And I was so impatient to change them we started stripping the wallpaper within ten minutes of getting the keys to the house (hence the bare wall by the window!). We were planning to patch up any damage to the wall and repaint, hoping that the room would be ready to move in to after a few weeks. But then this happened:
Since the walls weren't in the best condition we thought it would be a good opportunity to replace the plasterboard and add some insulation. But once the walls were taken down some new problems emerged: uneven rafters and a sagging ceiling. Once we realised what a big and expensive project we had undertaken things stalled, and the room stayed like this for months.
Recently Owen decided to finally finish the room, so within the last few weeks he's evened out the rafters, rounded up some friends to help replace the ceiling, and last weekend we installed the insulation.
With all the progress we were on a bit of a roll, and managed to get the new plasterboard up as well. The next job is plastering all the joins, and then we'll finally be ready to paint!
The only thing holding us back now is earthquake related. Our house didn't suffer any major damage but it's settled a bit, which means the whole place will probably need to be lifted so the foundations can be fixed. When the house is lifted the existing cracks will most likely be made worse and new ones might be created, so finishing the bedroom now may mean patching and repainting again in a few of months.
Out latest plan is to finish the plastering, see if either of our parents have paint leftover from their recent renovations, and do a couple of coats of whatever paint we end up with. Once the foundations have been fixed and the house is sorted we'll buy some paint and redo it properly. This means that hopefully we'll be able to move in to the bedroom in a few weeks, even if we have to wait a little longer to finish it completely. I can't wait!