Applying Wallpaper to Our Ceiling (& Wondering How That Title Could Sound Fun)

Wallpapering the ceiling.  It’s definitely takes two for this tango, yet there’s nothing romantic about sore necks and strained arms in this final stage of our kitchen remodel.  I’m not exactly a fan of the flying glue, either.  We’ve never done any wallpapering before; we have no plans to do it again.  Nonetheless, progress is progress.  Here ya go before the drama began:

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And another shot pre-application, pre-arm hair pasted to our limbs.  The wallpaper goes in the nice little L we’ve cut.  You can see the smaller, bluer L in the center of our missing wallpaper, which is where our original kitchen walls used to be:

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We have no after shots of our wallpaper.  It was pitch black when we finished, and we don’t have lights in our kitchen yet.  All we know is that we’re glad the ceiling doesn’t look this bad any more:

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I still have to whitewash everything.  White paint isn’t paint here in Germany.  It’s watery whitewash, and I am waiting to do that job when Martin is at work.  I think he’d have an anxiety attack if he sees me splashing whitewash on our cabinets.  YES, I’ll wash it off.  Though I’d like to say it’s good that I’m honest:  YES, I know it’ll get all over everything.  An upside down paintbrush with runny liquid?  Hardly my fault.

Why the heck would we put wallpaper on the ceiling?

I took the liberty of assuming you’d ask why we’re wallpapering our ceiling.  It sounds REALLY weird to me, and I’m the one doing it!

In the United States, people put thin sheets of drywall up around wooden frames, tape them together with a bit of mud, and splatter texture all over the walls.  Then they prime and paint.

In Germany, the walls are either solid plaster (like our kitchen) or reinforced concrete filled with rebar (like our walls dividing our apartment from the neighbors).  As far as I know, the seams aren’t neatly sealed with mud and tape; they’re so tight that they don’t need to be.  The wallpaper is white paper with bits of wood that I originally thought was a roll of art paper.  Once applied, the wallpaper is whitewashed or painted.  The walls are very breathable.  The dried paint is soft.  We nick it with our bike pedals in the hallway and leave little white spots where the paint peels.

Maybe we’re not the most romantic buds in the bouquet.

(Images by Katie for Making This Home)