Paint Splatters and Over-Brushing

This is baseboard in a corner of a room where I will be installing wallpaper . The blue is my dropcloth .

Wow.  Look at the paint splatters on the baseboard .  Maybe the paint was thin , or the painter was working too fast, causing paint to fly off the roller cover .  This could have been prevented by placing wide blue painters tape above the molding , or by covering the baseboards with strips of dropcloth or plastic .  Do a search here to see my previous posts about my technique .

Later, the room décor changed, and the grey paint was covered with pink paint.  Here you see where the painter let his brush swipe paint onto the top surface of the baseboard.  He did the same thing with the underside of the crown molding at the ceiling , too.  This is one of my pet peeves.  Looks so bad.  They do it because it’s easier than “ cutting a clean line .”  To do it right, all it takes is a good angled trim brush and a steady hand , and patience .  Or, use blue tape or even a trim guide to keep paint off the woodwork . 
I’ll probably take some white craft paint to color over this, before hanging the wallpaper .

Someone’s Spying On Me

Outside the bathroom window where I’m installing wallpaper in Houston today .

Smoothing Over Holes and Bumps

The artwork and hanger have been removed, but this wall anchor remains in the drywall . It will leave a bump under the new wallpaper . I removed it from the wall. That left a hole that will leave an indention under the new paper .

Here I’ve collected a bit of joint compound (we call it mud ), a plaster -like substance that’s used for installing drywall , as well as for patching holes and smoothing textured walls (called skim-floating or skim-coating )

Here it is applied over the hole.

To speed the drying process, I use my heat gun .

Using a sanding sponge to smooth it.

Wiping dust off with a damp sponge . Important, because neither primer nor wallpaper paste will adhere to dust .
After this dried , I primed over this area and the whole wall with wallpaper primer . I like Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime .
Now the wall is ready for wallpaper, with no worries that bumps or dips will show through .

Stripping Off What I Hung Not Long Ago

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About four years ago, I hung wallpaper for a young couple in a home they were renting in Montrose (Houston). Now they have bought their own home, and they have to leave the townhouse in the condition it was when they first moved in – so the wallpaper has to come off. 😦

The geometric at the top was an accent wall in a home office, the soft trellis was in their dining room (the dark spot is where I have wet it to start softening the paste as part of the removal process), and the large motif was an accent wall behind their bed in the master bedroom.

All the papers are coming off fairly easily, with minimal damage to the walls. That is thanks to the good primer I put on the walls before installing the paper. 🙂

More Cool Old Paper

In the same house I am installing kitchen wallpaper, the homeowner is so pleased that now she wants to do another room, a hall bathroom.

I stepped into the room to measure, and just gasped – There covering the walls was absolutely perfect condition, never been touched, stained, or painted, the original wallpaper dating back to 1968. !!

Although this paper was brown, too, just like in the kitchen, I liked it much better. It was a small diamond pattern, with decorative designs inside the diamonds. Typical background paper of that period. Probably would have looked better in a dining room or study, but – oh well – it went well with the bathroom tile.

And someone kept it in VERY good condition all these years.