March 'Break'??? **update: video added**

Yeah...it's March Break week! Many of my friends had the right idea and headed south to enjoy Disney, swimming, relaxing and shopping. (Not necessarily in that order.)

I in turn decided it was time to finally tackle the main floor redecorating I've wanted to do for the past 3 years. I liked the wallpaper when I first put it up but tired of it a few years ago. Just hadn't been brave enough to take on this job. You need to know how much I dislike painting. Not sure why. Just don't enjoy it at all.

I live in a small town- house that has an open concept main floor. With the exception of the front hall I'm going to repaint the rest of the walls. This small room serves a number of purposes, one of which is that it's my teaching room. My piano students are off this week because of the break but they'll be back next Tuesday so I need to be finished. *gulp* My first challenge was in starting to move things about to get to the walls. I've come to realize that this will have to be a painting project done in stages. If I hope to reach my kitchen sink, fridge or sofa at all during this time, I'll need to do one or 2 walls at a time and then put the stuff back against them and move forward from there.

Saturday morning I woke with great anticipation of beginning my March break project. Yes...you're reading that right. It was 7:19am and I had my Tim's coffee (with a losing roll-up) in hand. I was ready to begin! Where was I at this early hour on a Saturday?

Home Depot! Drove up, parked, went into the store, reviewed the sale flyer...and then went back to the car as I'd forgotten to take in the 2 gift cards I had on hand to help me out with my project. (Thanks again Dave and Joy. Wanna come paint?)

My friend Norma had stopped by one night last week and helped me decide on a colour. 'Calming Retreat.' Sounds perfect and I like the colour on the small chip. Hmmm...sure hope I like the walls as well. Time will tell. I'm fairly confident that I will though as one of the biggest hang-ups I'd had about this project was selecting a colour I'd be happy with. Once she showed me this one I was excited to begin!

I took about an hour picking up all the materials I thought I'd need: Paint, primer, rollers, brush, painter's tape, wallpaper remover, stuff to fix the gouges I'll take out of the wall when I remove the wallpaper, sandpaper to sand the filler stuff and a couple of nifty pouring spouts for the paint cans. All set and it was only 8am! The day was young and I was off to a good start.

Now, if you know me you'll know I'm the Queen of Procrastination! Oh baby am I ever! I procrastinate when I have to do things I like so working up to something I'm not looking forward to is so much worse!

Case in point: Knowing I was going to start this project on Saturday I still called Sharon Friday afternoon to see if she might want to hang out on Saturday. She called me around 9 and before you could say 'wallpaper' I was out the door for a day of shopping fun! :o) See...p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o-n! (I didn't confess my Home Depot shopping to her until we were on our way to the mall. :o)

We had a great day shopping and visiting together and I arrived home around 6pm. Did I start then? Nah! It was the night of daylight savings time so instead I told myself it was kinda like 7pm and really too late to start. (Read: Procrastinating.)

Sunday afternoon I finally started prepping by cleaning out some cupboards and bookshelves that would need to be moved. It felt so good to be starting!

Tonight was the night to continue with the project. Little did I know when I woke up this morning the great little helper that would come my way! Mom and Dad had a meeting to attend so Mom asked me if I could watch Rebecca. Sure! We had supper, played a few games and then I 'let her' strip the wallpaper. I tell you...I was the best Auntie ever! She had a blast... honestly! She kept saying she was having so much fun and was considering a job of ripping paper as a profession when she's an adult. (Gotta love kids!) Hmmm...I'm sure she'll change her mind but in the meantime she was a big help!

So here's where we're at: Cabinet and bookcase have been cleaned out and moved. Majority of the wallpaper's outer layer is gone. Next steps: Prime and paint the first wall, move the furniture back and then begin to make my way around the room stripping the walls of the paper backing of the wallpaper then priming and painting.

Ugh...lots to do! Anybody wanna go for coffee or shopping? I'm available! LOL!!!

PS - Thanks for the help Boo!! You're the best helper ever!!

Here's my Little Helper in action!