creeky
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# Posted: 5 Jul 2015 09:02am
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wallpaper. experiment #1
When I went to buy wallpaper I went to a shop that sells recycled bits. They had wallpaper paste, wallpaper brushes, wallpaper trays: all donated. And two enormous bins of wallpaper. Very few with two rolls to match.
A pair of volunteers, lovely ladies of a later generation than even mine, hurried over when they saw I was looking at the various bits and bobs with my typical expression of puzzlement when faced with a new to me technology.
"Thinking of doing some wallpapering?" they asked astutely.
"Yes," I said carefully. Then, for some reason, a reason certainly not in mind, I added, "I've never done wallpapering before. Is it hard?"
"Oh," laughed the two women together turning to each other and sharing a look of joy. "It's as easy as anything now. Used to be a bit messy when you had to paste the paper but now you just run the paper through water and then slap it on the wall."
The laughed to show me how easy it was. Laughed and laughed in fact.
"What do I need?" I asked laughing myself in the spirit of the thing.
"Why hardly anything at all," said the jovial lady with bushy grey hair. "Forget all those brushes, and scrubbies, a clean cloth is all you need."
"He will need a tray for the water," said the giggling woman with her hair in a bun.
"Oh yes, a tray," said the jovial one. "Just like this," and she brought down a long black tray.
The two woman, with much giggling and laughing, took a paper sample and showed me how to run the paper through the water.
The giggling one did mention something about how something might be missing from my tray. "Isn't there a wire to hold the paper," I believe she said.
"Oh, that's old fashioned now," laughed the other.
"A clean cloth and this tray, that's it?"
"Yup," said the two. And they charged me an enormous twenty-five cents to carry the tray out the door.
I'm not sure why they followed me to the door, laughing and waving, but last I heard, "do come back and let us know how it works out."
Poor dears were so red with glee I felt I'd better get gone before one or the other needed pulmonary resuscitation. I have to say I left feeling quite pleased that I was ready for my first adventure in wallpapering. So simple. Run the paper through water. Slap it on the wall. Smooth it out. Rub it with a cloth. Ha.
Well, what with one thing and another it took some time for the paper to show up from the online bargain center and for me to have a day to paper.
Today was that day.
I thought, before I get carried away, wouldn't it be best to experiment with my papering? So I carefully cut three 44" and one 28" followed by two correctly trimmed 34" pieces. The 28" I put over the remaining roll and tucked it away.
Then I thought, I don't really need a spirit level to draw a vertical line like the videos online show. I have a horizontal line already on the wall I'll go by that.
Of course I didn't tell the ladies I was going to do my set up outside on the deck. Nor did I flinch when I saw that the actual instructions included with the paper did not exactly coincide with what my lovely friends had told me.
No. Nor did I anticipate a wonderful slightly overcast day with no wind. It probably could have been timed better, well for me, as the mosquitoes were about as bad as I've seen them this year. The hasty dashing back and forth, did that play a roll in what came next?
I carefully poured fresh rain water into the black tray. I spilled quite a lot as the mossies came at me with some vigour. Water on the grass though. No worries.
I then took my first roll of paper. Soak for 30 seconds it said. But the ladies said just roll the paper through. So I rolled the paper through. I began to see what they meant by missing a piece. The paper kind of flapped back and forth. Crinkled. Warped. Wiggled. All in all became something of a handful.
I resorted back to the printed instructions and rather than carrying the paper to the wall I folded it over and let it rest. It said 5 minutes. But you know, when you're busy preparing and wetting and folding, what is five minutes?
After a time, a certain time, not that I'm certain how much time that was, I took my first folded sheet and tugging at it to get it to unfold I made my way to the wall.
Ha. I cried triumphant. I matched the top edge of the paper to the horizontal line left by the wall board. I pressed down with my hand just as the ladies had suggested. I grabbed my cloth. I squished out the bubbles. I turned away and went for the next sheet.
Now, I wish I could tell you, after all this build up, that something dramatic happened. But no. I came back with the second sheet and slapped it up. Jiggled it into place. Used my hands to smooth it onto the wall. Pressed out the bubbles with the clean cloth. Went and got another piece.
I suppose I'll have to call those two the laughing buddhas. For their instructions were precisely what I needed. Make a simple job sound simple. For a simple man. Perfect.
My experiment is a success. I have wallpapered half a wall, a 10 foot stretch in about the time it took me to write this post.
Does it look as good as the pictures online. Heck no. Not even close. Was it easy. Hang ya. Will it still be stuck up there tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
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hattie
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# Posted: 5 Jul 2015 01:02pm
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A neighbour of mine called me at midnight one night when I lived in Ontario to ask me to help her hang some wallpaper. She wanted it up before her husband came back from a business trip. I had hung wallpaper many times before and found it quite satisfying to get such a good effect from so little effort.
The wine started flowing and we started hanging the paper. It was late at night (actually by now the wee hours of the morning) but we didn't care. Did I mention there was lots of wine flowing that night?!
Anyhoo we got the first wall done and stood back to admire our work. It turned out that there was a very subtle pattern that needed matching and we hadn't noticed that. Did I mention there was lots of wine flowing that night?!
The wallpaper was smooth and straight, but the pattern looked pretty wonky. My neighbour wanted to take it down and try to reuse the paper even though I insisted no one would notice the wonkiness. Did I mention there was lots of wine flowing that night?!
So, very carefully, we took the paper down and reapplied it to the wall. Believe it or not, it actually stuck!!! We carried on well past the end of the wine and managed to get the walls done.
I figured the next morning I'd better go over to see what it looked like without any wine flowing through my veins. It looked AMAZING!!! That wallpaper stayed up through two other owners of the house before someone finally took it down.
I guess today most think wallpaper is an old lady's thing but, given the right paper design, it can have an amazing effect and anybody can do it. 
You'll have to post some pictures of your work creeky!!! Congratulations!!!
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