The War Against Wallpaper

I hate wallpaper. Or actually I hate taking wallpaper off the wall. My family room had two layers of wallpaper on it. The top layer came off very easily since it was attached to the bottom layer of wallpaper. The second layer is putting up more of a fight.

The wallpaper was probably put up when the house was built. It does has some lovely scenes of places like Monticello.

I hired a painter this week and he will be starting on Saturday, so my mom and I are feverishly working to get the wallpaper off. I have a sneaking feeling that those walls will need to be skim coated because of some damage spots.

The whole process is pretty gross. I bought DIF to help with the removal process. We scored and sprayed and scored some more and sprayed some more. Some of the pieces came off in bigger chunks, but most were scraped away.

By the end of the night, we had one wall free of the ugly wallpaper. This room is going to have a great transformation and I can't wait to see it finished. I have the vision in my head, so I hope it turns out the way I see it.

All the work on removing wallpaper really takes a toll on my hands. After this process is done, I think my mom and I deserve a manicure!

Frumpy Family Room

The fun of homeownership has begun! This weekend, my mom and I started working on my new house. The more I am in the house, the more projects I see. We had such good intentions of cleaning the walls to get ready for painting. But that didn't go as planned. I am not sure what kind of paint is on the wall, but it doesn't want to let go of the yuck that is on it.

So we moved to a project we could do...tearing down wallpaper. At least one layer. That's right...2 layers of wallpaper. Why do people do that?

Thankfully, the first layer came off pretty easily and we were able to get most of it off except that pieces near the ceiling. Progress none the less.

Most of the walls in the downstairs bear evidence to the shape of the things that were previously hanging. It is pretty gross! And it is the yuck that won't come off.

There is quite a bit of wallpaper in the house, so is isn't going to be the last of it. But there was also contact paper behind the built-ins. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

The carpet is another story. It is disgusting. The brown carpet has faded into an orangy-brown color. I wouldn't sit on it to save my life. It give me the creeps.

But the new carpet has been ordered! I am super excited about it. It is going to freshen up that space so much. Welcome to Modern Gray! I was going to the color just to the right of Modern Gray, but decided that it was too dark. The house just feels tired. It needs a little life brought into it and I am excited to do that.

I am thrilled to have my own home and am so anxious to move in and settled. But there are some things, like the family room that need to be done before I can even think about moving in. Slowly, but surely everything else will fall into place. Just one step at a time.

Bittersweet

Life has been unbelievably stressful the last few weeks.

Last week, my uncle passed away. He was 86 years old and my dad's oldest brother. My aunt, my dad's sister, is the only one left of 9 children. Although my uncle lived a long life, it was still hard. I know what it is like to lose a father. It isn't easy no matter what age.

In the middle of all of this, I moved out of my apartment.

Thankfully, I was able to hire movers. It was the best decision. And they were fantastic! If you are in the Toledo area, I highly recommend Maumee Valley Movers. They drove out to Pittsburgh to pick up my stuff. It was a long day, but I am so glad the whole process is over.

Poor Luna was so confused during the whole thing. She whined and was extremely clingy. When she was a puppy, she would want me to hold her while I was getting ready for work. It was much easier when she was half the weight she is now. But it is still sweet that she wants her human mom to comfort her.

I thought it would be harder to leave my apartment. It was my home for the last 2 and half years and I enjoyed my time there. But I was happy to get away from the smoke smell. It was quite terrible, especially after being away.

I finally closed on my house last Friday! So amidst a funeral, moving, emotions and traveling, I have a house to call my own. And the fun starts now! There really isn't a thing in and out of that house that doesn't need to be touched in some way. It will be a long process, but I can't wait to get it moving!

Boxing Up Home

I hate moving. In the past 7 years, I have moved 5 times. I am ready to be done. All of those moves for were a reason other than moving to a new apartment.

1. Moving into my first apartment out of college
2. Moving into an apartment closer to work
3. Moving to Pennsylvania
4. Moving into an apartment closer to work
5. Moving to Ohio

Even so, I am tired of moving. I am closing on my house this week…finally! And I am hoping and praying this will be the end to my days of moving. I was fortunate to find a house that I could stay in for a long time. I want to grow to absolutely love my home and the memories that are created there. It is the first place I can truly make my own and have wall colors other than beige.

But before any of that happens, I have to move all my stuff. I would think packing and all that comes with it would be a deterrent to move. It is a pain. Going through stuff, realizing that you haven't looked at some things for years and really don't need it anymore. It is a little depressing packing the things you value or much (or think you value) into boxes. 

But in a few weeks, those boxes will be unpacked so the stuff inside can find a new place to collect dust. :) It is a part of creating a home. Old things will be donated or thrown out. New things will take their place, but it will be home.

Maybe Luna won't sleep through the process this time.

Snapshots Into My Life

What I am seeing through my lens this week.

My mom and I were off to Pittsburgh last weekend to start packing up my apartment. Earlier in the week, we had a late snow storm. Unfortunately, the weather contributed to a bad accident on the Ohio turnpike. Two days later, we still saw the effects.

My little spoiled dog loves being in the front seat during car rides. She tries to sleep however she can even if it is uncomfortable.

It was St. Patrick's Day on Monday. To celebrate, my mom and I went to an Irish pub for lunch. There were quite a few people dressed up. It was entertaining.

One of the greatest ice cream places ever! It opened March 1 and I got my first taste of summer.

Such Is Life

It has been a blah couple of weeks. I felt below par with work, with my Bible study, with the house buying process, just about everything. It might have to do with the never-ending winter.

I was also sick this week and that has really knocked me out. I have been fortunate enough to not have been sick at all this winter. Not having to go into an office everyday and not being in an apartment that has the residual smell of smoke from my neighbors has been a big blessing to my health. But I was sucked into the world of ick.

My world consisted of orange juice, medicine, tissues, congestion and exhaustion. It has been a long week.

And of course since Spring has not officially sprung, a late winter snowstorm walloped northwest Ohio. Everything was closed. We have had such a hard winter that some area schools have lost 3 weeks of classes.

Luna, in her energetic way, played hard in the snow. She loves having snow thrown on her. She jumps in it.

This summer, I took her to an agility class which she really enjoyed. The facility also had a doggie pool. She wouldn't go in the water at all. She would stand at the edge and watch the other dogs playing. But she, like her human mama, is a winter girl.

This weekend is not going to offer rest. My mom and I are heading back to Pittsburgh to pack my apartment. I am not really looking forward to it. I HATE packing. But it needs to be done and it is one step closer to being settled. Thank goodness! An end is in sight and I am looking forward to walking through the front door of my new home.

A little bright spot in a blah week.

Snapshots Into My Life

What I am seeing through my lens this week.

Coke products were on sale at Target this week, but you had to buy 5 cases to get the sale price. Cherry Coke Zero is my favorite flavor. It will take me forever to get through it, but I will enjoy it all!

Luna had her yearly check-up. She is in good health, but had to get all her shots. She was a tired little pup. She even wound down enough to lay on the floor at the vet's office.

These two are the craziest dogs. One minute they can't stand each other and they next, they tolerate each other. Every once in a while you can catch them hanging out together.

One of the benefits of working from home is getting to be close to Luna. She is definitely a cuddle buddy and likes to bury her nose when she sleeps.