Day 325

So the stairs and upstairs hallway now have their new carpets installed. I also peeled off the wall paper upstairs, which was the same ugly pattern that was in the kitchen, and tried out the same tea stain technique, but this time using food dye instead of coffee. It turned out very light and subtle. I'm not crazy about it, but anything is better than that ugly wallpaper.

Day 314

Today I sat at the top of the stairway watching my son play trains in the upstairs hallway. As I sat there, I started picking at some old wallpaper that my cats had scratched. I picked, and I pulled thinking "Bleh, I hate this old wallpaper." It was all over the stairway and on one wall of the kitchen. My husband put it up around 1989 before I had even met him. So I picked some more, and pulled some more, and the next thing I knew, I had torn it all down.

So I stood back and looked at what I had done. I thought that even the paper that was left behind looked better than the ugly old country pattern that used to be there. It even felt soft and reminded me of faux suede, but it just looked unfinished some how.

So I took a break and had a tea to think of what I was going to do next. And as I poured the hot water over the tea bag, I thought "Hey, don't people use tea to give paper an aged look?" So I grabbed a bowl, threw in 2 tea bags, poured over a little bit of boiling water, grabbed a 2 inch foam brush and did a test spot. I liked it! It had a great streaky look to it, yet, it was missing something...So I thought, hey if I'm using tea...why not use coffee as well?" So I grabbed another bowl, threw in 2 teaspoons of coffee, poured the hot water, grabbed a sponge, and started dabbing the coffee soaked sponge over the tea streaked paper...Perfect!

5 tea bags and 6 teaspoons of coffee later, I went from this (note that I never really took pictures by this wall because the wall paper was so ugly, and when I did, I cropped most of it out):

To this:

The house was built around 1853 and has the original beams and walls exposed. I find it gives it a nice aged look, and that it fits with the house  What do you think?

I'm also replacing the stairs runner next week! Can't wait to get rid of that ugly thing too! 

Day 240

We took our last family walk of summer vacation today. It didn't last that long as the mosquitoes were nuts! Though a fence we spotted this big buck. The picture is a bit blurry because I really had to get my camera to zoom.

I also found this giant centipede.

I'm also happy to announce that Wally finally kind of finished the hall closet. After about 4 years of looking at a gaping hole full of crap, he finally put in the frame, and door. It still needs to be painted and trimmed, but at least it looks better than before!