;)
The Flowered Wallpaper
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:48PM When we first moved in to this house, the walls were mostly whitish, with a brownish-taupe in the hall, and dark green in the hall bathroom. Wallpaper occupied the borders of two rooms and all of the “Master” bathroom. That “Master” paper had large purple and green flowers (irises?) on a beige field. In this house, the Sonars occupy the “Master” bedroom. Their sleeping, their things, their bathroom are all contained in that space.
When we first moved in to this house, we were flush with the freedom and excitement of being able to do as we pleased with the walls. So naturally we wanted to paint them orange and yellow. Especially in the Sonar room. That wallpaper had to come down. We would not be trapped behind those pale stripes or smothered by the perfume of those flowers.
Don’t believe what they tell you on decorating shows about how easy it is to remove wallpaper. That’s a lie. Removing wallpaper sucks. The only joy in the wallpaper removal came when we discovered that there was no wallpaper behind the giant vanity mirror. We wrote on the wall behind the mirror, “HI” in large, textured loops. Go look. It’s still there behind the glass.
The walls under the wallpaper were the bare paper of sheetrock, with a few scraping gouges and peeling dents from taking down the paper. I shuddered at the echoing, cold, dry, smoothness of that wall. Walls should not be so cold. Walls should not be so smooth. The paper should not feel so dry.
Texture would have to go up before we could citrify the walls. The texture on those walls doesn’t match the rest of the room because we are amateur mud workers. With the orange and yellow paint, the texture is the last thing most people notice. But I am comforted by the texture, the knife-applied strokes that bend sound and wrap the room in cozy imperfection.
Eglentyne
Two minutes after I hit ‘post’ I found a picture of the wallpaper. No, not irises, and much less purple than I remembered. Anyone know the flower?
;)
Two mini-Sonars and the pre-citrus flowery wallpaper, c2005
Domesticity, It Looks Like I'm Doing Nothing..., Sonars in Words, World 
Reader Comments (2)
I recognize that wall paper. Someone had it, or perhaps it matches a sofa I once sat on.
First, I wish I could keep all my children's things and bathroom contained within a master bedroom with attached bath--heaven.
Also, our walls are ultra textured which is pretty cool if you look at them. The house was built in the 40's and the living room, stairway/hall and kitchen have large leaves popping up from the plaster. It's an odd texture/pattern, one that isn't seen often. The rest of the walls are "normal" plaster bumpy.
Happy Yellow and Orange to you!
Thank you, Victoria! I love the idea of a leafy texture on the walls. Our orange and yellow is not new. It was six years old this summer, so it's almost as old as the youngest Sonar. I was thinking about "The Yellow Wallpaper" a couple of weeks ago, though, and this wallpaper came to mind. xo