It's that time of year. Gardening and home improvement. Feel free to post before and after pics of your projects. If you have tips to make things easier, please post.
My current project is to wallpaper and paint the kitchen. My walls have a vinyl covering that rejects paint but will take wallpaper. Soooo, am covering with a textured white paintable wallpaper.
Here's the rub, this is a very flimsy when wet wallpaper. I have wallpapered before with more robust coverings. This stuff becomes very much like wet newspaper. I use a metal straight edge to press the wet paper into the "trim line".
So while trying to trim the excess to fit instead of cutting, it bunches up and tears even when using the razor knife against the metal staight edge that is pinning the paper down.
Any ideas?
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Have you tried cutting the paper to size whilst still dry, and then pasting both the wall and the paper and applying one to the other - my decorating friend always pastes both the wall and the paper - says it sticks much better. And if you are going to paint the paper there can't be a pattern to line up, so cutting to size when dry will save trying to cut it when wet.
Funnily enough I have done two jobs of DIY today. A new door insect curtain arrived in the post. I had to follow the "Spanish" instructions to fit it - thank goodness the illustrations were reasonably easy to follow.
I also decided to make a frame for the opening casement on my bedroom window, so I can attach the insect screen mesh to it - do you get the feeling I dislike insects inside the house!
I hadn't thought of taking photos - but will go and take one now - the painted frame is hanging on the washing line to dry - honestly !!! lol
No lea Espanol? No problemo. Mira la ilustracion.
Buenas suerte.
Welcome friends, thank you for buying the window protector against insects 2000. Can't read? No problem just look at the pictures. Good luck.
Oh yes, cutting to size...you are assuming I am that accurate in cuttings and measurment of odd shapes over 12". Thank you for considering me that competent at wall-papering.
Thank you for the Valentine! You are so thoughtful....
I don't understand it, but I never seem to have enough time to visit the blogs. Where does the time go? LOL
Cane season - that always brings back to WU, so I'm sure I'll be on a bit more as the season nears.
Wallpapering... gee whiz, that is a chore I have not tackled in years. When we moved into our current home almost every room had wallpaper that was so dated! Mauve & Pennsylvania Dutch Blue flowers in kitchen, more Mauve flowers in guest bath, lots of mauve everywhere! haha I hated it... I decided to remove the wallpaper, starting with the kitchen. What a disaster! The wallpaper was original, put on the sheetrook without any prep. A total mess! I spent more than a week just removing the paper which more often than not brought chunks of sheetrock off with the paper.... I ended up having to re-mud all the sheetrock, sand it and then prime it before I could put the first coat of paint on it.
Was noticing this morning -- that room really could use a coat a paint, but after my first experience in there ----- Yuk! I don't want to paint it, I had enough of that room years ago! hehehe Maybe I can talk spouse into letting me hire a painter. While he's here, he can do the upstairs bath - another room that I tackled, ripping wallpaper & sheetrock off. That room is still a disaster. The project took longer than expected & my mother was due to arrive -- so I slapped paint on the walls & you can see the areas that I did not repair the sheetrock. Chores, chores, chores... maybe after I finish my taxes????
Take care & hope all is well with you.
Buenas Suerte
You would think I could have framed the chair better! lol
At first, I was thinking maybe Zinsser BIN shellac primer instead of that wall paper mess you were describing. A search yielded the fact that Rustoleum owns Zinsser and they have some products that might be worth you checking out.
They have Zinsser Bondz Maximum Adhesion Primer which will bond to glass and fiberglas. Other possibilities include: Plastic Primer spray, a Universal Primer, and a Vinyl Spray. If you can once get a primer to stick, then the rest should be easy.
Also, TSP (trisodium phosphate) is good for de-glossing shiny surfaces, so that might be a help.
Good luck! :)
We painted the whole outside of our house a couple of years ago. I really need/want to replace our carpeting, but before I do, the whole house needs repainting. I think the job seems so overwhelming that I never even look at it on my days off. I think I need to put my mind in a mind set of - do the office. Do the living room, do the dining room, etc., until it is all done. Yeah, that's what I'll do.
Hubby is, at this moment, measuring to hang up a bathroom cabinet that our daughter gave us. She moved it from one apartment to another, and just doesn't need it. I like it though. We had to move a towel rack, and then measure - but he'll probably install it tomorrow.
Oh he did do another DIY today too. We replaced all our toilet seats! LOL He did that while I worked outside in the garden for a bit! Guess we did more than I thought!
I've never done wall paper so I can't help you there!
Karen's suggestion (in my blog I think ) made a great idea. I haven't fixed it in place - I will get a white square conduit and attach it to the windowsill, so the frame will sit in it, and can be slid across to the non-opening window when I need to fasten the window. I was going to fix it in place with white "blu-tack" - I use that stuff for so many things!! lol
Would you like the crimped look on your wall? If so, no need for cutting perfection! Ok, I am being inanely facetious but it is still early morning for me to think straight.
Have fun with your project.
Can't believe it's waaaaay after 11am and I just woke up. Went to bed at 10pm. So it's coffee and brunch with WU-all and then out to the yard.
Have called one of the local handy men to give me an hourly for weeding, turning the soil and lifting stuff but have not heard back.
Okay, scratch that, he just called and will be here in 10 minutes. Will catch up later.
You little kitty sounds adorable but yes I know what you mean about allergies. I too suffer from the darn things but fortunately most are seasonal. Ragweed and other pollens do me in...
Hope you have a great day dear one and that your weataher is good for you. We seem to be overcast at the moment but otherwise what a mild day for Feb with no snow on the ground. I can handle winters like this one all the time.
excellent advice about the wheelie cutter. We went to look for one and found a sharp as all get out wheelie cutter for quilts that is working great.
BeachFoxx, good to see you out on the blogs. Oh the painting and everything sure can be a chore. the good thing is that it does not have to be done too often.
Sandi, as I saw how the frame highlighted the chair and garden I got to thinking you should post that picture on E-Bay as art work. People pay $$$$ for simple things like that if you say it's art.
Ycd, I'll definitly need the suerte and perhaps something to wipe the sweat with this project and some others I have in mind.
Hi Briarcraft, I'm waiting for one of my neighbors to experiment with the plastic primer. Would be lot's easier than this wallpaper thing. This pre-glued paintable stuff is a lot more difficult than other wallpapers. Oh well.
Hi Sp, a walk sounds like a great idea. The weather is perfect, birds and sunshine don't really need a pretty inside the house right now ;)
Karen, dang, you all have it going on as homeowners. We painted the house once when we had some friends living with us. Two years ago with the new roof we had them paint the outside as well. Not as good a job as we did but a lot faster.
Good for fajitas, not so good sitting in the indoor trash can.
Wow it is so nice out today. This will be the last bloggings until Sunday or so. Have to work tomorrow.
Prose, actually the rice paper idea would add some neat texture. Painted over it would be a cool looking finish in the right area.
Hi Plapman, We are almost done, but if the Queen can catch a flight and be here by late afternoon to help with the wallpaper that would be great ;-)
Hi Alley, you were writing while I was writing in here. Yeah, can't complain about this winter so far.
Have ordered some plants via mail but am still having them delivered after our average last freeze date just in case.
Okay, enough indoors. Have a great week all!
Anyway, we have doublewideitis like you do, and we also have vinyl-wallpapered fake 3/8" drywall. We have now painted 5 rooms using a good primer and a good paint, and everything's sticking well, and cleans up good!
Hope your turn at the batcave is a good one! :)
I sure do hope it's as gorgeous there as it is here. Open windows all around - hoorah!
Leave it to Skye - great idea! Sounds like it worked, too. Hope I remember that if I ever get crazy enough to wallpaper, as I bet it would work well with any type of wallpaper.
Nifty :)
Quick peek into WU World and then off to the Batcave.
My blog time is getting pre-empted by light morning excercise now.
Hi Ylee, Yes, I often communicate "via telepathy". I think about someone, think about saying something, get distracted and move on somehow completly sure I said something to them.
Hi Briar, Syd only eats fingers. Roxie, however, will pester to distraction. The Hnady helper will be back Sunday. He had other jobs that day and was just coming to schedule me in.
The poor guy is going to be surprised at some of the plan change. My beautiful raised bed wall is falling over.
More details later. times bout up up here. Hope you are getting some spring.
Hi Shore, Isn't this weather amazing. So many things to do too. The link you sent has me thinking about trying to fit a trip into Rowlett somewhere but not sure what time slot. Arrgh. Atleast I'm not bored.
Hi Sp, You have no idea how often the idea has come up, "Maybe I should commision Sp to knit a wallcovering". then I look at Syd and he's like, oh yeah do it! Roxie and I can unravel that thing in no time. Fun!!!
I just came up with a new idea for cutting you frgagie wallpaper.
In fabric stores they sell a small roller cutter. Their as sharp as a utilitity knife and because the roll they may work on your project.
BTW mybags are packed but the Queen will hav to stay home and work. I keep telling her one of us has to work even though my pension at income tax time last year she realized I made more sitting at home than she does working. :)
I think work gives her a break from me stumbling into
doorjams and tipping over the greatgrandaughters toys as well as the full house.
Enjoy the day while I think of something to do to pass my time.
This week I sent out our carpets for cleaning and we had a crew come in to steam clean our tiled kitchen and family room area. It is so much easier to have someone else do the heavy work! Our next job will be to call a local nursery to send someone to put the spring mulch in the flower beds and where needed. It seems that at my house the 'rainy day' has come and it is time to shell out for heavy duty jobs.
The Camellia bushes are blooming and a crocus is ready to unfurl its petals. Everything else is inching its way out of the earth or tiny buds. I really do look forward to the spring blooms.
Time to go enjoy the cold but sunny day. Have a wonderful Sunday GG!
It's sunny and cool here, but promises to be a beautiful day. I laughed about your "telepathy" comment. There have been times when I've completely driven through towns or sections of highway, only to look up and think, "Where am I?" Strange phenomenon. I wonder where our minds go when they aren't with us?
Hope your day's great. I'm going to try and do something worthwhile with mine. ;)
Cold temps in store for us tomorrow, just when my dwarf nectarine decided to bloom, darn!! Snow level is way down but not much in the way of moisture, so our dry winter goes on and on.
Quick update and off to sleep. Even with hired help and spouse I worked my butt off today in the garden.
It's supposed to rain tomorrow night so have to get the project finished.
The stone wall of my raised bed garden has been falling outwards. The original wood frame box I put the dirt in and built the wall against has disappeared leaving the dirt to push the stone work away.
So today was weed the garden to bare dirt, dig up all the lilys, iris, sage bush etc. Go to Lowes to get sheet metal and rebar. The sheet metal is to make a new box to hold the dirt in one place again.
Have a trench dug around perimeter inside wall to put the new box. Backfill, turn all soil, add amendments, re-plant what was dug up, let rain water it. whew.
Atleast that is the plan.
Hi Plapman, I'm sure you can come up with some more fun projects. Know you would have enjoyed making the sheet metal box. Power tools are involved.
Hi Prose, It is easier to hire people because it's quicker. The only problem is that for most of those jobs I could do it better...albeit slower. You can guess having to have helpers now is bugging me. Oh well. Get this big stuff out of the way and I can go back to communing with the plants, soils and outdoor critters on my own.
Hi Shore, that reminds me of a joke; Stella and Glady's were car pooling to Bridge. Stella, normally a very calm passenger was starting to get a bit alarmed as Glady's chattered away while driving through several red lights. Finally after narrowly missing a city bus Stella exclaimed; Glady's are you not watching the road?
Glady's replied; Oh. Am I driving?
Hi Calpoppy, sounds like the small birds and lizards need to watch out for the new bird. What a well concealed carnivore. Looked it up and would not have pegged it for a predator.
Hope your tree makes it through. With all the catty- wumpus weather this will be an unusual growing year.
Just think how beautiful will be the your raised bed garden!
His name was Count Sudukou!
Have a good Monday!
After moving the greenhouse yesterday I planned what I would do with the area where it had been. So a trip to the little garden/building supplies for 8 bags of gravel. They also were doing a special on multi-purpose compost. A 75 L bag should be £5.99 but they were selling three for £12:00 - want a bag for 2p? Yes, please!!
I also bought a new passion flower plant. I had one of the purple ones, had it for ten years or more, but it got frosted by the winter we had last year - I mean, minus 19-23 C is not what the heat loving passion flower likes! So I am trying again, with a white on this time!
Hope you are not over doing it????
I think that's called driving on auto-pilot. Kinda scary. When I "wake up" and realize I don't know where I am, the next thought is "I hope I didn't cause anyone any problems," although I suppose a blasting horn or the sound of crunching metal would wake me up. Definitely embarrassing on a road trip with someone who has been napping and wakes up to inquire where we're at. Remember that airline pilot last year who forgot to land the plane and overshot the airport by a couple of hundred miles? It happens to us all, I guess.
After your garden do-over yesterday, I'll bet you've been reminded of some muscles you forgot you had.
I saw you post this on Pros blog..... it makes me smile when I see our robins, too, but I can see them every day of the year:)
I have never thought of putting ravioli in a sauce and baking them in the oven.... I must try that, It sounds great!
I am up and dressed, ready to move the minute the delivery of gravel arrives -"sometime before 10am" - I was informed. Before it arrives I need to position four of the circular paving slabs, sinking them into the soil and levelling them, before putting gravel around them. I am trying to make the area by the front by the main door much tidier. I will stand pots on the slabs, which means I can bring pots from the back garden to keep colour by the front door all year around. I will start with daffy and tulip bulbs!
Hope you didn't do too much yesterday - you sound very much like me - once you begin a project you want to keep going until it is done!
I loved reading and learning about the pizza cutter like thing for the wall. I might try something like that the next time I cut a mat board for a picture.
Yall have a great DAY!
The garden looks great. I think the 20'x8' rectangle sheet metal box will contain the dirt enough to help keep the walls from completely falling over..Hooray!
Was well worth hiring a helper for the heavy stuff.
Wallpaper has been on hold for this project. Kitchen in complete disarray. Will finish next weekend. The early spring gave me a short window for fixing the big garden and doin a dirt makeover with lots of good for the soil add ins.
The good news is that after all that work (and 13hours of sleep) I feel good. Also my very short but longer than Sinead O'Conners hair aquired some cute blond highlights from two days in the sun.
Hi Prose, really like your spring blog. Your photos got me all jazzed to keep going on the garden project.
Hi Ylee,, lol, there are thousands of Suduko players that are vigorously nodding their heads in agreement.
Hi Sandi, with a deal like that it is hard to not start a project. Sounds like you have been really busy too with moving the greenhouse and designing new garden "rooms" in your yard. It is going to look so cool when your done.
Hi Briarcraft, Of course I will over do it. It's my nature to push the envelope. Although have to say I feel really good this "morning".
Hi Patti, great to see you around the blogs again. If you get one of those pizza cutter things from the sewing department just remember that it is as sharp as a straight edge razor knife. I lightly rolled it over a dry sponge and nearly split the sponge in two.
Okay, now I really have to get out the door. Have a great week all!!!
I happen to like fabric-covered walls, in theory (that is, I don't have any), and it would be fun to knit such a thing. However, dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, children, etc., would likely not be good caretakers ;)
I'm sure Syd would have a blast with it, though!
Your project sounds like it is coming along fine. Very glad to hear you aren't hurting after all that work! The box is huge - you can do anything in that :)
I found a very pretty large wall hanging, depicting some of Syd's relatives.... He might like it!
And so Roxie doesn't feel left out - this is for her
Hope you have a good week at the batcave!
Wishing you "white rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits and a very happy month of March"
Actually watering the plants would be a good idea, too. They've been neglected, and now that it's starting to warm up, I need to do it more often than... hmmmm.. It's been so long I can't remember. Bad gardener.
I believe you're back in the bat cave. I don't know. I can't keep up with it. Even with Ylee's day-and-night avatars I can't keep up with him. So - happy day, whatever part of the cycle you're in!
Triple Bleached Bunniies, GG!
It's OK for Shore to be confused as to my location; heck, I don't even know what day it is half the time, lol!
I do know it's March, though! Hope you have a happy one!
Hope you have something relaxing to do tomorrow - but knowing you - I doubt it! :-)
So what mischief is GardenGrrl and Company going to get into next? Wallpaper? Dirt? Paint? It's nice to learn that you picked up some cute blonde highlights in your hair. It's nice to learn that your hair is coming back in and looking cute. "Pixie" comes to mind. I still remember your fun Pixie/Christmas story. I'm thinking maybe you resemble an over-sized Pixie now. Fun thought. Makes me smile.
The poor granddaughter is going to have to practice momhood. Both of the girls have strep hroat. it's time for her to find out a mom can't be sick.
You postrd while i was on Mush's blog.
have a good ebvening.
We're going for a green shade to shake things up.
Right now the paint looks pretty darn similar to this:
But we're going for something like this:
It's Behr paint, Rejuvenate 410E-3
When we were in the store, we both liked this one:
River Bank 380F-6
But when I put it against the wall, it just gets too dark. Especially in a place where there are shadows. Room is too small to be a dark color!
Neither of the samples I have provided look exactly like the paint sample page I brought home from the store, the River Bank looks like it has more green in it (it looks brown to me here), and the one we both like, Rejuvenate - looks more green than the sample (soft green though).
And since they look a little different, that's why we get a sample can first!
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