This past weekend I became a stripper...

That's correct, for the past three days I have been stripping... wallpaper! I HATE wallpaper, no that is not a strong enough word, I DESPISE wallpaper about as much as I despise Stephen Harper's Conservative Party. It might be nice hmm, let me think... never! In our abode the wallpaper was curling, yellow from years of past owner smoking, flaking and just revolting. It was dusty and holding onto 30 years of someone else's stinkies. It had to go.


We had 7 different types of wallpaper.

Stripping was fun, very satisfying. It was an easy project, but one that required patience.


I needed a few tools:

1. Rubber Gloves
2. Spray pack (the type you might use to spray weeds in the garden)
3. Scraper and/or wall paper removal knife
4. Vinegar and/or wall paper removal solution
5. Hot water

Step 1. Find a corner and start ripping, you might need your scraper here. I was able to rip all the paper down, but this left the pasty gluey stuff stuck on the walls. In the process of ripping I was amazed that the stains had penetrated through the paper onto the gluey stuff beneath!

Start peeling it off.

Step 2. Take your vinegar and hot water and mix it up in the spray pack, then spray onto the pasty gluey stuff, dont over saturate your wall, if you do you will damage the drywall underneath (learnt the hard way), and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. You might need to score your paper too! Scoring would allow the liquid to penetrate through, I chose to omit this step.

Gavin spraying the vinegar
solution on the glue.

Step 3. Take your scraper and start to scrape off the pasty gluey stuff, it should come off really easily. If you find it doesn't then it's time to step it up a notch and use the wall paper removal solution (no more helping Gavin). Mix it up according to the manufacturers directions. Spray on the wall as per step 2 and let it work its magic, magic takes about 15 minutes.

Me scraping away

The magic bubbles!

Step 4. Take your scraper and peel the pasty gluey stuff off, again be careful not to damage your drywall. This will leave a nice mess on your floor, so if you still have carpets or flooring down you might want to cover it up before you begin with drop clothes, in our case the shag pile carpet had been previously removed, so we could omit this step.

Step 5. Clean up. Rinse the residue from the wall with remover solution. Then rinse the entire wall with clear water, and let everything dry completely.

Already the house looks sooooooo much better, I can't wait to paint, that will be fun now wont it? 

Here are some before and after pictures of the kitchen with and without wallpaper. Don't think too much about the kitchen cabinets, we are sourcing some new-to-us cabinets that will be re-finished.

With floral wallpaper

Without floral wallpaper