Sunday Sundry - Vol. 9

Haul Out the Haeger
Thought I'd let a few more pieces of my Haeger pottery collection see the light of day this week.  This Royal Haeger leaf-shaped dish gets to hold one of my guilty pleasures this time of year, peanut butter Mary Janes.  Because I like challenging my dental work once a year with some ultra-chewy, potentially crown-removing sweets, don't you?

I'm not sure what I'm going for, decorating-wise, with these three vases, but the colors say fall to me, and the shapes are funky and interesting.

If Walls Could Talk
Before I started working in the half bath this week, I had to remove the baseboards.  Look what I found penciled on the back of one of the boards.

What do you think, former homeowner's decorating project UFO or the carpenter's secret house blessing?  Maybe he/she was bored and doodling on a lunch break?

Strip It, Strip It Good
We're talking wallpaper here, folks.  This bathroom redo is my fourth go-round at removing old wallpaper, having done the kitchen once and the upper bathroom twice.  One thing hasn't changed.  It is still a major pain in the ass.

I had a momentary lapse of sanity as I was removing paper, when I actually found myself wondering whether I should just repaper the room instead of paint it.  Fortunately, I must have shifted position in the cramped space that is my half bath, thus allowing the blood to rush from my hindquarters to my brain.  Clarity restored, my next thought was: What the heck was I just thinking!  As DIF is my witness, I will never wallpaper again!

So I'm using this DIF gel, which I did not buy.  Someone borrowed my Paper Tiger tool a few years ago and returned it with a half jug of leftover DIF gel.  I have used DIF liquid before but not the gel, so I read the instructions.  It said, if possible, try to tear off as much wallpaper as you can (dry) before applying the gel.  Huh.  Okay.  Lo and behold, most of the outer vinyl layer did peel off, so I didn't need to use the scoring tool.  Then I rolled on the gel.  It worked well where it could saturate the paper completely, but it didn't seem to get other areas wet enough, or it would dry before I could scrape, necessitating a second or third application.  Finally, about two-thirds of the way around the room, as I was running out of the gel, I just took the roller and wet it with water and rolled it on.  

You know what that crazy water does?  It gets things wet!  And wet turned out to be all I needed to remove the wallpaper.  File that one under Try the simplest solution first, silly. DUH.

Here is the last bit scraped off Saturday night.  The wallpaper is officially down.  Now I just have to wash the walls of glue, patch holes, paint the ceiling, prime, and, finally, paint the walls.  Maybe two coats.  I should have it done by Christmas.

Py-O-My
We ran to Home Depot Saturday to buy the light fixture (the brushed nickel version pictured last Sunday).  While out and about, we also stopped at a new Savers store.  As thrift stores go, Savers did not impress me, but I did find a piece of very grungy Pyrex.  I hesitate to show you, but here is the "before" picture.

There is no "after" yet, since soaking it and using a Magic Eraser have done little to budge the baked on greasy grime.  I'm going to pick up some Barkeeper's Friend tomorrow, if I can find it at Wally World.  If any Pyr-o-maniacs are reading this and have other suggestions to offer, I'm all ears.  This is such a potentially cute dish with great color and a wonderful finish, if I can just get the schmutz off.

After suffering through two yucky photos in a row (and I didn't even show you the gross bathroom fan after I took it apart this week, and yes I took a picture, wouldn't you?), you deserve to see some pretty Pyrex and Fire King.  Not mine, my sister's!  

Yes, friends, I am an enabler, and I have done my duty in planting the seeds of Pyrexia when we went to the flea market last month.  She was interested in some glass refrigerator dishes and I turned her on to Fire King Gay Fad, on the upper shelf there.  Then she went on vacation and found a set of gorgeous Pyrex Butterprint bowls at an antique shop and thoughtfully called me from the shop to ask if she should buy them for me (I said sure).  Then SHE KEPT THEM!  But seriously, that's fine with me because I am low on storage space at the moment, and I'm completely okay with her buying and housing all the Pyrex her heart desires, as long as I can visit and admire it.

Walking on Sunshine
The boat ride with Dad was definitely the highlight of my week.  Here's another photo from Wednesday.  On the way home, the old Katrina & The Waves song came on the radio, which was so appropriate for the mood of the day.  Click the subtitle above for the YouTube link.

Thanks for visiting today.  Hope you have a bright week ahead!