Phew! It’s been a week, folks. If you’re catching up, I’m participating in the One Room Challenge as a guest participant. The One Room Challenge is a 7 week long challenge where participants completely transform a space of their choice. We are making over our guest bathroom which will also serve as the main bathroom for our kiddos.

Last week, I shared my mood board and plan for the space. I can’t wait to bring in the color palette of terracotta, sage green, and dusty blue. You can see my plan here.

For this second week, I don’t have much to report but I am happy to say that we have completely removed all the wallpaper. Here is what it looked like before.

You can see all of the 70’s goodness. It’s clear this room has never been touched … or has it? (Stay tuned below as we show the treasures we found under the wallpaper.) The wallpaper wrapped around every inch of this space. I’m honestly surprised they didn’t wrap the vanity in it.

To remove the wallpaper, I first tried misting it and then carefully peeling it back. Then my super smart dad (who used to paint houses) mentioned a steamer. What a game changer! Utilizing the steamer allowed the wallpaper to become soft to peel while also heating the glue, making it much easier to peel off larger pieces.

The whole project took me, off and on, about 5 days. I’m very happy it’s over but I’m even happier to show you what was hiding underneath the wallpaper.

Yes that is a full on psychedelic arrow complete with graphic letters saying “john,” “washer,” and “dryer!” Apparently the 70’s were way too groovy and they needed directions to all of the important places. But best of all was this beauty. I apologize if this is inappropriate but this is what was revealed to us.

Yes, that is a turtle. And yes, he’s using the toilet, and yes, he’s perverted. I’ve named him Gilbert and with a few adjustments (like covering up the magazine cover), I may keep him. Is that crazy? Probably, but I’m not really known for going mainstream.

To-Do List

Let’s check out our to-do list for this space:

• Remove wallpaper
• Remove linoleum floor
• Lay new floor
• Sand vanity
• Remove trim
• Paint trim
• Install new trim
• Remove cabinets above laundry area
• Replace toilet
• Paint walls
• Paint ceiling
• Stencil above vanity
• Paint vanity
• Order all the pieces
• Wallpaper pocket door
• Style

Hopefully, this week we’ll get to pulling up the linoleum and maybe sanding the vanity, but things seem to be moving at a snail’s pace so we’ll see.

Make sure you go check out all of the other talented designers. I think this is the year of a record amount of people participating and I love the well-roundedness everyone is bringing to the One Room Challenge.