This is my library. At least, this is how it looked shortly after we moved into the house. It had two green walls and two white walls.

We decided to redo it when we had a new ceiling put in (due to water damage from a leaking roof).

So now we have two purple walls…

Then I realized that there is real wood behind the paint….

And I created a real mess because I decided that the paint had to go. And it went, though not without a fight. It really put up lot of resistance.

But I am my father’s daughter and stubborn to a fault…

All that it took was a month, a lot of elbow grease, stripper, mineral spirits, sand paper, and a dental pick. Yes, a dental pick. It worked great to get in all of the little crevices and knots. I went to the dollar store and bought a dental kit that included the pick, a tongue scraper, and a brush. I figured that for $1 I could use them on my walls.

I took as much of the paint off as I possibly could. There were some spots that I just couldn’t get. And there were other spots that were different colors because nobody had removed trim when they would change the wall color.

Once I had determined that I was finished removing paint I put a light coat of stain on it to match the bookshelves. It really helped to warm up the room.

Here you can see that the wall doesn’t match the bookshelves perfectly, but it’s closer than what it was before I stained it.

Yes, I kept the one wall white because it is actually that cheap paneling that you buy at the home improvement stores and I didn’t know what I would get myself into if I removed it. It adds a nice contrast, though.

I put two coats of high gloss poly on it and I really like how it turned out.

I had to hurry up and finish this wall because the weather was getting colder and we really needed the thermostat back on the wall.

It was a lot of work, but I’m happy with the results. Now I just have to do all of the trim and the doors…

What do you think?