The 25 year old faucet in my backyard is near failure. It squeaked when
turned and it's not a metalic squeak, but twisting-the-cork-off-a-bottle
kind of squeak, and water drips out of the handle at certain point. I have
managed to adjust it so that water is shut off and is not dripping out of
the handle.

This sillcock goes into the house in between a wall. On one side of the wall
is a kitchen cabinet, on the other side is the living room. I have to choose
one of the walls to cut an opening for repair.

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/12296239_88hEN

On the cabinet side, the height of the pipe is 1 inch from the middle shelf,
and the shelf is not made to be removable. Even if the middle shelf is
removed, it would still be a tight space to work in.

On the living room side, it is easy to cut the hole to work on the pipe, but
repairing the drywall may leave a sign of repair due to slightly mismatched
paint and texture.

Any words of wisdom?