Monday, January 08, 2007

Never hang wallpaper with a man around



Yup - that is one of the cardinal rules of wallpaper borders at my house. I have a huge dining/living room 17 x 35 ft. The borders pictured are not in that room. The border on the bottom is in my bathroom and I love it. I will probably use the one on the top in the studio.

I hopped over to AmyRue this morning and she was talking about buying paint. I laughed as her story brought to mind me buying wall paper border for the dining room. We lived in a tiny place at first. Then bought this house. Huge rooms - high ceilings - major decorating philosophy adjustment. Everything I bought was too small in scale. So after many mistakes - I painted everything white and quit for a while. Then I started a little at a time. I finally painted the living room a color called "Summer Rye" sounds gold but its not. It is a wonderful chocolate milk brown. I wanted a big border for the top. Searched for months and had an AH-HA moment when I found it. 12 inches wide - black background - country rustic - watering cans - in love.

Take off to wallpaper store. Here is where the true fun begins. Have any of you encountered this saleslady???? I walked in with my torn off sample and told the young lady that I want 12 rolls of this border. She informed me it was a special order.

conversation as follows.

Me - thats fine. I can wait. I want to order 12 rolls of this border.

SL - that will be expensive

ME - I know how much it is per roll. 12.99 plus tax. thats fine. Is there a special order fee or freight?

SL - yes ma'am. 10.00 special order and then whatever the freight is. That will be expensive.

ME - Do you require a deposit?

SL - Yes ma'am we require full payment on special orders.

ME - Okay - what will the total be.

SL - that will be a lot of money.

Me - (now I am amused and aggravated) well young lady how much is this "lot of money" and would you like ot take it from me or shall I give it to someone who wants it?

Sl - relenting - takes my order and my check and orders wall paper.

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Fast forward to hanging day. Mom is there and so is that man at my house. It took all day to hang said border at 10 foot ceiling height beacuse we had to hang it twice. His way (by stretching it out and sliding it into place) and the right way. My mother saw me threaten to kill him. The children saw me threaten to kill him. Visitors saw me threaten to kill him. And those threats my dears were real. We will never NEVER hang border together again. Hire it out. Beg mother for help. Do it slowly by myself - NEVER WILL THAT ESCAPADE OCCUR AGAIN.

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Too funny - I really should have listened to the sales lady and not bought that "lot of money" border. Everyone would have been much happier in the end.

That was only the beginning of realizing that we don't need to work together on projects - come to think about it we really don't work together well on many things.

Do you have funny stories or disasters worth sharing about projects or remodeling? Share with us please.

Have a wonderful day.

2 comments:

Roxanne said...

Ha! That is a funny story, but I definitely feel your pain. My husband thinks my creative endeavors are certifiably nuts and wouldn't even dream of getting involved. Maybe there is a happy medium somewhere? I think you already nailed it - call your mother :)

Vallen said...

This is a rule I learned long ago: one sheriff to a town, one chef in a kitchen. You can probably extend it to wallpapering.