Perfectly Imperfect

Put the plug in the sink, add lukewarm water up above the line that no amount of scrubbing can get off, sift in some flour, mix until smooth-almost-and you’ve got some mighty fine wallpaper paste. Time for a fresh new look in the living room. Wallpaper to the rescue. Every few years mom needs to add another layer of wallpaper for a new look in the living room. Usually she finds the rolls at a yard sale and that’s how we choose what our decor will be.

Classy.

All the pictures come down along with the cobwebs, and there are quite a few. Pictures that is. Mom’s added the leaves to the kitchen table to make it as big as possible. “Andee, give the paste another stir,” she tells me when checking the goo in the sink. She grabs the wallpaper brush that will slather the paper with the goo. It’s a gigantic looking beast of a brush. Like whoever did it for the first time put together four massive paintbrushes and then used duct tape to secure all the handles together. It’s awkward cause mom’s hands are so small. But she manages. She has a mission.

We’ve measured the first strip and I hold down the edges while mom slaps on the goo. It doesn’t smell bad, but wet goo doesn’t necessarily smell great. It’s better than wet dog smell at least. After we’re sure that it’s good and covered, we gingerly carry the wet paper to the wall. Mom at one end me at the other and a fair amount of sway between the two ends.

Mom climbs on top of the step-stool, a.k.a. a kitchen chair, and balances shifting her feet until she feels pretty solid. We carefully line the paper up with the edge of the wall and try to eyeball it to make sure the lines are straight, well as straight as you can get it cause there’s not a single straight line in our house. “Andee, step back and see if it’s straight. Never mind, come hold it and I’ll take a look.” It needs a little readjustment to make it look straight. Mom climbs back up and I hold on from down below while she smooths and straightens the paper in place. She runs the edge of a ruler back and forth, and up and down, then back and forth from the top to the bottom to make sure the excess amount of goo is removed. I’m waiting with a towel for the slop to drip so I can sop up all that mess. When mom’s happy with the placement, we move on to the next piece. And the next. Until we’ve made it all the way around the living room.

I’m sure we are better insulating our house cause it’s about the sixth time we’ve papered these walls. Our home is the most cozy after we get all the pictures back up on the walls. Most of them are from Grandma McDonald. She is such a great artist. Her barn pictures are my favorite. We move the furniture around a bit also to give the living room a total makeover.

It looks gorgeous.