my 22 year old shelf paper!!!

well, it'll be 22 years old at the end of january!!!
when i was growing up i think i remember my mom painting our kitchen ONCE in the 18 years i lived in her house.  she painted the dining room once too!  the living room had paneling, so that never got painted.  she would wash down the walls yearly though!  the 2 downstairs bedrooms (mom & dad's & mine) & the bathroom (1 SMALL bathroom for 8 people!!!)   were painted once!  i did paint my bedroom  "french violet" (lavendar) when i was in junior high.  then in high school i "wallpapered" it with wicker patterned contact paper  that i bought with my own babysitting money!!!!  that took a lot of rolls of contact paper!!!  but it looked really good!!  it was when i was in my "brown period"!!!   my favorite color was brown.  (i must be in my "black period" now!!!!!)    my room--i think i have a picture of it -- i'll have to find it & scan it into the computer to show you one day!  the 2 upstairs bedrooms had old wallpaper original to the house & nothing ever happened to those walls!!!  (except for my sister maggie "wallpapering" her side of the room with shaun cassidy & leif garrett posters from "tiger beat magazine"!!!!!  she's gonna kill me - but she was gonna marry shaun cassidy!!!  ----that's ok, i was gonna marry parker stevenson   but kirstie alley got him 1st!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (but now they're divorced, so maybe i should give him a call - ha ha!!!!!)

  
shaun's on the left --- parker's on the right.   parker's WAY CUTER than shaun!!!!!






hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!................wonder what he looks like these days?????

    

not too bad!  his eyes are kind of icey though!!!  they'd take some getting used to, but i think i could do it!!!  and he's only 8 years older than me, so that's not bad!!


OK ----------------- how does one get from shelf paper to parker stevenson???????!!!!!!!!

back to shelf paper ----


my mom wasn't one for changing up the decor of the house much, but she did change out the shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets every few years or so.  our kitchen was pretty small with not very many cabinets but it had 2 pantries.  one was for regular food & the other she kept all her home-canned goods.  shelves & shelves & shelves of canned green beans, peaches, pears, applesauce, tomatoes & tomatoe sauce..........& i'm sure much more that i can't even think of.  at the bottom of this cabinet was where the pots & pans were kept----in a big heap!!!!   i think i learned to be such a great organizer because of this!!!!  i'm so like my mom in so many ways, but again, so different!!!!!  (do you know that i'm still thinking about parker stevenson??!!)  anyhow, in this pantry the shelves were lined with newspaper.  i guess it was good for the canning jars.  easy to clean up & replace if needed.  in the other pantry i don't even remember the shelves being covered with anything!  my mind's totally blank!  but the cupboards that held the dishes had real contact paper!  she would change out the contact paper every few years.  i guess that was a cheap & fairly easy way to re-decorate!

when we moved into this house almost 22 years ago, i put cow patterened shelf paper in a few strategic cupboards & on all the shelves in my pantry.  i have always had a cow-themed kitchen.  the wallpaper has changed 4 times in 22 years (soon to be a 5th time, but going with NO wallpaper this time), but there have always been cows - usually on the border.  (i'm debating whether to keep the border or toss it......right now, it's a keeper, but we'll see what happens when i start getting plastered plastering the walls!!)    i LIKE my shelf paper, so even though it's pretty beat up well-used & loved, i've never had the desire to change it. 

when i started painting the kitchen cabinets, i debated about changing the shelf paper.  i needed more polyurethane & even checked out the shelf paper at walmart.  i didn't like any of it.  and it's expensive!!!!!   over 5 bucks a roll - & that's a little roll!!!  & i didn't like any of the designs.  i didn't want to "just settle" for anything & i don't like that rubbery stuff that doesn't stick, because it gets dirty & you can't wipe it as easily & the plates etc mess & bunch it all up & it's forever moving around............i just don't like it!!!! 

so as i'm painting cabinets the other night, i'm thinking about the shelf paper.  (could have been thinking about parker stevenson, but he never crossed my mind then!!!)  i'm thinking, "i LIKE my cow paper.  it's pretty neat that it's 22 years old!!!!"  i'm going to KEEP it!!!!!   wonder if it will last another 22 years???  will i  last another 22 years???!!!!   (if i had parker stevenson around, i might!!!!!!!)

i sanded off the edge of this & painted it so it looks a lot nicer & not all jaggedy.

i like how you can see the "cows" through the chicken wire!!!


there were some shelves that didn't have cow contact paper on & they were a  little rough at the edges -- & i got a little bit of paint on a few of the edges of the shelves----but i didn't want to buy any new contact paper.  well, being the cheapskate  frugal, resourceful person that i am, i decided to use scrapbook paper!!!!!  i mod podged scrapbook paper to the edges of the shelves.   it took just 4 sheets of paper - so for about $1 i did what needed to be done rather than spending $30 or more for shelf paper!!!!!!

this whole furniture refinishing project has only cost me $10.80 because i had to buy another can of poly!!  i have white paint in the garage that i might use for the walls once they're plastered (i have that in the garage too).  i'm debating on whether to tint the paint with a little black to make grey or have them white...............no matter which, the wallpaper really needed to come down!  now that i have a few of the upper cabinets completely done & the doors on, that green wallpaper is really dark next to the black cabinets!

here's a look at the new "shelf paper" & the progress on the cabinets so far:

all nice & organized!!!!   even looks good with the doors off, but i am going to  put them back on!!!!

i'll take a better picture of this when i get the bottom doors on - they're drying right now from the final coat of poly -  it looks like a real piece of stand alone furniture rather than cabinets!!!!   so cool!!!!!

did some rearranging of some of the dishes etc. to different cabinets.  a lot more practical now!

 i love my chicken wire cabinet even more now!!!!!   can't wait to get the knobs put back on!

moved some of the counter top decorations around too!!  i'm really liking it!!!!!  i'll have more pictures as more progress gets done.

well, it's really late - spent the afternoon & evening painting woodwork in the pastor's office.  got the crown moulding all painted, touched up some of the tan, painted the woodwork around the door frames.  still have to finish the doors & the baseboards......

gotta get to bed (& dream about parker stevenson!!!) - tomorrow after church i'm spending the afternoon with a very dear friend!  can't wait!!!!

be blessed!!!! (haven't said that in awhile, have i???)