Before and during, phase one

The den work got underway as planned on Tuesday. Finally that old, ugly wallpaper is history. And the big, heavy, cast iron radiator is down as well (but it's going back up after getting a facelift). Two of the walls in the room are covered with built-in bookshelves, cupboards, and a fold-up desk. One wall is the window/radiator wall, and the fourth is blank.

The horizontal panel is the fold-down desktop. That's where my computer monitor goes.

Twelve years ago, when we moved in, we were able to get the wallpaper off the blank wall and parts of the other walls. But it was a bitch. There were two papers, a dark background and a lighter print (world maps!) with wooden frames around the printed part. The frames were painted red and gold. Since the paper did not come off easily, we left it on the wall around the built-ins and painted the rest of the room.

The wallpaper was also behind the radiator. Ugh!

Now the walls will be all one color. We're not having anything done to the built-ins at this point. They'll stay like they are for the time being. One day we might re-do them, or rip them out altogether. Who knows?

The wallpaper is gone! And the patching of cracks and holes is done.

We added a second radiator (from the guest bedroom) to the job. They're very, very heavy things, but the contractor said he and his son would take them downstairs, load them into his truck, and take them to his shop for refinishing. That's worth the extra euros as Ken and I would certainly not be able to deal with them otherwise.

The room already looks cleaner, even though it's not.

I'll post more photos as the work progresses. Meanwhile, my work space has been relocated to the loft to a desk that is essentially a piece of plywood on two trestles covered with a screaming yellow table cloth. It's a much bigger work surface than I'm used to.