Farmhouse Wallpaper Pt.2

Hello again, my friends. I've been making more progress on wallpapering Haley's house. It's so nice to see something accomplished.

We decided that the kitchen and bathroom need extra windows on the side wall, so no wallpaper on those walls until the window holes have been cut. I did start papering the left side of the kitchen. I used some of the green stripe Itsy Bitsy paper. This was the paper that irked me when I bought it online. They sent me two pieces from two different batches and the colors were slightly off. But, I'm putting them on opposite walls in the kitchen so the color variation won't be noticeable at all.

I also glued together the wall for the dining room where it joins the kitchen. I had to sand it smooth before I applied the next piece of wallpaper. Justin helped me hold the walls in place and outline where they go on the floor so I can also start to plan the flooring.

I started to go around the dining room with the hummingbird paper. I like it.  I was originally thinking of using it in the living room, but I think the swag stripe paper looked so much better there.

The room above the living room now has paper. It's pink of course, but not the pattern I originally picked out.  I was disappointed that the sheets of paper from Itsy Bitsy are smaller than Brodnax or Minigraphics. The sheet was too short to fit the entire wall without needing a strip from another, and the pattern would have been a bear to match up and make a clean seam. Even though a sheet of paper is "yay-big", you have to subtract the printing bleed area. So, that plan got scrapped and I used something else! It looks really good though, so I'm happy with the result.

I've also decided to change the door to the upper deck, again!  I originally wanted an oval light door, but now I'm thinking of a single French door. Details, details!

Haley has also requested a sewing room.  I think the attic will be a good place for that. If the wall spans are smaller, I will use the cast off Itsy Bitsy pink damask wallpaper from the first bedroom here. I think I will need to get something else as a back-up plan, just in case. Or possibly use wainscoting, if it looks better that way.

By the way, the decoupage glue isn't perfect, but I'm getting better results as I work through the house. I think my glue-brushing and paper-laying techniques are getting better. Also, if the paper starts to bubble or buckle, I use the blow drier to help it dry and shrink back while gently rubbing the bubbles out.

Now, before I go let me just say a quick hello to my new followers. Thanks for joining me and it's so nice to see what you all are creating too!

See you again real soon!

Farmhouse Wallpaper Pt.1

Hello again friends.  I've been a busy mama so I have been extra slow at making progress on Haley's house. I managed to get the foundation set up.  All the exterior walls were painted smooth. Then things came up and the house got moved to the other room (the room of exile?) so it was out of the way.

Dear hubby had a great idea to clean the garage and make a work table for the boy stuff, with the promise of helping me make a dedicated spot for minis. The garage is now really tidy, but there was no space for minis there.

Back inside, the dining room table kept calling to me, but I wasn't sure if it wanted real food, like meals, or to be covered in dollhouse parts!

Of course there are other projects that come up and they get priority over the minis. So every night I have been wishing for a chance to work on the good stuff once the boring stuff is done. We've done a little here and there. Justin set up the saw so we could cut and patch the new upstairs front wall. He cut the door opening bigger for the new front door, too. I had to patch the gap above since the new door is shorter than the original hole.

Not perfect, but this won't be visible behind the front door's top trim, so it's good enough.

 This patch on the upstairs wall will be visible so I patched, sanded smooth, and painted until it was perfect.

Yesterday I managed to get something accomplished! I had a furlough day and wanted to make the most of my time off.

I worked on the first bit of wallpapering. I tried some real wallpaper paste from Lowe's. IT WAS HORRIBLE. It just didn't want to stick and yes the surface was clean and smooth. Yes, I put it on nice with a roller. Yes, yes, I did all the right things and it was still horrible. Plan B was to resort to decoupage glue applied with a paintbrush. That worked much better!

After I let the glue dry, I trimmed all the door and window openings with an X-acto blade on my cutting mat. I had try it out with the big front door so see how it would look. This is really going to look good!

The living room now has wallpaper. I also have a fantastic plan for the big door opening on the side wall. It's going to become a floor-to-ceiling fireplace! I even made a sketch!

My next room to paper will probably be the bedroom directly above the living room. Then I'll maybe take on the kitchen and dining room. That will take some really creative assembly because there are tiny walls that need glued together to make the span.

It's so exciting to see something besides plain wall! See you again real soon :)