Day 1: Dealing with the Walls

My kitchen walls were wallpapered and then covered with a fiber texture which is probably the most ugly thing I've seen because they painted it. It is not that different than when you spill paint on the carpet and it dries to a rough finish that is bad on so many levels. Imagine an entire kitchen covered in the stuff! I began to remove the paper and texture shortly after moving in but was thoroughly discouraged by the fact that it pulled off the drywall's paper finish so I now have a very paint unfriendly surface to deal with. What to do?

Originally I was going to get someone to replace all the drywall and install pocket doors while they were at it. But you try getting someone in to do the work. Then, I was going to cover up the ruined drywall with floor to ceiling wainscoting. But now, with an aggressive bee in my bonnet and a budgeted approach to this reno, I've decided to do a skim coat over top of the crappy fiber texture. It will take several coats and lots of sanding.

I've also got to patch up the large opening the previous owners created. My fridge is in front of one half of the opening, and I would like to put a large cabinet beside the fridge for more storage, so I don't need the poorly done cutouts in the wall. Fortunately I got a hold of some pieces of drywall so I don't have to deal with one large piece that I wouldn't be able to fit in my car let alone carry. I'd rather deal with an extra seam or two if it means no delivery trucks.

I ran out of 2x4's so could only put one piece up tonight. Besides, it was getting late.

I won't be able to work on my kitchen again until Sunday. I plan to mount the rest of the drywall and finish skim coating the rest of the walls minus the backsplash. I'll then do another skim coat during an evening this week and maybe even start sanding before next weekend. You saw it here...in print...lets see if my plans for the week are at all realistic.

I won't bother with skim coating the back splash as I plan to cover it up with tile or maybe even wainscoting. Besides, it is tough to get in there with the cabinets in place and I don't want to gut them until I absolutely have to.

I'd really like to cover the backsplash with wainscoting so it will tie in with my bathroom but it depends on the cupboard doors I get. I already have the kitchen version of my bathroom faucet and I will likely use the same pattern for the countertops that I did in the bathroom. I may even get the same floor tile, but will have to see how my energy goes.

OK, time for bed.