Squirrel!

Remember how I was working on the kitchen?  Yeah.. well I was helping someone move and she had a nice looooong, organized closet.  I have this:

That closet on the right is the one with pipes retrofitted into it.  Moisture = not good for clothes!!

This is what I eventually want to do

I want to flip the tiny bedroom closet into the bathroom for a pantry.  Then, i want to close in the old doorway and frame and build an 8' closet in that corner of the room.  I think that corner is pretty much unusable anyway, and the bedroom needs a modern closet if you ask me.

For now, since I'm not framing any new walls at least until I finish the kitchen, I went to Home Depot and bought closet organizing hardware and build a temporary closet area in the corner of my bedroom.

I was worried that the walls wouldn't support the weight of all my clothes, so I was extra thorough in mounting it.  I used screws and anchors in the studs, then put toggle bolts in the holes that didn't have studs behind them.  I think it's pretty secure.  Unfortunately, I got shelves that were a little bit too long.  So I'm going to return one of the shelves and the corresponding rod, replace it with shorter ones and use the rounded rod to make that corner usable.  Add some fancy hangers and my extensive wardrobe, and I have a closet!

Back on again!

Today I started working on the house again, and it feels gooood.

I picked out some paint samples at Lowes and put them on the walls and got started removing more painted over wall paper.  Using my handy-dandy thrift store purchased steamer, it came off like a candy wrapper, no problem, right?!

Wrong.

The wallpaper was applied directly on top of the drywall paper.  So off it came.  I've done a little research and learned that I will probably have to put a "skim coat" of drywall compound over it to give it a new surface.  That is, if i don't want to put a thin layer of drywall over what's there (and I don't.)  Luckily, my research didn't stop there.  I then learned that if I don't want bubbles, I'd better SEAL the paper first before applying any compound.  

Meanwhile...

My hero was re-caulking my tub.  Whoever re-did the bathroom last removed some of the walls, put drywall on top of others, and installed a tub/shower surround over PEG BOARD.  Seriously.  I have pegboard walls.  And, of course, painted over wallpaper.  

The surround had a border of caulk strip between it and the tub and it was pulling away, leaving an adhesive exposed to collect dirt and other nastiness.  Gross!  He peeled it off, cleaned up the messy caulk underneath, and put down a nice, clean bead of caulk like a pro.  

This is still a temporary solution, as I have every intention of taking it all down and putting up a proper tile surround.

P.S. Do not EVER do a Google Image Search for "rubber caulk strip" without turning safe search ON!!!