Last weekend I decided it was time for the fruit baskets to go. They have overstayed their welcome.

Compared to many of the houses we looked at, we didn’t have too much dreaded wallpaper. We had the border in the kitchen, pink rose  wainscoting in the dining room (which A’s Momma stripped and primed before we moved in), and a totally papered hallway.

So at last I gathered my tools, planning to start with the border. Well the border came down great once I got my rhythm, so I tackled the big project, the hall too!

•  Wallpaper Remover Concentrate – HIGHLY Recommend buying a concentrate for the cost of one premixed bottle. That way you can be really generous spraying it without fear of running out. Generous is key in getting that glue to release. I used the Piranha brand I found at Lowes. Then you can use a nice triple volume spray bottle, instead of a junky one. (Find the good one’s in the Wal-Mart cleaning aisle).
• Paper Scraper – LOVE this tool will be using in other places where a flat razor blade is too sharp. Once you have the paper saturated with remover, this pulls off the backing paper in nice big strips.
• Paper Piercer – Zinsser PaperTiger - If your paper’s top vinyl layer peels off you only need this in spots where you can’t get the printed layer off.
• Old Shower Curtain Liners – My go to drop cloths, more durable than plastic, and easy to fold. Protect the floor from bits of paper, and the remover.
• Big Trashcan
• Tons of Trash bags – it’s quite the wet paper mess!

The Process I used:

Following the directions on the piercer tool I thought I was supposed to poke the top layer, lesson learned, NO only do it that way when you can’t get that top layer off.

Get a better hold on the top paper layer by spraying the seams with remover and using the scraper tool. Getting off the top layer is key.

Then soak the backer paper with lots of remover. Apply lots and keep it soggy. Then let it sit for about 15 minutes while you work another area.

Come back to the area after it’s soaked a bit and then scrape with tool, the better you soaked it the larger chunks that will come off. Larger chunks = less Mess. As you get to tough spots, wet them again, and come back to them.