Wallpaper Joy II

I managed to get the majority of the front wall with the big window stripped today.  I stopped only because I ran out of mixed stripper.  I could have mixed more, but I usually mix it in one-gallon quantities.  I noticed that it starts to lose its effectiveness after a few days sitting around (the label on the concentrate says that it should last for about a week or so, I think), and I was only going to be able to use a small portion today, so I decided to hang up the roller and break for the day.  Still, I’m happy.  I’ve found that one coat, 15 minutes of wait, then another coat, and 20-25 minutes of wait seems to be the “golden rule” for the base layer of adhesive here.  After I do that, the paper practically falls off of the walls.  Er, well, with a little bit of elbow grease, it falls off of the walls.  🙂  Seriously, though, I was able to strip a large portion of that wall with relative ease, which was great.  Now that I’m starting to actually figure out this stuff, things are working much better.

I did find, to my surprise, that the rough plaster I was talking about in a previous entry matches the height of the big window opening, and that rough plaster exists on both sides of the window.  I have no idea what this is, or why it is here.  It is really going to bother me now.  The big window is quite old and certainly could be original, and the trim work looks identical to the rest of the trim in the house.  I can’t see the window as a replacement of any kind, though this makes me wonder if there were originally two double-hung windows in this room, matching the upstairs window placement.  Still, even if that was the case, someone then had to spend a ton of money to install this window and have new trim and casework made for it that exactly matches the rest of the stuff in the house.  I’m leaning towards some sort of repair that had to be done to the window at some point.  There are rumors that this house was moved from another piece of property across the alley in the back.  I suppse it is also possible that this window may have been removed for the move to keep it from cracking.  Large panes of glass were still kind-of rare and expensive in the late 19th century, and this is a large pane of glass.   I don’t know, but it is going to drive me crazy now until I find out why this rough plaster is where it is.

After working on the room today, Jenny and I went shopping.  I planned some menus for us to try to keep us from going out to eat or ordering take-out.  We’d eat between two and three meals per week “out” (sometimes dinners, sometimes breakfast or lunch on the weekends, etc.).   Hopefully, this will help to save us some more money in the long run.  And hey, I like to cook….

jonathan