Wallpapering: a combination of art, science, and evil

Here's how the office project was supposed to go:
10:00 am Wipe down old wallpaper to rid of dust and cobwebs
10:30 am Lay down dropcloths, set out equipment and materials
10:45 am M & M break
11:00 am Put up wallpaper
6:00 pm Finished! Have dinner.

This is how it actually went:
10:00 am Wipe down old wallpaper.
10:02 am Mom decides old wallpaper needs to be removed.
10:02:30 am Stew about how people at wallpaper store were wrong.
10:03 am Start removing wallpaper (I'm very thankful for my little Wagner Power Steamer. Made things move much more quickly).
2:00 pm Realize that since we'll be wallpapering to bare plaster, we need different stuff to apply the wallpaper.
4:30 pm Zoom over to wallpaper store before they close to get new stuff. Cost: $30. Grr.
7:00 pm Finish removing wallpaper. Floor covered with gobs of dried old wallpaper and paste.
9:00 pm Roll on Shieldz wall prep. Also, paint toe by accident and drip on floor (don't tell Todd) because you are too tired and irritated to put down a dropcloth.

Day II (which wasn't supposed to happen!)
10:00 am Start papering.
6:30 pm Stop papering to go have dinner with in-laws.
9:00 pm Finish hanging last three pieces.
10:30 pm Glare at wallpaper and mess in living room on the way to bed. Finally finished.

Before, you may remember that the wallpaper in my office was a rather nondescript tan and gold pattern. Following our wallpapering job, it turned out like this:

This is a closeup of the paper. It's a white background with blue maps and charts. Also, my crafty mom suggested wrapping the lightswitch plate so I didn't have to get a new one.


For those interested (and I have had a number of questions) the location of the map wallpaper is here:
View Larger Map

and also here:

View Larger Map

In the next couple of weeks, I will get the paneling cut to size and painted, then put that on the bottom part of the wall. I think I'm also going to panel the south wall, which I'd been planning on building bookcases into. That might happen sometime in the future, but I think I need to learn to make things that don't wobble when someone sneezes before undertaking that project.

Lastly, a big thanks to this: