the art of wallpaper removal…

Tags

apartment, fabric softener, renovation, wallpaper, wallpaper removal

… close to 300 m2 of wallpaper, over 80 years of decorating history…

… not just one layer, but three to five layers, sometimes painted between layers, everything painted over the final layer…

…initially I thought I could just paint over the paper, and make do until I decided to redecorate, one room at a time, but the electricians cut deep channels in each wall, often taking entire sections of wallpaper with them. Other places you touched the wallpaper and could feel the decades of wallpaper paste crumbling behind the armour of paint and paper…

… I started peeling off corners here and there, then became more systematic, working one room at a time, hiding in the small bedroom as the electricians were cutting open walls and you couldn’t see across the living room for the billowing dust. I have found endless “treasures” hidden behind the paper, the inevitable sums and calculations, a quick sketch of a street map, a child’s drawing of a face, I think it might have been a bear… that was between layers, impossible to salvage or even photograph in it’s entirety. The biggest mystery has been two dates – was the apartment first decorated over the Christmas of 1930, is it dates of birth, or heaven forbid the life span of a lost infant… I will never know.

… initially the whole place was wrapped in a delicate flowery print, when that got too filthy and too subtle it was replaced with metallic golden swirls, impressive, but probably very oppressive. Typical Belgian architecture has the three main rooms in a row, “en enfilade”, meaning I have a 17m long main room, but the middle section doesn’t get any direct natural light. With all those gold swirls it most have been so dark! Later years the swirls were papered over with a more subtle beige textured paper, and then later the final layer was added, in some rooms this has embossed flowers, in others it is plainer. We will never know what the colour schemes were.

… real decorating risks were taken in the small bedroom, and this was where I had most layers to contend with, there was also a period of navy blue and green tartan, and a yellow paper (with the child’s drawing)…

… other finds under the paper included unwanted electric sockets. It seems if you no longer wanted a socket, you just papered over it, usually removing the metal plate from the outside, never disconnecting wires or removing the “innards”. That explains why my electricians found a number of wires in the walls that no amount of pulling would budge!

… before starting paper removal I did my research, spending more than an evening with the inexhaustible sources of knowledge and wisdom: google and youtube… I read and assessed the pros and cons of steam vs. fabric softener, mechanical vs. physical effort, and concluded for my walls the best approach was:

• remove as much of the painted outer layer of paper as possible dry, sometimes other layers came off too this way.
• once I had the “waterproof” painted layer off, wet the walls with a water and fabric softener mix and wait a while – this is the hardest part, but the waiting really makes a difference!

… initially I followed the recommendation to use hot water and a 1:3 ratio of softener to water, applied with a paint roller to small areas at time… the first rooms took me almost a day/wall.

… I quickly dropped the hot water as I didn’t have a hot water source, or electricity, so I was heating a pan of water at a time on my camping stove… I decided “to hell with this” and switched to cold water and saw no noticeable difference.

… then I spoke to the plasterer who is going to fix up all my walls and he told me to go out and buy a cheap garden spray pump… he told me I could use the cheapest washing up detergent I could find if I wanted, but I already had 2 bottles of (hypo-allergic!) fabric softener, so I have stuck with that, but at a much lower ratio than 1:3. He told me just to spray the whole wall, and get it nice and wet, and wait… and he was right! Less fabric softener water splattering me in the face than with the roller and I have been “zooming” through the place ripping wallpaper off walls at the rate of almost a room per day…

… only the two small entrance halls left to go…

switching light switches…

Tags

1930s, apartment, berker, electricity, light switches, renovation, replica

… hardly anything had been changed from the original 1930s design…

… the person who owned my new apartment prior to me lived there from the mid 1960s until 2010, when she died, leaving an empty apartment and no one to inherit it. In her time there she had probably added to the countless layers of paint on wallpaper and wallpaper on paint on wallpaper, she had unfortunately relatively recently updated the kitchen and bathroom, but she hadn’t done much else.

… all the doors are original, the windows are original, the wooden floors and granite floors are original, the three fireplaces are original (although sadly not working), and I suspect much of the electrics were original!

… prior to selling in an auction, the solicitor has to carry out all the usual structural and infrastructural surveys. I bought the place knowing full well the electrical survey had a big red “FAIL” stamped across it. That is the first thing I have been tackling – or rather I contracted out. The electricians have been working for a week already, my heart is bleeding as the whole apartment is thick in dust, the walls have gaping gashes that are being patched over, and holes are ready to receive new sockets and light switches…

… when I went back to the apartment after buying it, the second visit after my first 10 minute visit with about 20 other people there, I took the time to look at the details a bit more closely, and I realised it was going to need a bit more than a lick of paint to make it liveable…

… light switches… the place was a concise history in light switches of the 20th century, from the original brass 2 button options, to chunky Bakelite external switches, to inset Bakelite switches, to sleeker square 80s designs (installed with inter-phone wiring, my electricians were “impressed”)… I didn’t actually get round to photographing them all before they were swiftly removed and relegated to the depths of a plastic bag, to be reviewed and assessed at a later date!

… I loved the original brass switches. I am trying to maintain as much original character as I can, while at the same time making it a practical and energy efficient home for the 21st century. I googled and searched ebay and found similar switches for sale, and thought about it, but then realised I didn’t feel 100% comfortable with them, that I actually wanted something more technologically advanced – I have a lot of respect for electricity!

… then I stumbled upon something that caught my eye… their website stated:

“Modern and classic – the Berker Serie 1930 in the style of the functional Bauhaus design creates a special ambience. The most modern technology concealed behind a timeless classic façade. A perfect combination for those who appreciate that special touch.”

… that ticked all my boxes. I started looking for suppliers, I found one in the Netherlands, I visited a wholesaler here, “no they couldn’t get them for me”, I called the importer “your electrician should be able to get them at the wholesaler”, I sent my electrician back to the wholesaler, “no they couldn’t get them”, I called the suppliers in the Netherlands, “of course we can send them to Belgium”… I ordered my light switches 2 days ago, they arrived today.

… I was like a kid at Christmas as I opened the box, each switch beautifully packaged, my electrician thinks I am mad not taking the cheap basic model, there are some things that can’t be explained…

… now I am thinking I should have ordered the wall sockets too!