In the new house there is a room we have named the new sewing studio, and it is undergoing a major transformation from early 80’s tropical to perky bold glam!
This is what it looked like before:
Notice the super pastel colored tropical wallpaper on the upper half of the walls, complete with a shimmery finish. Very cool in the 80’s; now not so much. The bottom half is paneled and the previous owners of the house had already started mudding the grooves of the paneling and preparing it for paint. Our new house is an old historic home built in the early 1900’s (we think 1905). We are 99% sure this room was once part of a wrap around porch that was converted to a room by one of the previous owners who ran a photography studio from the house. That would explain the separate entrance door.
Get rid of the old
When we decided this would be the new sewing studio I knew it had to undergo a major perk-up. The first step was to tear off the wallpaper. Because the paper was vinyl with a paper backing, the front part with the pattern pulled off super easy in large strips. It left us with the paper backing on the walls. (You can see the remnants of the front of the paper above the windows in the photo below.)
By using DIF Wallpaper Remover, hot water, rags and a sponge I tackled removing the paper backing. We put the DIF wallpaper remover in a garden sprayer like this one and mixed it with hot water. Working in approximately 4′ x 6′ sections, I wet the paper with the remover solution using the sprayer. Once it sat for a few minutes, the paper became saturated and was able to be scraped off with a putty knife/broadknife like this.
The key was to make sure the paper was very wet; this required a couple of sprays sometimes.
Once the paper was scraped off I used plain hot water to wipe down the walls several times. The last time I used a sponge. This was to make sure all the glue was off the walls; if you skip this step your final paint finish may end up splotchy and have dull and shiny spots.
Diva Glam it is
Next I was off to ACE to buy the paint. I had experimented with some free Behr paint samples and narrowed my paint color down to one called Diva Glam. We wanted to support our local small business so we decided to skip the big box store and buy our house paint at ACE Hardware in our new hometown.
They were able to computer color match the Behr paint color perfectly.
Yes, Diva Glam is a bold choice, but there isn’t a ton of wall space in the sewing studio. I plant to install a wall of IKEA Kallax shelving units across from the windows, so that will cover most of that wall. Imagine a couple of tables below the windows too. This wall could handle a fun zippy color.
I’m keeping the white roman shades and plan to find some pretty perky bold fabric to sew a valance for over the shades.
Here is a glimpse of me in a corner of the room before the final coat of paint was applied. Don’t mind the painting clothes or messy hair – just focus on the smile because I am one happy lady!
Once the room is totally finished I’ll be sure and post the updated photos. You may see them appear quicker on our Facebook or Instagram page.
