It's happening - 22

After a long weekend of work we are finally at a stopping point, though we will have a few thing to tidy up tomorrow. 

We ended up throwing a quick coat of green on the primed wallpaper above the cupboards and then cleaning off the excess grout from the backsplash. Of course, we also moved all of the furniture and appliances back into place.  

Tomorrow we will have to toss up another coat of paint and also seal the tiles. Hopefully that all that's left. 

It's happening - 21

The grout has been floated (if that's the term). According to the instructions on the package we are now supposed to wait a few hours to give the tiles a good scrub to remove any excess grout. Hopefully these instructions are good. 

Now onto dinner and pie before we return to the grout work. 

And we've finally given up on waiting for the oil-based primer to dry today. We'll just have to see where it is tomorrow. 

It's happening - 20

In an attempt to speed things up with our slow drying oil-based primer we have cranked the heat and are also applying directed heat to some specially selected sections (i.e. blasting portions of the wall with a hair dryer). 

It would be quite nice if we could start the painting sooner rather than later as we still have grouting and feasting to do. 

And in other news - I just made a pumpkin pie (well, I made the filling and slapped it into a frozen crust). The main course is to be mushroom and barley soup. 

It's happening - 19

The second coat of green on one side the kitchen is now up. Sadly, we are still waiting on the oil-based primer to dry before we cover the tour two walls in green. 

We are hoping that by about 5:00 we'll be able to throw up the grout and the final few coats of green paint. If all goes exceptionally well the whole project should wrap up by early evening. 

It's happening - 18

We are now into the third day and still working hard. This morning we woke before 7:30 and had a first coat of green up before 8:30. 

The real bummer of the morning was discovering that our oil-based primer isn't yet dry from last night's second coat. 

Now we just have to wait for paint (and mortar) to dry. 

It's happening - 17

We are taking a quick dinner break at our local sushi shack. Our kitchen is in a state is disarray making food prep a bit of a challenge. 

Once we get back we'll try to finish priming and then call it a night (at least as far is work on this project is concerned). 

It's happening - 16

Well, the tiles are up an it's not even 6:00 PM. Aren't we proud of ourselves?

Once the mortar dries we can move on to grouting tomorrow evening. 

Another bonus is that our first coat of primer should be dry - so we can switch back to painting now. What fun. 

It's happening - 15

First backsplash tiles are now in place.

Only a bunch more to go. 

It's happening - 14

And on to positioning the backsplash tiles before we apply the mortar. 

Before we know it we'll have tiles up and mortar drying. 

It's happening - 13

For what seems like the 12th time in the past two days one of us will soon be heading to the store to pick up some supplies. This time I'll be heading out to get some painter thinning agents to aid in the clean up of our oil-based priming operation. Last time it was to grab some masking tape. And earlier today Jeannette had to get some other stuff - which at this point is so distant I can't even recall what it is she went to buy. 

My uninspiring dream of the moment is that this will be the last such trip of the day/project. 

It's happening - 12

We've just finished our first coat of primer. Unfortunately, the wallpaper that we're painting will require at least two coats. 

As it stands now it's clear we don't have enough paint on the walls. 

It's happening - 11

After a successful masking tape run and unsuccessful coffee run (one of the coffees had milk and sugar) I'm back and ready to work.

While I was away Jeannette sanded some of the plaster she put up earlier.  Now I need to finish taping and sanding.  After that we will be on to painting. Yum!

People shouldn't be allied to have this much fun. 

It's happening - 10

After hours of diligent work by Jeannette and a bit of work on my part we have now finished the stripping process. 

As soon as Jeannette gets back from the store we'll start patching the wall and getting ready to paint. After we're done with the painting we will have to start preppin the areas for the tile backsplash (which won't actually be located behind the sink).

We certainly have many hours of work ahead of us today and tomorrow. 

It's happening - 9

Somehow it's already tomorrow morning and Jeannette's been hard at work for hours. Like magic most of paper behind the stove and microwave have been removed. Now we really just have several inches and two small patches to finish. 

It's happening - 8

After attending a comedy show/fundraiser we can back and went to work stripping that wallpaper. It's now two hours later and I feel that we don't have all that much to show for our work. 

The only good news is that most of the square footage of stripping is done - we just have the finicky bit left. 

It's happening - 7

We're taking a brief break to head out to a comedy show. Back at it hard tomorrow (or later tonight). 

It's also clear now that this isn't going to be done by the end of Monday. Hopefully by Thursday it will have clued up. 

It's happening - 6

I spoke too soon - my easy to install adhesive backsplash has been converter to a tile backsplash. 

Who hasn't wanted to play with grout?

It's happening -5

Exciting change of plans - we're going to leave some of the hard to reach stuff up and paint it or cover it with adhesive backsplash tiles.  All of a sudden this seems like a moderately manageable project. 

It's happening - 4

We've now finished two small sections and it only took a few hours and about 2.5 bottles of wallpaper stripper and all kinds of back-breaking unpaid labour. 

The real killer is that from here on out we only have really tough spots left to strip. 

It's happening - 3

The first section is done, infinite more to go. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

It's Happening - 2

Well, stripping wallpaper is definitely work. We've been foin at it for a while and we haven't even finished the first smallish section of the wall (let alone the sections of the wall above the cabinetry). 

Good thing we've got a bonus day this weekend. 

It's happening - 1

Jeannette is finally getting her wish - we are stripping the wallpaper in the kitchen. I've been against it from the beginning, but now we're in the middle of it so I guess there's no backing out now.

Gross. 

This is definitely going to take all weekend.