Dining Room Demo & Wallpaper Removal Tips

Next up on our demo journey is this the dining room! We already shared how we ripped out the carpet in preparation for the new floors, but that still left us with an old chair rail that was too low for my taste and some old wallpaper.

Here’s the before to see the full effect! These rooms aren’t just wallpapered, there was a lotttt of effort put in when they were installed which was made evident by the vent and the switch plates.

I cannot even believe how long that must have took. Very impressed!

After removing that vent and switch plate, we decided to tackle the wallpaper first. I was totally expecting this to be absolutely terrible. I read all about different methods of removal, was contemplating renting a steamer, and had already purchased a cleaner to try at the store.

Then, M’s mom just pulled a sheet right off. In one piece. We all practically did a happy dance!

Every section ended up coming off the same way, and the only explanation we could think of was that it was so old the glue had soaked into the walls. However, even with the easy paper removal, we were left with some sticky residue.

I picked up a product called Piranha Wallpaper Remover and used it according to the directions. You basically sprayed the walls down, waited 15 minutes, and then scraped off the glue. It worked better than we expected and although it was really messy, the toughest part was that your hand started hurting after squeezing the spray trigger so many times : )

After that mess was cleaned up we started on the chair rail. Trying to be extra careful to not knock any holes into the walls, M took a small pry bar and hammer and went to work.

It came off slowly but surely until we got to the angled walls between the windows. Our plan to save the walls was not quite so successful here because of how tightly wedged in the railing was, so a little spackle-action was needed once we were done.

Last but not least we washed the walls down with a huge sponge and slightly soapy water. All of this took less than a day to complete, and we were left with a clean slate!

The next day we primed all of the walls and ceiling to get them ready for paint… which we will be sharing tomorrow! Along with our floor choice- so we’re really excited!

Side note: it has become a game to see how many times we hit our heads on this chandelier each day… we have since tied it up with cable ties to keep it up and out of the way. Resourceful DIYers we are : P

For now, I wanted to share my inspiration for this whole house. I love me some mood boards and how creating something simple like this keeps you so on track when having to make so many decisions so quickly. Mixed neutrals, wood and metal tones, and navys are the core colors and textures. Our accents will change from room to room (thinking reds, yellows and greens) which is 100% different than my last house.

I’m excited about this new direction and can’t wait to share more : )

UPDATE: We’ve made some more progress- Check out the shiplap wall treatment and DIY floating shelf we’ve added to the space!