The William Morris Project, Week 4

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." This is week four of the Pancakes & French Fries William Morris Project, happening every thursday in 2012.

Last week I knocked out quite a few items on my list for 2012. {13 to be exact} This is what I finished this week:

Replaced all the remaining switch plates and outlet covers

Removed the super gross shower door track that was caulked on to our tub. The doors have long been gone.

Replaced the ceiling fan in bedroom #2 with a the light from bedroom #1

Replaced the light in bedroom #1 with a new fancy light

Removed ALL of the wallpaper in the kitchen

Added a shelf above the refrigerator for my radio

Took down the Christmas lights {before January was over-the last possible time that is still reasonable}

Began downsizing the junk in my office corner, but I got overwhelmed and started crying halfway through, so it's not done yet. But hey, I started! Now at least I have more than a tiny corner of the desk available for my computer.

{In my defense, I couldn't keep up with last weeks pace because I was in Seattle all weekend.}

The kitchen here was lovingly wallpapered with a 'Tea' themed border. When I began scraping it off, I realized that the Tea paper was put on over some pretty great vintage rose and ivy wallpaper. 

If that had still been there, I might have left it alone, but there was no saving it. The rose wallpaper was so strongly glued on to the wall that it kept pulling the top layer of sheetrock off as I scraped, leaving behind big dents and chunky places. It took forever. My arms ached, I got sweaty, it was annoying. Eventually, with the aid of some wallpaper stripper, I got through all of it. After the walls were dry again, I skim coated everything with joint compound to even out the craters and scrapes. Once that was dry, I wet sanded it with a kitchen sponge because I hate the mess of drywall dust, especially in a room devoted to food preparation. Now that the skim coat is finished, if you squint, you can pretend the walls are all painted off white.

I love finding little pieces of history while doing projects, it's like getting to know the house. During the removal process, I found the word 'paper' scrawled in cursive along the wall, in two places. I kept hoping to uncover a secret panel harboring someone's money stash, but it didn't happen. {Thanks Nancy Drew}
The wall was also originally painted pink, a discovery that made me quite happy.


{Here's the little shelf I put up over the fridge. The cord is so long, that it just ended up in a big wad behind the radio when it was on the counter. Plus, it kept getting covered in mail, or hidden behind dishes. This way, it has it's own little house.}

Replacing the switch plates in the kitchen was an added bonus because someone had very carefully wallpapered those too. With Tea paper.

I am glad to be done with all of that dusty blue nonsense. What do you think of the lights? Keep them? Replace them? If so, with what? I'd love some ideas!

Listening to the 'College' Pandora station, Alice

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
Week 4	Week 5	Week 6
Week 7

Comments

[Alice]

Thank you Lais! If you ever want any help figuring out how blog-ish things, just drop me a line. I am no professional, but I have done all of the work on my own layout, so I know a few things. I probably waste a lot of time 'educating' myself on writing code for silly things like roll over images that I still haven't actually used.

[Lais]

Alice, you rocked and got lots done even with a trip to Seattle, wow! Your new home for your radio is lovely and perfect, plus I got to see a better picture of your fridge, heehee, it's nice!

I wish I could share something about lighting, I truly stink at that kind of thought process,; I'm a "see-it-and-know-I-like-it" kind of girl, but can't really say what style it is. I'm sure whatever you choose will be just perfect.

Also, on the administrative side of your blog...I like how you have links to your other weeks for the WM project, I like that and want to try it out at my place. I am still new to blogging, so I'll see if I can figure that out.

Have a great week Alice!

[Kelly]

Someone was very devoted to that tea wallpaper, to do the switchplates, too. Your kitchen feels so much airier and lighter now. And hello, a pink Smeg?!

[Kelly]

Wow, someone was pretty devoted to that wallpaper to cover the switchplates, too. It looks SO much airier and lighter now. And hello, a pink Smeg?!

[Miranda]

Oops. Make that "humorous."

[Miranda]

Wait -- you have a SMEG??? How awesome!!!

Love what you've done. Huge improvement. You're right, the wallpaper you uncovered is sweet... too bad you couldn't salvage even a small piece to frame or maybe use some other way.

Re finding buried treasure: it DOES happen! Read the book "All The Way Home," by David Giffels. It's a terrific (and true) story; it's well-written, informative and humorou;, AND he finds treasure in the walls of the old wreck of a house he bought!

[Mary Ann]

Wow! Nice work! Is that a pink fridge? I love it!

[Carla]

What a difference! Wallpaper borders are truly evil, way to show that border who's boss.

[Alice]

Hahaha! May! Seriously, I have a cup {8oz} of coffee in the morning, and if I'm lucky, a Red Bull at two or so in the afternoon, but not usually. Usually it's just the one cup of coffee, and lots of water.

[May]

Time to come clean....just how much caffeine per day are we talking here?!