The Real Green Monster

When we bought our house a little over a year ago, there was one major thing that I knew would have to change: The Green Wallpaper. I capitalize its name because it is so intense, it has more or less taken on a persona. It's practically the fifth member of our family. The Red Sox have their Green Monster wall, but it's nothing compared to our green walls.

The wallpaper starts in the dining room, covering the walls and ceiling. Then it spreads through the kitchen, covering the walls, ceiling and light fixtures. Then it reaches its final destination in the room right off the back door, where it covers the walls and ceiling. I swear, you've never seen so much wallpaper. It's like a mold or virus that has spread through some of the most used areas of our home. It's dark and oppressive and I hate it passionately!

I'd finally had enough and this weekend, so we started stripping it down in our dining room. I kept putting the project off because I didn't really know what we would be getting ourselves into. When you live in a house that was build in the 30s, you never know what's hiding behind that top layer of wallpaper. I think Ty and I were so relieved we must have high-fived, hugged and cried when we saw it was just sheet rock.

Because the wallpaper was so thick, we had to roll on the wallpaper stripper twice. Once to remove the green paper and another time to remove the back part of the paper. The dingy panels you see in the picture above are the back part of the paper.

With the help of my brother and sister-in-law, Chris and Ashley, we stripped the paper down in four hours. And that includes breaking for dinner. A special thanks to my husband for smoking ribs and a brisket. Love him.

We got very excited when we would pull down big sheets! It was quite liberating.

Chris and I finished up the job by scraping the tiny pieces left behind. Of all the work, this was the biggest pain in my rump. It doesn't help that Chris and I both tend to be perfectionists.

By the end of the night, our room looked like this. I feel the weight of my oppressive green wallpaper has been lifted. Or at least this is a very good start. And new texture and paint will be on the walls, hopefully, by the end of the week!

The room feels so much bigger, and even though it was hard work, I'm pleased with the results. With every small step, Ty and I get closer to really making this house our own.