Ready for Some "After" Pictures?

After many days of toil and tribulation, I am finally ready to show some "after" pictures of the house updating. When Carol (Jason's mom) arrived, we focused our efforts on the kitchen, as it was the room where I had made most of the progress taking wallpaper down. Even so, we worked for at least two more full days before we were ready to paint.

Of course, before I show the final result, I have to show just how bad it got.

As you remember, here was the room with wallpaper.

Here are some views of the room wallpaper-free:

It was at this point in the project that I was thinking that there was no way it would ever really look good, even with paint on. There were just too many scraps of wallpaper left, too much adhesive on the walls, and too many gouged places from those late-night, desperate sessions of wallpaper removal.

However, after I got all the paper off, I coated the walls and ceiling with a special sealer to seal the adhesive in and keep it from cracking the paint that would go on later. Jason sanded the surfaces down, and then I added a layer of primer. Once I did this and covered up any hint of wallpaper remnants, it immediately began to look better.

Here's the "primed" look:

Here, finally, (drum roll, please) is the painted and finished look.

Of course, we need to put the blinds back up, and I need to make and hang the curtains, and perhaps pick up all the clutter left over from the job...but overall, I'm pretty pleased.

Now, for the other rooms of the house...