Quick Changes

Things change quick in remodel-land. I said in my last post that I would wait to pick out the tile for the back splash until I had finished the counter tops and cabinets. But on a second trip to Lowe's, I found this recycled glass tile that is just perfect for the price and since they only had four boxes and I needed two, I snapped up the two that I needed before someone grabbed all of them. There are so many different browns in the tile that I think it will work with my plans.

But that wasn't the reason I went shopping. I was having problems getting some of the old wallpaper off the wall. I had done some research and read where, in most cases, vinegar and water in a 1:1 solution worked just as good as anything in removing wallpaper. You will notice that I wrote "in most cases". The plaid wall paper and the paper with the little olive branches came off just fine, but it seemed as if the border was put on using super glue. After using nearly an entire gallon of vinegar, I knew I needed to use something different.

I went to Lowe's and picked up a bottle of some type of wallpaper remover and found Piranha Gel. It works really well and did not stink up the kitchen. Even though it said it was non-toxic, I did wear gloves when using it. I had to strip off the top layer of the wallpaper (which was vinyl) so that the gel could get down to the paper and the adhesive. But this ended up much quicker than water and vinegar.

Sometimes, things you do to prevent one problem, causes another problem later down the road. On the left, you will see a photo of one of several plastic corner guard that were on the corner of the walls. They were attached with both adhesive and nails; and when they were pulled off the wall - they took parts of the wall with it.

On the right, you can see the damage done to the wall. I have several corners now that have this damage and will require patching. I really don't need the extra work. . .

Happy patching!

It's Not All About Knitting

I know that most of you think this is a knitting blog. It has only been a knitting blog because of late, knitting is all I have been blogging about. But if you read the title and sub-title of the blog at the top of the page, it is "Natterings Smatterings, Incessant chatter with insufficient knowledge on quilting, knitting, sewing, cooking and the like." Well, we are about to get started on "the like"!

I remember during the early 1990's going to home developments seeing models decorated like this and wishing my kitchen was as pretty.

You may recognize the large floral wallpaper boarders and golden oak cabinets as being classic 1990.










With the ever present coordinating plaid wallpaper...

carefully mingled with fruit or floral wallpaper. I think that this is supposed to be olive branches.

and the de rigueur vinyl flooring. Say 'good-bye' ugly kitchen flooring.









We don't have a large budget, but paint doesn't cost too much. The only large purchases will be the flooring and counter tops (maybe). I am going to research if it is better to just clean the cabinets and leave them as is or if painting will be OK.

This is the beginning of Project 2016 -- Florida or Bust. It ins't going to be easy getting an early 1990's house updated for a quick sale in the year 2016 on a really tight budget. But we have about 3 years, and if we don't go too trendy with colors and leave things like carpet until the last minute, we should be OK.

I will still be knitting. I can't work on the kitchen when I am on the train, but you will get a lot more like this over the next few weeks.

Happy "pulling-wallpaper-off-the-walls"!