Kitchen Transformation

With keys in hand the morning after we closed on the house, I began the dreaded process of wallpaper removal. Armed with DIF gel, a paper scorer, scrapers, the goal was to eradicate all 4 layers of old wallpaper dating back to 1952. The top layer came off very easily by simply pulling it down. The next three however, were hellish. Thankfully Sue's sister came over and helped or I think I'd still be scraping.  It was no simple task and using harsh chemicals was not a joy, but the volume of wallpaper and the age of the material made it a necessary evil.  Despite the heavy duty chemicals and wide array of tools, the paper was resilient, and we were left to scrape every square inch. It took an entire 12 hour day that was not without its fair share of surprises. 


Once all of the paper was removed we were left with raw walls that were beaten and bruised. Under the layers, we found holes, cracks, a boarded up window, and an old  disconnected fusebox. The next day was dedicated to fixing those issues with new pieces of drywall, patching tape, spackle, and even an electric sander. This sander by the way, is awesome and made the job a lot easier. Of course it also left a thick layer of sawdust all over the house, even some on the puppy.


After a night of rest, take-out Chinese food, and some fresh air, it was finally time to paint! We wanted a sage and white combination which is very calming and green is Sue's favorite color.  First, we needed to seal the walls.


The first layer was done with an oil based primer called Killz. This was recommended as a sealer since the wall was so fibrous.  The stuff smelled a bit, but not as noxious as I expected. It went on thick like glue and really covered the drywall nicely. Suddenly, it was starting to look like a wall. After this dried for about 24 hours, we used the Behr paint and primer combo for the ceiling, wainscoting, and walls. The wainscoting took at least 4 layers, but finally covered beautifully. The ceiling just required two coats, and the walls got one coat since they had already been primed with Killz. Now the entire room was stark white. 


After this dried thoroughly, we painted the previously wallpapered areas with a light sage from Behr called Sliced Cucumber. It went on well, but did require two coats. The room was starting to take shape the way we envisioned. I cleaned up and moved all the appliances back. I also changed the light switch covers, the light bulbs, and all of the cabinet handles.  Sue added a curtain to the window and removed the horrible, yellowing vinyl pull-down. What a difference! 


A few weeks later we said goodbye to the horrible yellow/orange vinyl linoleum floor, and replaced it with Allure Ultra laminate.  We also tore down all of the old brown strips of molding and added white crown molding with corner blocks to add some different architectural elements.  The entire process took several weeks, but by doing all of the work ourselves, we saved a substantial amount of money that went into the living room remodel. That's a different story for a different post however.  For now, here's a before and after photo of our new kitchen.