The Writing Is on the Wall(paper)

I was reading a forum thread about wallpaper. Someone had asked if wallpaper border was outdated. For the most part, the answers were mixed. Most people said that you should do whatever you wanted to do, a belief I firmly echo. Others contended that yes, it is outdated.

Someone made the very valid point that it depended a lot on the look and the overall décor of your home. If your home happens to follow a Victorian theme, wallpaper and border never go out of style.

The mother is all about Victorian. I like most of it. Wallpaper and wainscoating and gilding and dark woods. Frilly frames, bird feathers, beads. Yeah. I like all that. And at This D*mn House, we know a thing or two about some wallpaper and beadboard. Except for the livingroom and diningroom, there is – or will be – beadboard and wallpaper in every other room of the house.

And now that our family has purchased a genuine Victorian era house/restaurant (1850s) and she’s essentially been set loose in it, the mother is thinking 100 miles a minute. Luckily, it already has some appropriate era wallpaper and beadboard. But, in discussing the rehab of the downstairs men’s and ladies’ rooms with my godmother, the new owner of Another D*mn House as I’ve taken to calling it, some changes will definitely be in order.

In the ladies’ room, she’d like a toile pattern. This will be a carryover from one of the dining rooms where she put up a new curtain in merlot toile (courtesy of us, an extra from my future bedroom) and recently purchased wine-colored tablecloths. We’re looking at this pattern, which is eventually going in my bedroom, or this similar pattern.

The problem with the first is that it is virtually discontinued and though I can find the wallpaper, I can’t find the coordinating border. (And I’m not willing to give mine up.) The second pattern’s border was hard to locate but I did find it online. A decision is still to be made. I like them both but we'll see what the g'mother has to say!

The men’s room is going to be done in black and white. This is the pattern currently under consideration. (It’s one we looked at last year for our own bathroom but opted against. Go figure.)

The verdict is still out on the vanities and flooring options. (Of course they’ve neither been fully explored nor fully vetted yet either. ) And both bathrooms will be getting “real” baseboard and molding. Each currently has that nasty brown vinyl industrial crap glued about 4 inches up on the beadboard. The godmother loathes it. I agree.)

It’s amazing how many little things have to be thought out. And I have to keep reminding the mother that while this is a house, it’s not a home – it’s a business. So you can’t have things protruding from walls or furniture all on top of each other. There has to be space to move, unencumbered.

So far, she’s listening. We’ll see how long that lasts.