Falling Stars and Obstinate Wallpaper

With the wedding over, all my little chickies flew back to their own nests so again, mine is empty. I spent a couple days collecting, distributing, storing, trashing, and organizing the remnants of the weekend. Then, yesterday I decided (to my surprise) to get back on the empty nest project. When Esther left, her car was crammed to the limit with her belongings. Only four boxes and a few odds and ends are left. I moved those things to the guest room where they will reside until the next time she comes to town….which left “MY Space” empty. How could I resist?

I began by tearing down the remaining paneling which revealed a couple large holes in the wall underneath. It began to come back to me why I put it up in the first place.

Then, on to the cloud wallpaper…. The clouds came down fairly easily, but revealed another layer of old wallpaper underneath.

THAT stuff doesn’t want to come down… and I began to recall why I left it up and just put the clouds over it. It’s stuck TIGHT. I think when I put it up, I did it over walls that hadn’t been primed or painted. I spent a lot of time messing with it and made little progress. It MUST go though, so I’m accepting the fact that it might take awhile and I won’t stress over the process. I will get a cd player in that room or something to occupy my mind while I pick at the wallpaper.

To relieve the boredom of picking wallpaper I decided to knock down the remaining stars off the ceiling. At least that brought a small feeling of accomplishment and completion.

All the stars are now GONE… well, not the painted on ones, but all the little plastic ones. Naomi was really into stars. She even painted the light switch plate to say “Reach for the stars”… and there are two little star lamps. I’m trying to decide if I want to keep them or not.

One of the things Esther left behind is a big brass dolphin… about 2 feet tall. It was Ruth’s… before it was Esther’s. It’s a novel piece, but I’m not into dolphins. I’m looking for a good home for him…. Or maybe some sort of purpose that would convince me to let him go on living here.




When Rinnah and Roger were here this weekend, she offered to do “Venetian plaster” on that back wall… that is exciting. It’s an artistic process involving colored plaster and she’s very good at it. That will be near the end of the project… after the ceilings and other walls have been finished and before the new carpet.

I don’t plan on getting a lot done in the next few days, but will work at the wallpaper a little at a time between doing some of the other household stuff that I have been letting slide.

Shopping list:
More wallpaper removal chemicals.
Joint compound to fill in holes and smooth walls
Sand paper… lots of it.
Stain for door and wood putty to fill the holes in it.

PS If you are interested in seeing pictures of the wedding, you can find them on my website, “Mom’s Photo Alubm” at http://www.mommac.com/