Curse of the wallpaper borders

There's something exciting about redecorating, especially kids' rooms. Suvi turns 7 years old on the 30th so next week, as part of the "getting to be a big girl" ceremony, there will be some room switching and redecorating.

See, currently, Suvi and Max share a bedroom. They have since Max was about 6 months old. It's worked pretty well except that Suvi is really starting to be frustrated with Max's behaviour and his inability to keep himself away from her precious, girlie stuff.

So, we had decided that for her 7th birthday, Finnegan would move in with Max (becoming The Boys Room...I'm frightened already) and Suvi would get Finnegan's smaller room. We also said we'd decorate it up for her so it would really be a nice, funky girl room for her. She hasn't had that before since she's been stuck with an intrusive and sometimes destructive little brother.

In preparation for this big week in our house, there was a wallpaper border in The Boys Room that would need to come down so we could paint it a boy colour and do a little decorating in there for them, too. I thought I would tackle this today since my mom is coming in from out of town tomorrow and will be spending the week with us, helping us with this crazy, room switching event.

Now, I've peeled enough wallpaper in this house already and, well, it sucks. I hate peeling wallpaper. Hate it. But, this afternoon it was time to get at it. I could not procrastinate any longer. **Disclaimer - I apologize in advance if any of you actually like the paper I'm peeling off but...I don't.**

Here's where it gets, well, funny. I was ready with my scraper, my spray bottle, and some good music on the stereo. I started spraying and peeling, spraying and peeling. Here's what the border looked like at the start (it has mist all over it from my spray bottle). As you can see, it's really not appropriate for two little boys.



But what...what is this? This is really...thick...wallpap...ack! There's ANOTHER border under there! No freaking way!! I started pulling it up and found this treasure underneath:

Yep. Ducks. Best part? This same duck wallpaper was in our family room when we moved in last year and I already peeled that mess off! Thought I was done with the ducks!!

Then, as I peeled away the even tougher layer of icky duck wallpaper, I discovered this:

Under the duck border is a painted border in 80s teal blue!! AAARRRGGGHHH!

So, I stopped. I need to have a drink. I need to reconsider my approach. Fire? Acid? Hmmm...better wait until Daddy Crumb gets home and see if I can persuade him to take a crack at it now that I've gotten it started.

Next week, once the rooms are complete, I'll be sure to post before and after pics so you can see if we actually make progress or if I go all Jackson Pollack on these walls.

I'm doing this because I love my kids. Repeat ten times. :)