The Evolution of a Wall

This project has been in the works since before we moved into our house, but, because it wasn't urgent, has been on the back burner since then. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I made it my priority.

When we bought out house, half of our dining room wall was covered in ugly wallpaper. Like this (only imagine it all intact - we had already started ripping it off in this picture):

I was able to easily rip off the top layer of the paper, but the bottom layer remained stuck on the wall, with a few places where that layer came off too, revealing the paneling behind. It stayed like this until now.

I had briefly tried scraping the remaining paper off the wall, but it seemed like it was going to be very difficult, so I had stopped and tried to think of other ways to finish the wall - perhaps by just painting over the paper. But a couple of weeks ago I decided to give it another go, and to my surprise, it actually was coming off fairly easily. I spent a day and a half scraping, and was left with the bare paneled walls.

I debated leaving the walls like this - and just painting the trim (the black had to go!), but ultimately decided that the room was just too dark for me. So, the trim and bare paneling all got primed. My mom and sister helped with the priming and painting - which made it go so much quicker! =)

Then, finally, the top half of the walls got painted a sunny yellow, and the bottom and top trim got finished with white. And I was finally able to hang my tea shelf which has been sitting in my bedroom for months! I still need to get different paint to finish off the window and middle trim, but I love our cheery "new" dining room! The morning light is especially bright and welcoming! =)