On a spur-of-the-moment Fourth of July visit, my son appointed himself my assignments editor for this blog and requested a post about what our current house looked like when we moved in. He was two-and-a-half at that time and has only vague memories of the home we lived in before this one. Our daughter wasn’t even born yet when we moved into this house. For both of them, this house will always be the home they grew up in.
So this post is my response to my son’s assignment. While he was visiting, I showed my son the old wallpaper samples I kept.
Half-bath — the only original wallpaper still in the house
The only room in the house that has not changed its wall coverings from when we moved in thirty-five years ago is a half bathroom on the main floor. All the other wallpapers we chose originally have been removed, and only the dining room and the master bedroom and bath were re-papered. The other rooms are now all painted.
Great room string paper
The great room string wallpaper. String papers were the height of fashion in 1984. Unfortunately, this paper didn’t wear well with two little kids crawling and playing on the floor. Rather than putting the floor molding over the paper, the paper was cut at the top of the molding. Within a few years, it started to unravel. I glued down the worst offending strings, but by the time we started a major redecorating project in 2002 (which lasted until 2004), this paper was looking pretty worn.
Master bedroom — below the chair rail
The master bedroom wallpaper. My husband and I had specified that this paper should be installed below the chair rail in the master bedroom, with paint above the chair rail. But the builder got it backward. We made him tear it out and do it the way we wanted because we didn’t want to put holes in the paper when we hung pictures. But years later, when we re-papered the master bedroom, we reversed ourselves and put the paper above the chair rail. And we have put holes in it to hang pictures. The holes will remain for our buyer to deal with. They aren’t too bad.
Master bath
And the original master bath paper was compatible with the master bedroom. Now we have wallpaper featuring birds in the master bath, which I have never liked.
Front hall
The front hall wallpaper. The hall walls were not cleaned very well before the paper was installed, and I could always see the imperfections and bumps under the paper. Now the hall is painted a deep, dark blue—one of my favorite colors. I could sit in the hall all day now, except there aren’t any chairs.
Dining room — bright and cheery
The dining room wallpaper. I loved the original dining room paper. It went well with the Karastan rug we had brought from our former house. We’d bought the rug to match the dining room wallpaper in that first house of ours, and then we designed the dining room in this house to match the rug. But when we redecorated this room in about 2004, the decorator told me the paper was dated and I had to get something new. So I did. I like the new paper, but not as much as the original, even if I agree it is dated.
Kitchen
The kitchen wallpaper. The kitchen paper was an unremarkable pattern and lasted well until we painted the room during our remodel. There’s still a half-inch wide strip of this paper next to the ovens that never got removed. Too much trouble for the contractor, I suppose. It’s not a big deal—I only noticed it about a year ago.
Unfortunately, the only original sample I didn’t keep was of the sailboat border in my son’s room. We had a border of sailboats at chair rail height and at the ceiling, and when our two-year-old first saw it, he broke out in a grin and shouted, “Boats and boats and lots of boats.” The border stayed until he moved into the basement bedroom when he started high school. Then we tore out the sailboats and replaced them with wood moldings to make the room into an office for grown-ups.
In addition to the wall coverings, we have recarpeted, repainted, and refinished just about every aspect of the house. But the wallpaper samples are one of the few original decorations I can show.
More on Wednesday about my son’s memories of this house. Since he assigned me this post, it’s only fair I take some content from him for my next post.
What strong memories do you have about your earlier homes?
