The chalkboard wall is D.O.N.E! 

This project basically came about almost 2 years ago when we lived at our last house.  I knew I wanted to paint a big chalkboard wall in the kitchen, and we had a large wall for it, however, we knew we'd either be selling or keeping it as a rental (We ended up keeping it as a rental and the best family has made it their home!), so I didn't want to take the plunge by covering a full wall in the stuff because that may not be everyone's cup of tea.

So I made a big framed chalkboard out of an old mirror that did the job beautifully.

So when we moved into our new house 6 months ago, I was obsessed with the huge kitchen, but bummed that although it's very spacious, there wasn't any good wall space for my beloved chalkboard to hang (it now lives in our laundry room).  A few weeks ago, the obvious came to town. And slapped me in the face.

I had never really noticed that we have the PERFECT wall for some chalkboard paint magic. Right on the side of the cabinets where our wall oven lives.

Our kitchen is still a work in progress (we've got some big plans for it!), but you get the idea.

That fridge is mocking me. That's what I miss the most about the old house... Our fridge we built-in.
This one will eventually get the same treatment one day.
Yeah, and pay no attention to my shoes or Waylon's new dog bed box over there. We have a cabinet that suddenly decided it wasn't going to stay shut. :/  Like I said, big plans.

I love how the chalkboard wall is almost hidden. It doesn't hit you in the face when you first look into the room.

So to do this, I grabbed some Valspar chalkboard paint. You can get chalkboard paint in any color, but I went with the o.g. ... black.
First I cleaned the cabinet wall really well and then sanded it. Then, I painted on the chalkboard paint using an angled brush for the areas around the trim, and a foam roller to fill in. It took three coats.
The worst part of the entire process was the wait. It says on the can to wait 3 full days to let the paint cure before chalking it.
I'm the most impatient person ever so this was difficult.

To prep chalkboard paint, you basically rub the chalk (sideways) all over the board lightly like so...

...then erase it to make it all even and pretty.

And here she is! I decided to do it top to bottom. I'm going to add a fun chevron print to the top and because it goes all the way to the bottom, it'll be fun for future kiddos to play with.

I think it's really pretty looking in from the dining room.

As for the lettering, I basically took all the inspiration from this little tutorial I pinned months back and added a little frame of wheat.

So what do you guys think? I love little fun surprises in houses like this. Definitely made our kitchen feel more like home!

Hey guys! So today I'm coming at you with another home post. I'm going to *try* to at least do one per week from now on to mix things up! I just think they're so fun.

Anyway, today's post involves something that made me quite nervous. If you guys know me at all by now, you probably realize that when it comes to home stuff and diy, I get my hands dirty and take chances. Painting rarely makes me nervous.  Well this project totally got me.

See, when we moved into our last house years back, my Grandma gave me her dining room hutch, table, and chairs that were in storage. She had not used them since she moved from her house years back (she's lived with my parents for years), so I jumped at the chance to use them since I always loved them growing up and have so many memories of Thanksgivings, family dinners, and game nights around it. Hey, I even used the chairs to make some killer blanket forts in her living room as a kid, just saying.

Now I was a bad blogger and didn't really take many before shots because this project came about sort of quickly and I just jumped on it.  So I came up with a serious throwback "before" shot.
WAAAAY "before" I like to call it.
Here we are circa 1992 at Thanksgiving. I'm the one stuffing my face in the background...

Classic.

At our old place, our dining room was VERY brown. I loved that dark and dramatic room. I lovingly refer to it as "cinnamon" rather than brown of course, but I always felt like the brown chairs, brown table, brown hutch, brown brown brown... was too much. So I slapped some cheap chair covers over them in white to give the room some contrast.

It was ok, but definitely not working at the new house.
Mostly because the new dining room is much lighter and brighter than the old. So the white chair covers weren't really doing the dining room's vibe any favors.

So I removed the covers for a while. Again, too much brown. Maybe if the walls were a lighter and brighter white or cream, but the walls are a really warm golden tan. So not enough contrast to do the pretty brown finish any favors. FYI... the wall color is still a mystery to me. Some of you asked about it in my "office redo" post. The painters who repainted the house before we moved in left all the paint except for this one.... Which they used in about 90% of the house. Awesome, guys. Awesome.
I'm thinking it may be Tobacco Road by Sherwin Williams. Just because they used all other SW paints and I've compared a ton of photos of it and it's pretty darn close.

Anyway, back to the chairs. I decided I wanted to repaint them a rich, glossy, onyx black.  The room has other black accents (black chandelier shades and lampshades) and a black little sideboard piece of furniture, so I knew it would look fab.

The problem?? Convincing Grandma. I know she gave them to me and all, but I still felt like I needed to ask her permission before possibly ruining the chairs she loves so much.

The initial conversation didn't go super well.  I asked. Grandma got scared. Before she could hear me out, I could hear panic in her voice at the thought that I was going to whip out a paintbrush and slap black paint all over her beloved chairs.
So I sent her some photos of similar chairs in black and she started to come around. Permission, granted.
I got started.... And it took FOREVER.

This process was pretty tedious just because the chairs have so many spindles. I began by cleaning them super well and then sanding the finish to remove any of the glossy texture they had so the new paint would adhere.
We had such great luck with the Glidden Interior/Exterior high gloss paint in Black Onyx on our banisters (check out that transformation here), that I knew it would work great on the chairs.

Well, it totally did!
...and Grandma's diggin' it too.

I used an angled brush (one typically used for "cutting in" around trim) to paint all the spindles and edges. For the flat "ladder" pieces on the back, I used a small foam roller to get super smooth results since those reflect the most light and would show the most brush strokes.
I used a tiny brush to get around the areas where the wood meets the woven seats. I covered the seats with aluminum foil (hey, it worked) to avoid any drips or splatters. Only once did I drip paint onto one of the seats on an exposed area. Which almost gave me a heart attack. I saw my Grandma fainting in my mind.  I decided to just let it dry and peel it off later rather than smear it around.  I was shocked that it actually worked!

The trick was being patient between coats. I let each coat fully dry before starting the next. Which wasn't usually a problem because there are 7 of these bad boys and it took quite a while to make it through each one.

After painting them, even when the final coat had dried for hours, they were still a bit "tacky" to the touch. High gloss paint typically does that until it's fully cured for several days. So we were really careful with them for a few weeks and didn't touch them or sit on them for a long time. Which wasn't difficult because we don't use that table every single day.

I painted them about a month ago and they're perfect now! The paint is super hard and durable. I thought about maybe adding some clear lacquer to them to help them hold up better over the years, but I'm not sure that I need to.

I also added 2 of our new "Kubu" chairs I purchased from Pier 1 a few months ago to the ends. I talked all about them in this recent post about some home updates. They're so unique... I. LOVE. them!

I think the black added so much contrast.  At our last house, we always had such dramatic dining room walls... From super deep red to the dark and dramatic cinnamon-brown.  So I'm LOVING this brighter space that still feels cozy.

Oh and I'm also literally loving the SPACE. Seriously this dining room is huge. At the last house, I always had one of the leaf inserts out and had it set up for 6 place settings. Just last week it totally hit me that I could use the extra leaf section all the time and have it set up for 8.

Still with PLENTY of room... I told you this room was huge! Look how tiny the table still looks even extended for 8!

So I'm really loving this room now. Can't wait to host Thanksgiving this year!  The new look even inspired us to make it a point to actually use this room more often. We use our kitchen table every day for most meals, but it's fun to actually use this space when we want to, rather than feeling like it has to be so "formal" all the time. 

So what do you guys think?? Have you guys done any big diy projects? Painted antique furniture that made you super nervous? Any upset grandmas?  

Ok so I'm totally not sure of the "official" names of frames of this style but I love them.
I love them and it seems that they're really hard-to-find.  PERFECT recipe for a DIY project, don't you think??

So it all started when I kept looking at my black frame on my desk...

Please excuse the awesomely yellow Instagram pic. The original is on a different computer.

I LOVE my little easel and frame (the frame is from Target and was around $18), however, I felt like it could benefit from a little gold-cornered action.

So I'm not going to act like this is something ground-breaking or super difficult. I just imagined how I wanted it to turn out, used some Frog Tape (which I usually HATE... Me and painter's tape do not mix), and spray painted that baby.

Well, it involved a little bit more than that.
While this project was pretty easy, it was also kind of stressful... haha.  Stressful in that I found you can easily ruin your whole frame with paint if you don't do it correctly.

So first, I removed all the glass and backing from the frame so that it was a totally bare frame. All the ones I used for this are from Target and come apart perfectly exposing just the bare frame itself to make this easy.
Then, I took my painter's tape (I used Frog Tape) to tape off the sides of the frame exposing the corners you want painted. I totally did not measure the corners, I just eye-balled it and it turned out great!
Here's one of the most important tips... Make sure the tape edges are sealed super well against the frame along the edge where the paint will end. To do this, I just used my nails to sort of scrape the edge of the tape against the frame. Sort of making sure the tape is well-secured to the frame and pressed down really hard.
You definitely have to cover the rest of the frame (the exposed sides) because they will get overspray on them. You could use more tape, or use some scrap paper like I did to cover it. I taped the paper into place.
Then you're ready to paint!

I always paint outside, away from the house, on some scrap cardboard.  I really like this particular gold spray paint by Valspar. It covers really smooth and leaves a really shiny and glossy finish.
Then I sprayed a couple quick coats to the corners making sure to get all the edges really well. Before you remove the tape, you need to double check the tops and side edges to make sure you've covered them with paint evenly because it will be really tough to tape it off on the same line perfectly again if you need to touch them up.

Then, I carefully removed the paper covering the sides and peeled away the tape. I could not believe how crisp the lines came out!

...Mostly because I DO NOT trust painter's tape. Even the Frog Tape brand I used, which is supposed to never bleed. Well, it always bleeds. ALWAYS. I never use painter's tape when I paint rooms (around moldings, etc.), just because I find it always takes forever to tape-off the room. Then the results are crappy. So to me, it's not worth it. I can paint pretty crisp lines free-hand in those situations.
But for something like this, you NEED that crisp, perfectly straight edge.
So I was pleasantly surprised.

Here's my re-vamped frame in my office I showed before...

Turned out so pretty right??

This one is my favorite...

I think I may love the print inside it even more though...

You can get it on Etsy here. (and no, that's not sponsored. I just love her shop so much!)

And finally, my little shadow box frame...

Inside is a little painting I've had forever. I never knew just quite how to frame it or what I wanted to do with it. I think it looks presh now... and a little fancy.

All of these frames were purchased at Target between $15 and $18. Not too bad, huh?
I just love how much of an impact the gold corners create. Gives the typical black frames a little something extra.

Now, to resist doing this to every black frame I own. While I love the gold, you could do some seriously fun color combos with more vibrant colors.  The possibilities are endless!
What do you guys think? Any simple and fun DIY projects you've tackled lately?

So as promised in my previous post about this room's big re-do, I wanted to share with you a quick post about all the little decor details I've added to it during the past month.  Nothing crazy, just a few little touches that made the room feel complete.

This is how she looked last we left her.... Wallpaper free and with a fresh coat of pretty paint.

Here is what it looks like now from the hallway...

Normally not a fan of decorating a toilet, but I put this little tray on top I've had forever along with a silver Tory Burch candle and I think it looks pretty cute... But ugh, I hate seeing toilet paper. haha Is it just me? I may get one of those little toilet paper holders that hook to the tank. So I could put it on the right and it wouldn't show.  But I know, I know... It's a bathroom. Toilet paper is kind of a given.  Same little antique table to the left of the toilet which I talked about in the last post about this room.

The biggest challenge for this room has been finding a great mirror. So up until last week, that wall was bare until I couldn't take it anymore.

...and added this one that I hadn't found a great spot for yet. I like the way it looks and the way the different facets reflect the light. I WISH that it were more rectangular so it would be a bit longer, but it works.  Who knows, I may still find the perfect one for that space, but this one works for now.  The litte birdcage in the lower left holds extra toilet paper, although I'm not sure I love it there. I may store it away in a closet because we know how I feel about toilet paper.

What really pulled the room together, I think, are these 4 pictures that I'm in love with.

These were a lucky score from the Ballard Outlet in Atlanta. They each are unique and have beautiful little ceramic cameos depicting what appear to be Greek figures (?). I could totally be wrong.  Anyway, they were such a find because regularly they were a (completely unreasonable) $199 a piece. Unless Zeus made these himself, no thank you. Maybe not even then. But I scored them for $30 a piece at the outlet! I've had them for a few years now.

So that's that for this room (for now). Currently I'm tackling another bathroom project. I'm painting one of our upstairs bathrooms a gorgeous shade of satiny black. Cannot wait to share it with you!

Details:
paint color- Benjamin Moore Abalone
gold table- antique
mirror- Michael's
wall art- Ballard Designs
rug- Anthropologie

For MUCH more on this room and how it came along from this...

I apologize.

... check out this post all about it!

AND be sure to look out for a new beauty video coming up this week as well!

When we moved into our new house months back, we were THRILLED to finally have some outdoor space. MAJOR outdoor space for us, especially compared to our last place where we had a very small (and sooo not private) backyard.
Part of what made me fall in love with our new house was the huge screened-in porch with more than enough room for a huge living area AND a big table. We also scored a huge backyard that is super private, perfect for entertaining. Outdoor space, check. However, we didn't have a great spot for things like our grill and gas fire pit.   While we had a really nice, level spot right off the screened-in porch stairs, we really wanted a paved area for those things. The other side of the porch slopes way down with more stairs from the backyard to a little area off the basement. Since the stairs from the actual house come down on this side, we thought it made more sense to have a little extension for outdoor living stuff on this side. We always thought that little area should have totally been paved already, so we took the plunge and did it ourselves.

Looking back, I think it's safe to say we definitely would not do this again if we had it to do all over. We LOVE the result, but the work was kind of back-breaking.

Let me just say before we begin... We are not experts at this and definitely did not do this perfectly. The result is pretty darn good (we think), so we're happy with it.
Here's the before...

Our original plan was to pave the entire area from the little cement slab from the porch stairs, all the way to the area where the wood stairs to the backyard begin (around the bottom-center of the photo).  We soon realized that wouldn't work because our irrigation system got in the way. About a foot in from that little corner, an underground sprinkler head pops up when that section is turned on. Not conducive to paving over. So we figured instead of removing it and going through all that trouble, we'd just stop the patio a little shy of it.
This area seems small, but it nearly killed us...
The first trick was picking up the pavers. We chose these from Lowes.

For our area, we calculated that we'd need 68.  Lowes helped us load them which was awesome. Unloading them was awful. Brad is really strong and could get a few at a time. I struggled with one, and I'm usually pretty strong.  These were HEAVY.

Check out all the pavers piled up... At this point, I was thinking, "What have we gotten ourselves in to??"  I think Waylon was thinking the same thing...

Next, we started digging. The main trick to this whole diy-paver patio thing is getting the area perfectly level.  So we each took a shovel and started to sort of "skim" off the grass.  It was SO hard for me to do, so Brad took over most of that job. I went around and scooped dirt and worked to further level areas that were obviously not.
Then, we worked together with our shovels to level it even further. I'll be totally honest here... We didn't "stake off" the area and use string to level it. We didn't use a level. We totally eyeballed this. However, we had a great advantage because the area was already pretty level and we had the nice wood retaining wall to sort of guide us.

Next, we put down 8 bags of "paver base". This stuff is basically really thick, moist sand. When you do this, wear gloves, people. Sometimes we didn't and I ended up with tiny cuts and splinters all over my hands and fingertips. I got really scared for a second there and thought I had totally ruined my hands. All my fingertips felt like I had at least 10 splinters in each. Not a good feeling.
Here's what that looked like during the spreading...

After you spread it (you can use it to further level your area), you can use a flat rake or even a big metal tamper to settle it all and make sure its flat and smooth.

Then you put down paver sand (not polymeric sand...yet) on top of that. Just a thin layer.

Thennnn you put down the pavers. You can put them down in any pattern you like.  This is the part that started really getting to me. One by one, we took turns grabbing the pavers and bringing them over. We'd each work on one, then go get another. It really made the process go quickly.  But the next day, my legs were feeling the burn...haha. All that squatting with the heavy pavers was serious business.

By this time, it was literally 11pm so we called it a day.

The next morning, we did the last (and most fun) step. Applying the polymeric sand. This step was so satisfying. Polymeric sand comes in buckets (we used two big buckets, not sure of the exact size, but you can get an idea from the bucket in the photo below) and basically keeps your pavers in place by turning to cement when you apply water to it. So we dumped it evenly to small areas at a time and spread it with a large push broom. The idea is to push it into the area in between the pavers and off of the paver tops themselves.  Brad did most of the sand dumping, and I did the spreading.
Until he really wanted in on the action and I gave up the broom...

We then took a leaf blower (per the polymeric sand's instructions) and lightly blew off the surface of the pavers to get all the sand off, while keeping as much in-between them as possible.  

Oh and I almost forgot to mention- on the edge of the pavers where they meet the grass (behind Brad in the photo above), we used some of the hammer-in black edging that you purchase especially for these. We didn't use it against the wood (because the wood kept it in place) or on the area to the right in the photo above against the pine straw area because that area goes up a little and we felt the area we dug out would be more than enough to keep it in place. Not that skipping that in those areas is what you should do, but that's what we did and it's working.

Finally, we gave the patio a light shower with the water hose to set the polymeric sand. We followed the sand's directions and stayed off of it for 24 hours. Then, when we stepped on it for the first time, we were pretty darn impressed with ourselves. 

For reference, where the flower pot is on the right side of the patio, is where I always stand for my outdoor OOTD posts. So YAY for no heels in the grass anymore! haha

That little wonky, muddy area to the right of the patio area in the photo above is another sprinkler pop-up area. Yeah we could have cut out the stone pavers in a way that would allow it to pop up through it, but we didn't. We're going to get that area grassy again and maybe add some large river rocks (too large for Waylon to scarf up)  in the same color of the patio to round it out a bit.

We also have some plans for the area to the left of the grill in the photo above. Eventually, we'd like to build (or maybe have it built) a stone grill enclosure there. That would free up some more space on the patio and look so much nicer.

Here's a closer shot...

Oh and the grand total we spent on this project was around $300. Not too bad. We had a sweet Lowe's coupon and the pavers rang up a LOT cheaper than they were advertised. So we're totally not sure what happened there. But we'll take it.

So my final thoughts. Don't do this... 

Unless you have a pretty level surface to start with. If you're dealing with a tricky area that is oddly-shaped, or really uneven, leave this to the professionals.  I would N-E-V-E-R do this again. Ever. haha, dramatic, I know. But seriously, we have been really enjoying it and we love the results, but I don't think I could make it through another one of these guys.  

Have you guys ever done this? Any huge diy projects you've been tackling lately?

Ok so that sounds much more fun than it actually was.  Oh and a little warning- This may be the longest post ever.

Truth is, I knew removing wallpaper was known to be a more difficult and tedious task. So when we moved into our new house and inherited a powder room that was covered in the stuff, I sort of subconsciously willed myself to like it. Because the last thing I wanted to tackle after a stressful move was picking layers of paper off the walls. Kind of low on the old priority list. Let me give you a brief bit of background with the new house...

It was built in the late 90's. So when we bought it and the previous owners had recently de-90's-ed it, we felt like we were walking into a brand new house. Think new hardwood floors, new fixtures and faucets, new granite... Heck, they even replaced every single knob and door hinge. That took some serious dedication because there were TONS. The basement was newly finished, new carpeting upstairs, new paint everywhere, new screened-in porch... Seriously, I feel like we hit the jackpot.
However, there were a few things even they didn't touch. The wallpaper in this powder room and the gold-marbelized painted faux finish in the foyer (I sort of lived with that long enough and am tackling that soon as well... stay tuned!).
Not that there's anything wrong with the 90's... I just like my home to reflect my taste and most of the typical 90's finishes where homes were concerned isn't exactly my jam. Although, I think brass finishes and fixtures are coming back... *must stay on topic, Tiffany*

Here's a closeup of the culprit...

You're welcome.
Now that I look at it closeup, it's sort of reminds me of a skin condition. A bad skin condition... wait, are there any good skin conditions?  That or a closeup of the veins in the heart or a diseased bloodshot eyeball.  haha sorry, I had to.
But I mean, dang... Look at all those reds and dull greens.

So like I said, wallpaper removal is tedious. Think when you remove a sticker, there's sometimes that little white adhesive paper layer that's left behind that is a you-know-what to remove. Think about that covering an entire room. Good times.  However, I did discover a great way to remove it that worked for me. After a lot of trial and error. And the occasional break-down or two. More on that in a moment...

Now don't get me wrong... The right wallpaper can be awesome! I really wanted to like it because I've always dreamed of a little powder room covered in a pretty pattern. However, this was definitely not the pretty pattern I had in mind. I even toyed with the idea of putting up wallpaper in a different pattern. Then after messing with this stuff for days, I was kind of over it.

This is what it looked like before...

This room is actually pretty sizable for a powder room. It's crazy that this was maybe one of the most-used and also the ugliest room of the house.  It's the only bathroom on the main floor of the house (we have a couple more upstairs and one in the basement) and because of that, it gets used most often, especially when guests are over. So it just made sense to finally fix her up.

Ok, this next photo needs some a lot of explanation.

Hey, I worked with what I had, people.  Look at all those sink-top accessories...lol.

You see those little crazy sconce/candleholder/weird things on each side of the mirror? Yeah, those babies totally came with the house too. Even the previous owners had no time for that. They were attached with these huge crazy hooks. Think the type of hooks you'd attach hanging plants to a porch with. How and why I left those up almost three months, I'll never know.

Also, notice (how could you miss) the hand towel holder. From the day we first looked at the house I thought that was awkward. The first thing you see when you come into the room is the side of hand towels hanging at a very awkward and low angle. It was much lower than it seems in the photo. For reference, check out where the light switch is and how far below that it's hanging. Not that I would even want it higher. It was just weird all around.  

Oh and I didn't get a great shot of it (because it was nasty and I spared you), but you've gotta love the bleach streaks coming down the wall below and behind the sink from cleaning products of the past... Ain't nobody got time for that.

The only redeeming quality the stuff had are the cool little "hidden" iridescent stripes you can only see in certain light.  Not redeeming, you say? Maybe I'm crazy? Yeah, now that I look at it again, I'm definitely glad it's gone.

Here's the other side of the room. Look closely for the open seam that started it all.

This, my friends, is how all the madness began.

SO this is where things get sketchy. This piece came off in one big strip. How and why I have no idea. So I bopped into the basement (Brad's lair) and proudly announced I was starting a huge undertaking... Removing the wallpaper in the powder room. He said I was crazy.  To which I bragged to him how easily I had removed a big piece already. The rest had to be just as easy right?
Wrong.
It was so bad, in fact, that I didn't take any photos of the actual process because I was sure that there was no way I was sharing this massive failure with anyone. Especially on here!
Then I discovered a great way to remove it that made the rest of it go much quicker.

But before that, I need to tell you what was going on underneath the wallpaper that probably led to all the difficulty I had. The wallpaper was basically applied to bare sheetrock with no primer. I also discovered the wallpaper was applied before the toilet and sink were installed.
This was a custom job, baby! (dripping with sarcasm)

So I googled and asked around for tips and was bombarded with the whole "fabric softener and warm water" trick.
It worked. Sometimes. Let me explain...

So first, you need to cover your floor with old towels or a drop cloth. The fabric softener makes things slippery and when you start picking off wet (and glued) wallpaper pieces, they can stick to your floor.

Go around the baseboards (if they're caulked to the wallpaper like ours were) with a small utility knife. This helps the wallpaper remove cleaner at the bottom and prevent your caulk from peeling up with the wallpaper.

About the actual removal, you NEEEED one of these sprayers to apply the fabric softener solution. You can get them around $15 at Target or home improvement stores like Lowes.

You must use the little cone shaped attachment to apply it. It sprays an even and large area without splattering everywhere.
Grab some fabric softener (I used our Target brand that I love) and mix it with hot water in the sprayer. I mixed about 3 parts water to 1 part fabric softener. I was working initially with much less fabric softener and found it wasn't working as well. Mix it in small amounts so you can always have a warm mixture.

Next, spray one section (strip) of wallpaper at a time, making sure to really saturate it.  You may want to make sure your towels on the floor are really shoved tightly against the baseboards or even lay down a few extra as you work. This will keep the solution from running down the walls all over your floors and seeping through the towel.

This next part is key. You really have to be patient and let it sit for a while. Some sections, I could peel after maybe 5 minutes (probably wasn't initially stuck as well), some sections I had to apply the mixture like 3 times and wait FOR. EVER. Like 30 minutes later. So be patient.  20 minutes is a good rule for each piece, but make sure you've applied enough so it doesn't just dry.
I would start peeling from the top or bottom, at the seams, wherever I could get a good grip on it. The idea of the fabric softener solution is to make the adhesive come off cleaner with the actual top layer of the paper. Did it always work, heck no. But maybe 60% of the time I was able to peel larger, clean strips. The other time? The top layer of the paper would come off and leave the white papery adhesive layer.  Sometimes I would keep going. Sometimes, I would spray some more solution and wait. Sometimes, that didn't always work. This is when the process started to get horrible and panic ensued.

I even started experimenting with my garment steamer. I've heard of people who have great results with this, but I didn't notice any difference.

So what turned it all around?
Luckily, a twitter follower angel suggested that if you used regular old Windex on the white, papery, impossible to remove layer, it practically "jumps off the walls" she said. She was right!

THE WINDEX IS KEY, PEOPLE! I went through 3 bottles on this project.
So I would peel what I could (some coming off in large sections), and if I could only get the top layer, I didn't sweat it. Because a quick and even spray of glass cleaner to those areas made that layer come right off with little to no effort after a few minutes.


But the process wasn't perfect. Remember the whole un-primed walls thing? Yeah, it caused me to run into some significant problems.
So imagine hunks of sheetrock coming off. Sometimes down the the brown papery seams between the sheetrock pieces. It was so sad. I was sure I had ruined it. The walls were rough and uneven. But I pressed on. I figured the wallpaper at least had to be removed before any other progress (or repairs) had to be made.

Here's a shot of one of the walls...

Gorg, right?
Imagine it feeling as rough as it looks. The white paint you see around the mouldings around the ceiling and windows is where the trim was sprayed when the house was first built and painted. So Brad and I grabbed some 100-grit sandpaper (with wall-sanding handles attached because it made it much easier), tied some shirts around our faces (because inhaling sketchy wall dust is never good), and in about 2.5 minutes, lightly (and quickly) sanded the walls.

I was still left with a rough-looking situation so I took some Dap and spackled all the spots that looked sketchy. I also spackled over the spots where the brown papery sheetrock seams were exposed.
This is the type I used and it worked perfectly...

While I was at it, I also removed the sketchy sconces and huge (even sketchier) hooks, and the awkward towel holder which all left behind huge holes that I spackled as well.

I just realized there's a ton of "sketchiness" in this post... lol there really is no better word for this situation.

When it dried, I sanded over all the spackle to smooth it out.

This type is nice because it goes on pink and dries white when dry so you know exactly when to sand (as you can see in the pic below)....

...which also depicts possibly the sketchiest thing I found underneath the wallpaper. Apparently someone decided it would be appropriate to declare their love for each other on our bathroom wall...literally. The "4 Life" part just really pulls it all together.

Ok so on to the paint. I knew I wanted to do a light gray. Seriously I lucked out because after going to the store and purchasing a primer and a few new rollers, I remembered I had a brand new can of paint in that exact shade just sitting in our garage. I had purchased it in the last few months living at our old house when I thought about repainting our front living room. Which never happened. Score!

So I'll keep the whole primer fiasco brief. I've painted countless rooms before, but I rarely use a primer. In this case, with walls that looked that rough, I knew I needed one. So I purchased a primer which said it was for "damaged, uneven" walls, which only turned out to be.... CLEAR. Yeah. I definitely didn't continue to use it. I only did a few swipes and gave up. I've never returned paint before (you usually can't), but since the guy in the paint department recommended it to me because it "covered awesome" (and it was kind of pricey), that stuff went right back.
So I got crazy and decided to just go for it with the paint I had. I used the Valspar Signature Paint and Primer in one matched to Benjamin Moore Abalone.  The Valspar Signature is awesome. I used it several times at our old place and it covers amazing.

I was skeptical, but it covered everything (with 2 coats)!
I couldn't resist taking photos immediately when I was done, so here is what it looks like at night.

aaand here she is in the sunshine...

I love how this color made all the moulding and windows look much nicer and stand out so much more.

The two little screws in the wall where the mirror was were sunken in with plastic anchors and any mirror covers them anyway, so I didn't bother removing them.  I am now currently on the hunt for an amazing mirror...like this one.

via bamboofurnitureblog.com

However, they're kind of tough to find for sale online and they're a bit expensive. I'm convinced I can find a great deal on one at a consignment shop or yard sale. IT WILL BE MINE! Just gotta be patient! ...and find one that fits perfectly between the electrical outlet and light switch. Awesome placement, guys.

Oh and I did spruce up the light fixture as well. Brad and I played around with the thought of getting a new one, however, when we hit the usual spots (Home Depot and Lowes), they didn't have any that stood out. Then our choice to keep it became clear when at Lowes, we actually liked the one we already had better than all the others. I realized the problem wasn't the fixture, it was the glass shades. So we picked up a few $5 replacements that go much better with the new walls and feel of the room.

Lights on.

Lights off.

Much better huh?

While I haven't really done much decorating or hanging anything on the walls, I've got a few ideas and I'm just taking my time! I'll for sure update when I make a little more progress.

**edit: CHECK OUT THIS POST FOR ALL THE DECOR DETAILS!

I do have a few things I know for sure are staying.
First, this gorgeous and fun rug I've had for years from Anthropologie. It's never had a great spot that it really "worked" with.

I love how it looks with the paint. I think it's finally found it's perfect spot.

And then, this little sweet antique table I've had forever. It lived in our powder room at our last house. Before that, it was always in my parents' house in their powder room. Before that, I'm not sure where it came from. It used to be dark wood and a little banged-up. So I gave her a coat of pretty gold spray paint.

Yes, that is a Starbucks thermos. Cute vase, no?

So to wrap up this crazy-long post, here are a  few things I ALWAYS do when I paint:

Cover the paint tray in aluminum foil. This is an old but great tip that's pretty much everywhere on the internet. This makes for easy cleanup and you'll never have to buy another paint tray again.

"Cut-in" around doors, mouldings, and the ceiling (if you don't have crown) with an angled brush. I never use painters tape.

Store brushes and rollers in big zip loc bags between coats so they don't dry out.

Nothing too crazy or groundbreaking. I just keep it simple and try to be careful!

Let me just say.. Thank GOODNESS this is the only room of our house that has wallpaper. I couldn't imagine doing this again. I mean, I could if I had to, but let's just say it wasn't the best few days of my life.

I hinted at possibly re-doing our foyer in this post as well. I'll for sure keep you guys updated on that as well! Since it's a 2-story foyer, I might have to leave that job to the professionals...  I'll keep you posted!