We have lived in our home for seven and a half years now (does time even have meaning anymore?) Having purchased a fixer-upper time capsule of a house, we have been working sporadically – when funds, energy, and time permits – to renovate the house. Some of that has been boring but necessary work on electrics and plumbing but I much prefer the decorative updates.
The master bedroom was arguably the worst room in the house when we moved in. Guests used to actually gasp and laugh at how horribly ugly it was. However, it was put on the back burner because it was not a public room and, of the private spaces, the boys’ bedrooms were a higher priority. Then a number of other projects jumped the queue because of disasters (the basement) or because things were starting to break down (the bathrooms and hallway). This meant that the master bedroom remained a brown box with every literally every surface being covered in thick textured wallpaper – what we disparagingly referred to as the “hairy walls”. It was so thick that one of our cats used to be able to climb the walls. We have tried every method and combination of methods to remove the wallpaper but without success. Finally, this Winter, it was time to banish the horrid décor of our bedroom and make it a more comfortable, calming, and less embarrassing space.
The solution to the major wallpaper issue turned out to be not removing it at all. The options were to remove the walls and start over or to place a layer of thin plasterboard / drywall on top of the existing walls. Since it was cheaper and quicker to do the latter, that was what we opted for. So, years from now, someone renovating our home will find a layer of crazy wallpaper as a hairy sandwich layer in the bedroom walls. Frankly, the room looked a hundred times better even when it was raw plasterboard but some new carpet and a fresh lick of paint made it feel like a much nicer space. The room is still a work in progress (I will, for instance, be painting the window frames this summer) and the curtains were a compromise (I wanted midcentury modern fabric but curtains of the size required were out of our budget for now) but it is wonderful to have a room we can actually relax in now and that actually feels more like “us”. The bonus is that my husband can now attend on-camera meetings without having to blur the horrible background.
A Pict in PA 
Way to go! Nice!. I do understand the master being left out. Seems when I have to do a quick clean my room is the one left out. .I did manage to paint after my husband passed but now want and need to do something to the furniture. I’m thinking milk paint but who knows what will be the end decision.
Milk paint would be a great way to freshen up the furniture. Not needing a primer layer is also an advantage to that paint.
I am glad it is not just us who let the master bedroom malinger at the bottom of the To Do list. With all of the other renovation projects over the years, our bedroom had also become a bit of a storage warehouse for the items from other rooms. I am so glad we finally got around to it.
Wow!! It looks great!!! Way to go!! Glad you have made a cozy comfortable space!! The curtains fit very well with the decor- if you hadn’t written that you used the existing curtains I would have thought you’d worked hard to source good, dramatic curtains. The throw pillows tie it all together nicely. You have a good eye.
Thank you, Sue. They are new curtains – there were only ancient slatted blinds there before – but they are “make do for now” curtains while I wait to get my paws on some that are more in keeping with my personal taste. We still need to get artwork up on the wall and add a few finishing touches but we will have to work on those bits and bobs gradually over the next few months.
Hope you’ll be having fun with the project as it unfolds and enjoy the results! ❤
Even with visual evidence I’m struggling to imagine the horror of hairy walls! Looking good now though!
It really was a thing to behold. It was on every single surface – doors, air vents, electrical sockets – and was so thick that it proved impossible to remove. It was probably very expensive wallpaper back in its day.
Eurgh!
This is certainly an enormous improvement. The room looks like a whole new place. A fresh start! As for the previous decor sometimes you really do wonder what they were thinking …
The fact that the wallpaper was adhered to every single vertical surface in the room made it horribly claustrophobic. Even had the wallpaper been more to my taste, I would have had to eradicate it just for that reason.