An American in Provence

I have this week off, as my office decided to close for the week. This is mainly because almost everyone was already on vacation, and it becomes practically impossible to do business mid-August in France as all OTHER business are closed. Since we are still busy working on the apartment, I decided I would rent a dewallpaperer and attack. Last week, I reserved a machine from the company Kiloutou ("Who rents all"- mainly building supplies). I picked it up early Monday morning- it is 20€ for a day and 60€ for a week. Uh, I think I will take a week thanks. Hauled it home, as well as four bottles of the chemical product that supposedly aids in the removal.
Started it up, managed to figure out the best way to use it. Great idea Megan, rent a steam machine in August! I have burned fingers now and a sore back.
Yesterday I managed to remove the wallpaper in the two largest rooms- the living room and our bedroom. No nasty surprises, just ugly bare walls underneath. Today I decided to work on the hallway. To my surprise, it was painted blue underneath. Not exactly the shade of blue we want (too bad) but gives us a good idea of how it will look when we paint it. Only this wallpaper is proving much more difficult to remove. It is textured with a foamy crepe-like layer, so the top layer just peels off, leaving the glue layer underneath. I managed to get about half the hallway done, then started on the kitchen. I removed half of the kitchen wallpaper, revealing a yellowy paint underneath. Tomorrow- try to finish the hallway and perhaps the toilet room. Then all that will be left are the two extra bedrooms, but those will prove more difficult, as we have a lot of stuff stored in them, such as boxes, tools, and bathroom tiles.