I remember why I don’t like wallpaper that much – it’s not a fun task to take it off!

I’m sure there are some types of wallpaper that can be easily removed … maybe it’s just the ones my wife picks that aren’t.

We are renovating our kitchen right now. I should really say that Lily is renovating the kitchen. She has done all the planning and work so far.

We have a new range and, in a couple of weeks, we will have a new counter. But before that comes, we needed to take off some wallpaper that Lily had put up as a backsplash above the counter.

The new backsplash will be tile.

I’m not sure if it’s proper protocol, but I would have put the tile right over the wallpaper … if it hadn’t been for Lily’s choice of wallpaper years ago!

This wallpaper has some texture to it. It looks like tile so it’s not really flat against the wall.

But really, how hard could it be to remove paper from a wall?

Well, it turns out that it can be pretty hard.

I came home from work one evening to find Lily working on the wall. She said she had been doing it for a couple of hours and she hadn’t gotten very far.

Of course I tried to help and do a little of the work. But this is what I found: this wallpaper had to come off in three layers!

There was a plastic-like layer that held the colour of the paper; the second layer was sort of foam-like to give it the texture and look of tile. Then under that was the paper with the glue that stuck it to the wall.

Each layer had to come off on its own. Let’s just say there was a lot of scraping that needed to be done.

It reminded me of the last time I took wallpaper off a wall.

At that time we lived in Edmonton and had just bought our first house. The previous owners had some pretty disgusting wallpaper on the living room walls and we wanted it off immediately.

They were also smokers … so picture Lily and I sponging down the walls with brown water dripping down from the ceiling to the floor.

The paper was an old style and pretty much cemented to the wall. It was a brutal job.

This one was cemented much the same. Lily wondered why it was so tough; she had used this same wallpaper in Edmonton. Then she remembered that she never took it off the wall there. She had just put it on a few months before we moved.

Well, the stuff we just destroyed the kitchen walls over has been up for 21 years. Let’s never do that again!

Here’s the thing: Habits stick to us like cement or some kinds of wallpaper. They don’t break or come off easily. That’s good and bad news. The good news is if we have habits that are the kind we should keep, they will stick with us. If we have habits, however, that need to go, be replaced or just displaced, it’s going to be a fight. It will take a lot of work, but you have help. The Lord is with you to help you as you deal with those habits. Lean on His muscle to remove those old habits.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What habits in your life need to be removed? Leave your comments below.