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DIY enthusiast Megan Ziets is living proof that DIY is totally possible. When Megan and her family of five had to move out of their New York apartment, they completely gutted their colorful, maximalist DIY home with a little effort.
Megan and her family removed peel-and-stick wallpaper from the living room, entryway, and refrigerator, removed peel-and-stick tiles from the kitchen, returned the color-soaked green master bedroom to white, and restored the room's wallpaper. . In the space-savvy children's room, they put back the light fixtures that had been replaced, put back the old plastic blinds, removed the outdoor hangout area, reinstalled the closet door, and reinstalled the seat mirror.
Below, check out the complete transformation life cycle of the apartment during the period in which the Zietz family lived. The “Before” label is from when we first moved in, when it was completely empty. “Meanwhile” refers to the extremely colorful four years she spent there. And the “after” photo is from the day we moved out, after we put all the projects back together. Here are the best tips Megan learned while doing and undoing all her maximalist projects so she could leave her apartment with a clean slate (and keep her landlord happy!). to introduce.
Add a cushioning layer of contact paper before using your peel and stick tiles.
“Peel-and-stick tiles are great, don't get me wrong, but they tend to peel the paint off,” Megan explains. “Around the same time, she had a friend who was decorating, and she was peeling and pasting tiles and tearing down drywall.”
This damage can occur because peel-and-stick tiles are heavier than most peel-and-stick materials, and the heat in your kitchen can make the adhesive especially sticky. So, before installing the white peel-and-stick backsplash herself, Megan first added a layer of peel-and-stick contact paper to the wall. Then I stuck the tiles on top of it. “I always did that because it makes it so much easier to take it off,” she says.
Start with outdoor projects that need to be flipped first.
Meghan and her family made sure to restore every inch of their old apartment DIY, right down to the command hooks they used to hang string lights on their backyard porch. Megan's husband also took away the composting station he had built.
That said, Megan recommends doing all outdoor work first (with clean white walls in her apartment) due to the potential for stains and the fact that outdoor repairs took longer than expected. We recommend that you do this before reverting.
Your favorite white paint is the perfect blank slate.
Megan and her family lived what she calls a “no-frills” lifestyle, so they patched up holes in the walls and painted all the walls white. “I just painted and covered everything with her KILZ,” she says.
“Technically in New York, landlords have to paint every two years, but[our landlord]never had to do that,” Megan added. “So we said, 'You can paint it any color you want when you leave, but we'll strip it all off and you'll just paint it once.'”
In fact, pasting wallpaper is easier than peeling and pasting.
Megan had two types of wallpaper in her house. One is traditional and his one is peel and stick. She found the former much easier to work with, both for installation and removal.
“I can't believe I didn't know about this sooner! Is traditional wallpaper easy to remove?!” Megan wrote on Instagram. “This @lust.home wallpaper was a dream to remove and came right off with a little steam from a clothes steamer. Unbelievable. Am I a converter of traditional wallpaper? I think so. It turns out that pasted wallpaper is also available in rentals. It's easier to apply than peel and stick, so don't sleep on it.”
When removing peel-and-stick paper, Megan recommends doing so at a 45-degree angle to minimize damage to the underlying paint. They also recommend using vinegar in a spray bottle and a rag to remove any remaining adhesive.
Cheap materials eventually reveal their true nature.
“We covered the fridge with removable wallpaper and contact paper, but when it came to removal and installation, quality was everything,” says Megan. “The $10 roll of contact paper you buy on Amazon was a pain to remove. …It didn't cause any damage, but it was still painful because it came off in small strips.”
Megan says that while wallpaper may be cheap, one lesson she learned is that “in the long run, you might be willing to pay a little more for a higher quality product.” .
Don't be afraid to add your personality to your rental.
The most important thing, Megan says, is that “if you want to paint your apartment and make it your home for the rest of your life… you absolutely can.” In the end, it took Megan and her family just over a week to get the whole project back up and running. “It was so shocking to see each room change back to its original state,” she says.