Country Kitchen Wallpaper

Super Handyman: Here are some tips for making a tough job a little easier

You can always try pulling off the paper. Loosen a corner and start pulling it down. If a so-called strippable wallpaper was used, you might get lucky and it might actually work.

Once you have pulled down what you can, it’s time to get serious. You can score the wall with a utility knife or a professional scoring tool like a Paper Tiger, too. This allows the water to penetrate the paper and loosen the glue.

Apply a mixture of warm water and fabric softener with a pump-up sprayer. Given a little time, this will work to soften the adhesive used to hang the paper and will allow you to start removing it.

Another way to get water onto the glue is to wet newspapers and put them up over the wallpaper. The papers stay wet longer and give the water more time to work.

There are some great store-bought strippers available, too. Just read and follow the instructions.

Steam is another way to get moisture to the wallpaper adhesive. You can buy or rent wallpaper steamers. You hold them against the wallpaper and let the steam do its thing. Then you can start scraping it off the wall.

When you start using a scraper, keep in mind that you want to loosen the paper, not gouge the walls behind it. Wide plastic putty knives work pretty well and are less likely to ruin the wall underneath.

When you put up the new paper, make sure your walls are primed and that you use strippable paper. This will make it so much easier to switch the paper when you want to make another change.

Score first, make clean cuts

Plywood is a strong building material because of the way it’s manufactured. Layers of wood are laminated together to create a great product that can be used for a wide variety of projects. Of course, this also means that it can splinter when you are cutting it. The best way to avoid this is to use a sharp utility knife along a straight edge to score your cutting line. If you do this before getting out the saw, your edges are much less likely to splinter, and you should get smooth, clean cuts. Give it a shot.

It hinges on this

Pegboard panels make super shop storage. They can be hung on just about any wall and, with the use of a variety of pre-made hangers, can hold just about anything. If you have open stud walls like some garages and sheds do, then you might want to try our method of doubling that storage area. Just use strong hinges to attach the pegboard to the walls. This allows you to swing the loaded panel to the side and store things behind it.

Kitchen Wallpaper as an Option to Tile or Paint

Photo by: Mica_R

The kitchen is a place in the home that doesn’t see the application of wallpaper as often as other parts of the home do. Wallpaper is most commonly used in bedrooms, living rooms, studies and hallways. This doesn’t mean that it’s not appropriate to put wallpaper in a kitchen instead of the usual tile.

The bathroom is another place where tile reigns supreme. Are you seeing any similarities yet? Well, I’ll give you a hint… Humidity and cleaning.  Kitchen and bathroom wallpaper share the similarity that the material needs to be tough and very durable. Both rooms are extremely humid and the harsh environment can quickly deteriorate covering that is not designed for these types of conditions. Additionally, in the kitchen, the wallpaper will need lots of cleaning. Grease tends to stick to the walls no matter what they are covered with. In this respect tiles still have an advantage as they can take a beating when it comes to cleaning them with soaps and even mild chemicals often. However, if you choose good-quality wall covering that’s designed specifically for kitchens, even though you still need to give it special care, you can get away with it just fine. Plus, it’s true that tiles resist cleaning better than wallpaper, but cleaning quality wallpaper is still better than trying to clean bare paint. What’s more, kitchen wallpaper designs can easily offer a very unique look to your kitchen. This can be achieved with paint or tile but at higher cost and much more work.

Now, one great advantage of using wallpaper in the kitchen is that not only is it easier to install than tile, it’s somewhat easier to remove. I say somewhat because just like when you remove tiles off a wall, you’ll have tons of residue glue to remove. In most cases though, if you feel like changing the colors of your kitchen, the entire ordeal is easier to deal with when using wallpaper instead of tile. Let’s say set up your original decoration using country kitchen wallpaper and now you want to go retro. Well, choose you materials, the proper tools and dedicate a weekend to the job. Voila… retro look!

One last thing to point out is that wallpaper is called like that, but these days the quality stuff is not really made of paper. As you can imagine, actual paper will not clean very well, will develop awful smoke and humidity stains and it will likely catch fire quite easily. So, a great suggestion would be to do your homework and find fire retardant wallpaper before you go cover up your kitchen with the stuff. Since kitchen fires are so common, it should be a matter of common sense to apply fireproof wallpaper to the walls. Remember, more important than a pretty house is a safe home!

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