Linda’s SoCS prompt.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “wallpaper.” Use it however you’d like. Have fun!
As soon as I read this, I knew I had a fantastic BOTS (Based on a True Story) to tell you, all about wallpaper!
So, the first story goes a bit like this…
As a child, I always shared my room with someone. From the beginning, when my brother was born and old enough to be in a bed, we had a small room with a bunk bed. The wallpaper was images of Holly Hobby (Remember her?) When a cousin of mine was going to live with us, it was decided that I graduate to what used to be the spare room, with two single beds in it. But I was still sharing with someone. This time my cousin.
My lucky brother got an overhaul of the small room, with a fancy new bed and rainbow wallpaper, because it wouldn’t do for a boy to have to sleep in a room with a rag doll plastered all over the walls, would it?
My new room was decorated with green wallpaper. I’m not the biggest fan of green. This paper was covered with teeny green flowers. The curtains matched. The headboards were the same green, as was the carpet, and there were even matching bedsheets! Green overload!
Still, I couldn’t complain. It was the biggest room in the house. And I was only 11, so what say did I have i the decor of the house?
This cousin lived with us for three years. After she left, others came, too, and if the other single bed in my room was empty, there was always someone who would stay over and be my roommate for the night.
Anyway, I began having an opinion on what I wanted my room to look like but was refused the chance to change the wallpaper because it was so expensive.
So, I did the next best thing.
I got permission to plaster the walls with posters!
For a good few years, my walls were covered with Bros, Tom Cruise, Kylie and Jason, New Kids On The Block and all manner of 80s icons.
Until I decided I was too old for these posters, I took them down.
I was growing up. The green had grown on me. I’d still have loved new wallpaper, but I could make do.
Until the day Pops walked past the room. The way the light bounced off the wall highlighted a very silly thing I had done.
So, when hanging said posters, no one taught me the best way. I used Blutak in some places, but they kept falling down, so I found a solution: dressmaking pins. I slid a pin into each corner of the poster and down into the wallpaper, through the lining. The posters stayed up.
However, when I took them down, I didn’t account for the slight rips that would occur. As Pops walked past my room that night, all he could see were tiny rips across the whole of one of the walls. Oh, and there were the oily Blutak stains!
All I can say is that he was not best pleased!
What resulted was a right royal telling off, followed by a chance to finally redecorate my room!
I got the wallpaper I wanted, curtains, new bed sheets, etc., but we had to keep the carpet and headboards, so as long as what I chose blended in, that was fine.
I was a very happy bunny, but I felt bad about how awful the old paper had ended up!
Confession done!
But, I have to admit, I have never hung wallpaper myself. It seems a very complex job. I’ll leave that to the professionals!
This morning, I remembered another wallpaper story, where me, my brother and two cousins inadvertently stripped another cousins bedroom of her wallpaper, not knowing we were doing the wrong thing!
She said they were redecorating and shed started peeling some of the paper off, herself.
So the four of us decided to ‘help’, with gusto!
Soon, swathes of peeled wallpaper covered the floor. The satisfaction of pulling a corner, and a huge sheet coming off was addictive!
We left, pleased with ourselves, for being so helpful!
Until the morning.
When my cousin’s mum, my aunt, called mum in the morning, shouting about the bad thing we had done!
We were gobsmacked!
But, it turned out that my cousin wanted a change, so she instigated it in such a way that the room would have to be redecorated!!!
We were all under 10 and mortified, after!!!
But I Smile Anyway... 
