We started off with caulking the shower room, including filling the gaps between the trim and bare walls. Please enjoy our collage.
Basically, tape off where you want your caulk lines to be, caulk it, run a wet finger over it to smooth it, and then pull up the tape. It's best to do this in sections of only a couple of feet, or at least that was the case with us. The caulk dried fast (you can paint within 40 minutes), so we had to do little sections at a time. The bottom corners of the shower stall were the worst, because so much of the grout had fallen away, so we were basically shooting in the gaps before filling the top. Not as pretty as the clean trim lines, but it gets the job done. Plus, since we'll be painting the trim white in the bathroom, we figure it'll still fairly blend.
Mike and I took turns. He did the awkward shower stall, I did the shower room. Then he spackled the damaged areas of the wallboard, because apparently along with being awesome at taking down wallpaper, he is also great at spackling. He'd spackled the holes left over from the wall-mounted lamp shades in the master, and after painting, you're hard pressed to find where they once were. He's officially the spackler of this household. Maybe I should get him a t-shirt.
While I caulked, Mike applied the second coat on three walls and started on the fourth. We didn't cut in yet, because I wanted to do the trim when mistakes would be consequence free. But as we tidied up this afternoon, it felt like we'd made some progress and were back in control after the wallpaper got its revenge. Huzzah!
Next time, you should use nonpaintable caulk on areas which won't be painted. The paintable stuff attracts and sticks to dust and dirt, so it will always look dirty. Also, caulk comes in several colors, including, IIRC, almond and bisque. Almond would probably match that tile relatively well.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware of the sticky/dusty aspect. It hasn't felt sticky, so maybe we got lucky? We know it comes in several colors, but since the grout (where de-grubbed) is white and the trim was white, it worked. But you're right, we probably should use almond around the countertop, since it's also almond. The previous owners have white caulk there now, but it needs to be removed and redone. It's very pitted and sloppy looking.
ReplyDelete