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The trim is in my way, and I don't know what to do!
I'm taking on a project of repainting my old bedroom at my parents house, so they may sell the house and not have to try to convince someone to buy my questionably colored childhood room. It's been a hassle. The room is nearly square, 11'6" by 11'6" by 8' tall, all covered in a dark jungle green paint, froggy wall paper border, a jungle mural, and this hideously orange wood trim on both the top and bottom of the room, around the doors, and the window. Most of the mural has been removed, it was just wallpaper, but the trim is covering up a bit that I cant get to. Our house is a pier and beam house on black clay. The house shifts a lot, and so the trim isn't quite flush with the wall anymore. You can see the leftover wallpaper underneath it but not get enough of a grip on it to remove it. There's also a break in the two of the corners of the room where one wall is scooting apart from the other. I have patching to make it not look as crumbly, but the trim is in my way there as well.
So, my dilemma is this; the trim is covering up old wall paper that can be seen but not removed, it's covering up a split in the wall, and it is just plain ugly. It won't go with the colors I have chosen for the room at all. I want to either paint it, or stain it a dark chocolate color. How on earth do I remove it, not damage the wall or the trim AND be able to stain/paint it and put it back where it was (or if possible make it better)? I only have the funds for paint, stain, and patching. I don't want to have to buy all new trim for this.
I will be sincerely grateful if someone has the knowledge to tell me what to do. Thanks so much for reading my problem.
Secure it to the wall-
Use a utility knife to cut away any remaining wallpaper- this will leave a nice clean edge in-which to caulk.
Paint the trim first-
Then the walls-
I'm not sure if this is the right way to get pictures on here, but here is the evil splitting corner and ceiling trim. photo 1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
This is the floor trim. As you can see, there's quite a large gap in between. The black fuzzy is old steel wool to keep the mice from squeezing in. photo 3 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The above links are not working, see if this link works. Then click through the group of photos.
Yes just cut the paper at the wood, then it will be able to be stripped away, leaving the rest of the paper under the trim. I would suggest painting the trim the same color as the wall if you are going to leave it. It doesn't look too hard to get down, probably just nailed in, but you would have to do quite a bit of patching. The shifting would alarm me if I was a buyer so I would suggest taking the trim down.
Yeah. There's nothing to be done about the shifting for us though. We'd have to change foundations to a concrete slab, and that would take a whole lot of construction and money. We're fixing up as much as we can, and just hope someone wants a project home. We don't have the resources to fix everything.
Yes, that link works! How did you do that? I couldn't figure it out.
Thank you for your advice.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Even the joint where the two pieces of trim meet is out of alignment. I would remove it. Use a metal putty knife to protect the wall then pry bar to get it off. Paint and re-install or leave off. You can make sure the ends meet squarely and use more nails to pull it down flush to the wall without gaps.
Just another opinion here -- I'd remove all the trim, then stain/paint it and reinstall it after you've painted the sheetrock. It should be nailed on with finish nails, then the holes puttied. Removing and reinstalling it should be very simple. (Pry bar/crow bar with something between it and the wall to protect the wall -- like a small 1/4-inch piece of plywood.)
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