Demolicious Renovations - Hallway

If you read the previous post, you will see why we had to do this. Below is a photograph of our hallway. You will note the lovely laminate flooring running down it's narrow centre, and closing in on either side is forest green paint overshadowed by wallpaper that may have come from the late 70's or early 80's. Above is the drop ceiling which requires some work because the rust colour is taking over the white. Most of the ceiling tiles are fine here at least.



If you have ever tried removing wallpaper, you should now be cringing. It really wasn't as awful as we thought it might be to remove in the hallway, but it is never pleasant. I think what was worse was the discovery made once the wallpaper came off...





Do you see those white lines on the walls? That's where the friendly people who put up the wallpaper used drywall mud to fill in the cracks in the wood panelling. Of course, they didn't sand it, it was poorly done, and the lower half of the wall that was painted didn't match in depth at all. So I had to fill and sand every single crack in the stupid wall. Both sides. And sand it. I was not impressed. Normal people just put masking tape over the cracks for the wallpaper, but no, we had drywall mud.


I think getting the removal done was definitely encouraged by Kathie coming over with her kids. I told her that doing demolition was therapeutic. She must have believed me, because she and her kids took care of that wall in a hurry! Then she went home and decided she was going to paint her own walls (sorry Sheldon). I'm kidding. I hope you realize this was all a devilish plot to give her an excuse to do what she's always wanted to do to your house. A ha ha ha ha haaaa! AAAAAh ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa!


I put on the baseboards, set, filled, and sanded the nails and nail holes (something some idiot forgot to do in our duplex in Calgary), we primed, taped, painted, and prayed. It looks much brighter now, which opens up the hallway and makes it easier to see. This has taken quite a toll on our clothes. We wear our special 'painting clothes' almost every day, which are very boring to look at. They are colourful though. It's kinda like having war wounds from each wall you've painted so you'll have memories that will last a lifetime! Or we could just throw them out after this round of renos, who knows?


Our skin, especially on our hands, has taken a beating. All this scrubbing and washing and sanding and drywall dust has been detrimental to our dermatological health. Not to mention I've had lots of sinus headaches from breathing this stuff in. When I blow my nose - never mind. I've been wearing a dust mask when I remember (and when I can find it - there are tools and things everywhere in this place).