Wallpapering Stories from the Past

It seems from some of the renovation shows on TV these days that wallpaper is somewhat back in fashion.  It takes me back to the very early 70s when wallpaper was going through a fashionable cycle.  At that time we were renovating the girls’ bedroom.  Mind you at the time we didn’t know that there would be 2 girls in the room as I was eight and a half months pregnant with YD but in those days we didn’t know in advance the gender of the baby soon to be born.  Clever eldest daughter [CED] and Eldest son [ES] were both at school and youngest son CJ was a bit over two.

The wallpaper was chosen and, instructions to hand, Hu R started the job.  Neither of us had wallpapered before. Unfortunately R was coming down with the flu and had little patience.  So after the 3^rd time he attempted to put the 1^st strip on the wall and it ended in disaster with the air growing bluer by the minute with frustrated words, I convinced him to go to bed and I set out to conquer the task myself.

Being eight and a half months pregnant with a baby who turned out to be 9pounds 2 ounces [ don’t ask me to convert to kilos- that’s a lost cause even today], lumbering up and down a ladder, wallpaper strip in hand and  trying to get the patterns to match, was no easy job.  Buy hey; I was young and confident in those days – nothing would beat me. On the floor in front of the section of the wall to be papered I had positioned the water-well containing the wallpaper roll and water to activate the glue.  I eventually got into a rhythm that was working well.  Two year old CJ was outside in the yard playing in the sandpit.  He kept coming in and out to talk to me and watch.

Then just as I started up the ladder he came in again and stood with his little hands behind his back solemnly watching me.   Just as I got to the top of the ladder and had begun to position the paper he whipped his little bucket from behind his back and tipped a heap of sand into the water-well. He stood for a second as I watched in horror and then he took off like a little rabbit.  I lumbered down the ladder and took off after him.  But what was I to do when I caught him but scold him and laugh.  Then I went back to try to salvage the mess.

I soldiered on at the task all day.  My lovely friend and neighbour P came over later in the afternoon with a bacon and egg pie for the family’s tea.  God bless her heart because by the time I was finished I was stuffed.  But the room looked fabulous and I had become a whizz at wallpapering. Over the next few years of constant renovations I wallpapered quite a few of the rooms.

These days I can think of few things worse than having to wallpaper. I’m content to watch others on the TV do this and just feel grateful I’m not doing it. 

As a footnote to this story – years later when the kids were pretty well grown we set out to do some minor redecorating in order to sell the house we had after the one mentioned above.  CED offered to strip the walls of the out dated wallpaper. She laboured for some weeks at this task – a horrible job to do.  Now we had 2 Berman cats at the time – long haired white with red tips who were very curious of the whole process.  Eventually we realized that they had become covered in glue and their fur became knotted.  We spent weeks combing or cutting out the knots. A process neither we nor the cats enjoyed.

So anyone else with wallpaper stories  they’d like to share, feel free to comment.