The Dreaded Removal of Wallpaper and the Norwex Solution

Part 5 in “Gretchen’s Journey” where she delves into the idea of cleanliness without chemicals…

Perhaps I was simply born in the wrong era to appreciate wallpaper. Many years ago, I had the privilege of being in my Mom’s Bible study group along with several of her friends. For the year end celebration, I invited this special group of ladies over for lunch. Having moved into our new house only a few months earlier, I was excited to begin making memories there. Gathering in our kitchen, I heard a repeated compliment, “The wallpaper looks so nice in here.”  Looking back, I have to say that it probably was not as bad as a I thought. After all, the plaid pattern and apple border did match my kitchen.  Despite that, I was anxious to remove it.

One day not long after the lunch, I did just that. Borrowing my parents’ steamer, I scored the walls then removed the paper. I remember the process being fairly easy. Except for the final clean-up. The pieces of backing seemed to stick no matter what I did. Washcloths just spread the mess more. Expecting baby #4 at the time, I just decided to let those pieces go for the time being.   Years later, and my walls were still messy.

Here’s my “before” picture of the sticky walls:

I am not alone in this aberration of wallpaper. In searching online for thoughts on wallpaper removal, many opinions are spouted. Most of them are rather negative toward the process. Tips include everything from using to champagne to fabric softener to vinegar water. That works fine if you are okay with your kitchen smelling like an Easter egg or if you want to rub toxic chemicals all over your walls. Traditional wallpaper stripper is always an option too. Steaming did work for me mostly. Other than the fact that I had specks of brown paper of various sizes speckling my wall for over five year!

In anticipation of moving this spring, we needed to paint the kitchen. Not wanting to have bumpy walls permanently, I was finally compelled to take action. Grabbing an enviro cloth, I started scrubbing away. Within 10 minutes, I had perfectly scrubbed smooth walls. That’s right – TEN MINUTES! Argh! If only I had known about Norwex months earlier, I could have been enjoying a fresher kitchen for longer!

Here’s the “after” picture where I had quickly cleaned off the goo with a Norwex Enviro Cloth.

Here’s a before and after of our cleaned and painted wall.

Stay tuned.  I have many more fun cleaning challenges as I go on this journey of Norwex’ing my home!

~ Gretchen