Um, the score *was* at Wallpaper 2, Harveys 0

PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!

You can now find me at

www.acottagegirl.com

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I'm afraid I've had to say a couple cuss words....or 10.  Above is the 2nd 15ft strip of beadboard wallpaper that refused to go up straight.  Hubs and I tried by ourselves last night, and had to admit defeat after failing to get the first piece up.  Today, with the help of my daughter and husband, we managed to get the first piece up, only to have this second strip whip our hineys again.

See that texture?  That's the mudding that got saturated when we put the second strip up and wouldn't allow the paper to manuever at all once we started putting it up.  That translates to crinkles and uneven seams that can't be fudged.   Fail.

So we stopped, cried, gave up, cussed, then had a pow-wow.

We decided to pull out the big guns...

#1

#2

First, we primed the ceiling to seal that sticky, icky mudding.  Second, we got impatient and used a hair dryer on the ceiling.  Yes we did.

Here is hubs (just after blowing a fuse between using the lamp tree and the hairdryer) telling me I'd "better not be putting this on the blog."

Ok Hubs.  Whatever you say.

Then we finally got our groove on and put up 6 strips in an hour.  Still have a bit left to do tomorrow.  Here's our soul train in action:

Iff'n you're brave enough to try this, don't even think about doing it with less than 4 people.  Don't believe me?
Here, watch this:



Yay! I'm finally beginning to see the progress, and I'm likin' it.








The tricks that helped the most:
1.Get 3 other people who love you enough to stand around with their arms up in the air for significant amounts of time and don't mind wallpaper goo in their hair.  Feed them chili.
2. Make sure your ceiling is sealed and/or painted.  Your paper has to be able to wiggle easily when you're placing it.
3. Only soak the paper in the water for a few seconds before pulling it out and booking it.  Book it for 7-8 minutes.
4.  Start at one end, but only work along the seam where it butts up to the previous piece moving back a few feet, THEN start smoothing with your brush going straight out to the side....working your way back to the starting wall.  You can see us do this in the video and it made a HUGE difference in getting the paper lined up properly.  Also make sure the folks with strong arms that love you are holding the other booked end aligned with the edge of the previous piece.
5. Once the paper is all up and the seams are lined up, go back quickly and gently with the brush to remove bubbles, and using your fingers to flatten any creases.  Lastly, go back over it with a damp sponge, especially along the seam and outside edge.

Feel free to ask questions.  This isn't a project for the faint of heart (or weak of arms), but it can be done, and without too much frustration if you have lots of help.  My son in law silently mouthed the words "we will not be doing this in our place" to my daughter at one point.  It's intense.

BTW, I haven't forgotten about the giveaway....I'll try to get to it tomorrow :)  Tonight I have to paint the trim pieces that will hopefully go up tomorrow as well.

Oh, and I made a coffee filter wreath and glittered the life out of some ornaments and chipboard letters.  I had to do something to feel productive and get over my frustration last night when our wallpapering adventure turned sour.  Nothing like a bit of hot glue and glitter to make you feel better.  Oh, and little debbies, of course.