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Layers and Layers of Wallpaper

Posted on April 21, 2013 by | 2 Comments

Have you ever during a renovation, uncovered many layers of wallpaper? It’s like an archeological dig. Or scraping, more like it.

Here’s what we found when we renovated our master bathroom back in 2006. These vintage layers were lurking behind the vanity:

Master-Bathroom-Vintage-Wallpaper-Layers

Our house, built in 1969, had only two owners before us and apparently both liked mint and beige-yellow in the bathroom. Neither do your complexion any favors, I can tell you from experience. But it was mushy walls and floors that made us rip out the bathroom, wallpaper still attached to the wallboard on its way to the garbage. Thank goodness.

But some wallpaper layers look pretty cool. There’s something to letting wallpaper peel naturally or scraping it artfully, then photographing it. Have a look …

Photo by L’imaGiraphe on Flickr:

Peeling Wallpaper by L'imaGiraphe on Flickr

Hmmm, Apartment Therapy already discussed this – there are no original ideas any more:

Wallpaper Layers via Apartment Therapy

I’m really a fan of decay and abandonment! Believe it or not. It’s not always morbid. There can be beauty. Like in this gorgeous photo of 300 years of wallpaper, photographed by Charles Linden shared on Flickr:

There’s a whole series of photos of the room where these layers were found in his Farmhouse Renovations series, with more images of scraped and peeled wallpapers.

If I’m reading right — and I keep thinking my eyes are deceiving me — this is a textile not wallpaper layers, by Gina Pierce:

Wallpaper Layer Textile by Gina Pierce

This is a bold composition, photographed by Tess of Demure Folk blog in an old farmhouse:

Wallpaper Layers by Tess of Demure Folk Blog

I think it’s good to look for the beauty in the unconventional, in the abandoned and forgotten.

This is a beautiful combo of 40 years of wallpapers, uploaded by Mikael Stenborg on Pinterest and lo and behold, that might even be the original source! This gorgeous image doesn’t appear to be anywhere else online (thank you for Pinterest):

Wallpaper Layers by Mikael Stenborg

Well this crazy combo is probably driving your eyes crazy. It’s driving mine crazy. So enough for now. I hope you enjoyed seeing these wallpapers in a different way, with more appreciation. I forgive you for forgetting all of this the next time you have to peel paper off a wall though!

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The Truth About Our Fear of Ourselves

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | 2 Comments

I don’t think of myself as a fearful person. I can be really brave about things others might see as crazy. I’ve gone skydiving, and my husband and I have frequently flown in small four-seater planes. Instead of fright, flying  brings happiness. Here we’re flying a sweet dog we helped rescue with Pilots n’ Paws:

I’m supportive of reasonable risks that can really affect your life if they happen to go bad. We’ve been entrepreneurs and my husband is currently running his own business. I can be confident about getting into things I don’t know much about. I’m sure I can figure them out and do well. I really relish walking off a plane into a land I’ve never been before, totally foreign to everything I know. I’m sure I can be okay and have a good time. And I do.

So then … this is hard to admit, but a nagging thought crept in and made me start this post in early January. I’ve had the same thought many times before. That thought was fearful. I never looked at it that way ever before. I even hate to admit I’d be afraid of anything. If I’m afraid, I keep it to myself. But yes … it is a fearful thought and now I know it.

I got led via Pinterest to Holly Becker’s Decor8 post about the creative retreat she led at Peacock Pavilions. Visit the post for her story and beautiful photos of Peacock Pavilions. Those of us who’ve followed the My Marrakesh blog for awhile will recognize many scenes, but there are some new pictures too.

I thought, I’d love to go to one of those retreats.

“But that’s not for me,” something immediately whispered.

Wait, whaaaaaaa? “That’s not for me.”

Where is that coming from? It’s totally for me!!

“No, something about it isn’t for me.” 

It felt like there was an angel and a devil on my shoulders, arguing through my head. Because notice, it’s not saying “That’s not for YOU.” As if someone else was saying it. It’s a voice coming from within. I’ve always believed that’s dangerous for people to do to themselves, and didn’t think I was so susceptible to it.

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Home Is Where Your Heart Is

Posted on February 14, 2013 by | 1 Comment

It doesn’t have to be a house.

It doesn’t even have to be a place.

It doesn’t even …

Okay … I’m not the best with the poetics. So I won’t continue and get cheesy (cheesier?). Let’s see some hearts in places. Maybe surprising places! These and many more hearts are on my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board.

Via desordre, looks like it’s trying to soften up a tough place:

Heart in Surprising Place via desordre

Now this is soft warm fuzzy hearted! Via a trail of tumblr posts leading backwards to an original source somewhere I don’t know where:

Cats Have a Heart

They’ve got this one all sewn up. Via Flow Gallery:

Sewn Heart via Flow Gallery

A heart and barbed wire, so many ways you can interpret why this is the way it is. Via Sadie Olive (love her blog and her shop!):

Heart and Barbed Wire via Sadie Olive

And a key to the heart from Rajasthan, via OKL:

Key to the Heart

Branching out into a new heart style, via Blue Velvet Chair:

Branch Heart via Blue Velvet Chair

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2013 Promises: Buy Less, Create More

Posted on January 20, 2013 by | 4 Comments

I know this is a bizarre post for a blog that’s all about lusting after things. Which may lead you to think I’m all about buying things. But “in real life” I’m not. In fact, there’s been a clear shift here away from buying things.

You can see it in … our lighter recycling bin. It’s easier to drag down our long driveway every Tuesday night.

Recycling-Bin-Looking-Down-the-Driveway

You can see it when … sometimes I run low on Target and grocery store bags we use for kitty litter.

You can see it in … the receipts in my purse. Not so many new shoes.

Shoe-Closet

You can see it … all around our house. Things don’t have to move around so much to make room for new things.

And it’s okay. How many shoes does one person need? I have plenty. Plenty I don’t even wear. See all those sandals above? We live near Chicago. I can’t even wear these shoes for half the year! And Instagram’s square format cropped a lot of sandals out of the pic. How many travel memories do we really need on shelves? Maybe one good meaningful acquisition on our next trip, wherever we go, instead of numerous small things — maybe that’s the way to go. How many bags from Target have been full of impulse purchases? I go to Target with a list of “needs” but there’s a reason why their shopping carts are so big.

I like some elbow room.

I like empty space on the floor.

Chinese-Chairs-and-Floor-Space

I like clear kitchen counters.

I like breathing room on shelves, even if it means you must dust more.

Thangka-and-Buddha

At this point, new stuff intrudes on the elbow room.

It’s okay to have empty tables.

Empty-Table

It’s now more meaningful to me to create. To have an idea in my mind and make it happen. That’s what I will do around our Chicago home more in 2013, and in the India pied-à-terre. Why buy a chandelier for the Chennai apartment’s dining table, when I can create a one-of-a-kind chandelier from these perforated metal vases?

Perforated-Metal-Vases

And work with our electrician there to make the chandelier work? Figuring out how to work well with the contractors in India will be good for me, and learning about the parts of lighting has been interesting. I’ll be making sconces, too. I found beautiful glass candle lanterns, and will convert them to electrical sconces for a bedroom in the Chennai apartment.

Creating things now adds more to my life and knowledge, than just buying stuff.

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