Friday, January 23, 2009

One more reason to love vinegar...

A good customer friend of ours, Laura, loves shelter magazines. She passes them along to us when she is through with them, and then we take turns looking at them. They are little stacks of gold - lots of issues that are still on the newsstands. While reading one of the This Old House issues, I ran across a new use for vinegar - spray it on wallpaper you want to strip from your walls. With the success of the kitchen wall update still making us smile, my husband, Raoul, and I have decided to tackle the master bath walls. This paper is stubborn. The top vinyl layer comes off easily, but the bottom layer doesn't.

We keep a spray bottle filled with straight vinegar for cleaning, so it was ready to go and hit the ornery wallpaper. It works!
And we don't have to worry about inhaling any unhealthy chemical products, especially since this is so close to the master bedroom.
I'm grateful for friends who share their magazines, cheap gallons of vinegar from Costco, and a husband with a passion for eliminating wallpaper from our house! -- Beth

3 comments:

Eileen said...

I've used vinegar for taking off wallpaper paste, too. It's amazing! To make it work more quickly try heating vinegar with a bit of water. Lickety split! Vinegar is also great for combating mold and moldy smells.

Beth E-R said...

Great suggestion Eileen about heating up the vinegar to speed things up! The same article mentioned getting stubborn paint off of your brushes by letting them soak in warm vinegar. Thanks for the hot tip!

Beth

KatCollects said...

I have never heard of that use, thank you. I am so happy, I am back on my feet and get to come back to shop there next Friday. It has been a long 2 months. Can't wait to get a dose of shopping : )
Kathy