Ok so every house I’ve ever owned has started uhh, well less than perfect. Possibly close to uninhabitable in the eyes of some. Especially me. I’m a night at the Hilton vs. Camping in a tent kinda girl if you get my drift. So anyway, over the next few days I’m going to share some of what I consider the most gruesome highlights of the house we have now. I think I’ll do some before and after shots just for the fun of it. :) Thanks to the ladies at the MCC Grand Opening Chat for the inspiration here.

We were chatting about home decor and got onto the topic of wallpaper. Wallpaper and I have had many intimate meetings over the last 7 years or so. It seems I always get a house that the person before decided to wallpaper… over and over and over again. Of course never removing one layer before adding another. It is almost like a treasure hunt as you peel each layer off to find another layer underneath that reflects on an era long past.

For example, and this is probably the BEST example I have… How many of you have ever come across a layer of wallpaper celebrating the United States Bicentennial (1975)? I sadly, can say that I have seen such wallpaper and I hope to never lay eyes on it again. Back in 1975 wallpaper I don’t think was manufactured with the intent of ever actually being REMOVED from the walls. So each piece came off in about 1/2″ strips that were about 5″ to 6″ long if you were lucky.

And what would this story be without a photo to share. As you know if you read this on a regular basis, I’ll take a photo of just about everything. lol. Really. Anyway, without further ado…

You’ll notice that this layer of wallpaper was uniquely situated UNDER a layer of CEDAR SHINGLE that was NAILED to the walls in this particular room. Thats a pile of some of them there on the floor. Interesting decor choice I know. I suppose I should be grateful that the cedar was nailed and not glued. There is a silver lining to everything I guess.

Why couldn’t these people have celebrated the Bicentennial like everyone else with a special US Mint coin… quarters, half-dollars, Eisenhower dollars?? No, instead they too the far more sensible approach and wallpaper our house in celebration. That makes so much more sense.

~j