Jumping in "Head First"

I like to think of this photo as "The Calm Before the Storm." 

 

Sean and I had our celebratory lunch after getting the keys, snapped some before photos, and treated ourselves to a beer on the rose carpet of OUR NEW HOME!  We considered this a celebration of sorts, and a little boost before we dove into the wallpaper in the kitchen.  These next photos are also a little ironic looking back now...

That is me smiling taking down the first sheet of paper.  Let me rephrase that: That is me smiling, taking down the first LAYER of the first sheet of wallpaper. 

That's one excitable and clueless face!!

Check out those steamer skills!!  What we did not realize was that we were dealing with very old, very layered paper on very originally plastered walls. 

 

While the two of us were working on the kitchen's first layer, we received help from Sean's family.  I need to take a second here to say a big THANK YOU for every second of your time, every blister you received, and every hunk of sticky glue you had to pick off of yourself.  They were a huge help and we will always be grateful for that time.  After we realized the paper situation we were actually facing, here's what happened:

 

 

Looking at the shreds still gives me shivers.  Every inch of every layer needed soaked, scraped, soaked again and scraped again.  And not just with those spackle contraptions that you see the guys on HGTV using.  Oh no.  Our scrapers had blades...blades that dulled faster than you would believe when facing goopy, latched-on-and-I'm-never-leaving adhesive and paper.  This was the first time in my life where I cursed an old woman.  (Sorry Pat, I take it back.  Thank you for selling to us)!

 

After a long night of scraping and picking with an unbelievable team, we had tackled the downstairs!! So hours after getting the keys in our hands, this is what the house looked like.  August 9th was a long day, but gosh darn it was it productive!  We gathered up the scraps, picked the stuck-on paper off of the bottom of our shoes, and flopped our tired, home owning selves on an air mattress in the middle of the living room.  After all it was our floor to finally sleep on...