Every room I go into that is painted rather than wallpapered, I am mentally high-fiving the rational person that made that interior design decision. Every wallpaper papering person I am internally cursing, and if I'm honest, fantasising about suffocating with sections of woodchip.
I'm feeling quite emotional.
It may be something to do with the evil cat mask. We had turned up at the slum today with the intention to strip the bathroom - but then realised that there are no powerpoints for the steamers (duh) and we didn't bring an extension lead. So cat mask room it was.
Now again, it's not a competition, but I had been spending Saturday punting in Oxford (suprisingly tough on the arms - those poles are heavy!), and this morning lugging a heavy bag around central London. But I still managed to clear this area:
In the same amount of time that Rob did this:
Fans of wallpaper removal may like to know that we are using the 'score-with-a-stanley-knife-then-steam' method of removal here. Fans of tea breaks may like to know that we have developed a new rule for wallpaper steamering - when the steamer runs of out of, erm, steam - it's time for a cup of tea.
We have installed a kettle in the slum (prompting me to wonder whether shutting the kettle in a room with the windows closed and boiling and re-boiling it would eventually mean that the wallpaper would fall off of its own accord) - but we forgot tea spoons. So I like to think of this as proper builder's tea:
Yes, that is a screwdriver. Not the cocktail, although I could perhaps have done with one.
So, onwards. I'm afraid we had to resort to the previous method of stripping the top layer of paint and then steaming the paper underneath, because that paint is so completely waterproof. For future reference, if you ever need to build an ark, I'd go for this stuff.
And that reminds me - I think I forgot to explain how we coped in the green bedroom without a second steamer. I had read on the internet that a mixture of fabric softner and water was effective - and it is, strangely - except that our bedroom now smells oddly of Lenor. It's also a bit weird to be washing your walls, and impossible to avoid covering yourself in it - so I smelled strongly of linen fresh summer breeze or something for a good while.
Anyway, no fabric softner for this room as we have a steamer each now, and we eventually made it to this stage:
Eagle-eyed readers will be able to tell which side I stripped, and which side was Rob's. And not just because he is standing on his side. Those lovely high ceilings feeling less lovely now.
Here's the result of our efforts:
You won't have forgotten about that mask. We hadn't either, but without discussing it, we'd both avoided starting on that wall.
It's still like that. We ran out of time, steam, and willpower. And now it's even scarier.
The only other odd thing was this piece of rope I found in the wall:
Which is making me concerned that our house might be owned by The Crimson Permanent Assurance.
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