Modern Art?

No! It's our bathroom!

This photo shows the the progression of trial and error in our first floor bathroom.

This little disaster started back in May when I decided to remove the heinous wallpaper as a nice little weekend project. Turns out it was practically superglued to the walls. After weeks of peeling off pea-sized pieces, we were left with several large gouges and not much progress. So what's a responsible homeowner to do? We abandoned ship and worked on the other rooms instead.

Having finished the laundry room and the kitchen, we're now back at work in the bathroom, trying to figure out how to salvage it. We purchased some heavy-duty primer to see if we could paint over the wallpaper and stripped areas. Of course, the difference in texture is evident. Scratch that idea. We researched textured paint, looked into professional wallpaper removal, and tried an array of different methods for removing the paper. No go.

Finally (in a desperate attempt to save both bathroom and marriage) we decided to cover up the entire mess with a textured, paintable wallpaper. While we really didn't want to hang wallpaper again, the bathroom walls are in such dire shape (thanks to me) that we don't have many options. Over the weekend, we hung a couple of strips of the textured paper to get a feel for it. As it turns out, the stuff is extremely easy to work with and covers a multitude of sins. It has a troweled, stucco-like appearance...sort of Tuscan, as my friend Sharon would say. Once it's painted, I think it's going to look really nice.

And while I appreciate modern art, I believe the textured wallpaper HAS to be an improvement.