I was cleaning out some drawers in my home office and came across a dated home improvement magazine. Boy, did it resurrect memories from the past! Many of you, like me, grew up during the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s in a Philadelphia neighborhood with both row and semi-detached homes. The character of these homes has remained with me and I still reflect on those fond memories that made them so special. As I thumbed through this magazine, memories from my home flashed into my consciousness. While there were many memories of my home that bring smiles to my face, one remains deep in my childhood and adolescent remembrances. That memory is of wallpaper and I wonder how many of you recall the popularity of it back in the day.
Although I touched on wallpaper in homes in a previous column, this old home improvement magazine is what triggered these memories. If you were around in the ‘60s, you might recall that wallpaper was everywhere. But the oil crisis of 1973 saw its decline. If interested, all you want to know about wallpaper can be found on https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/a-brief-history-of-wallpaper, which establishes the origin of wallpaper in the 16th century with the earliest wallpapers used to decorate the insides of cupboards and smaller rooms in merchant’s homes rather than the grand houses of the aristocracy. However, by the 20th century, wallpaper was used everywhere: in hallways, kitchens, bathrooms, reception rooms and bedrooms.
Perhaps some of you recall travels with your mother, during your childhood, to your neighborhood wallpaper store, paint store or downtown department store that had a wallpaper section. When shopping for wallpaper, my mother had in mind a particular style and colors that guided her search. Once the salesperson had an understanding of my mother’s interests, he brought her large books containing many paper samples to peruse. I sat with her for hours looking at various patterns before she finally selected one or two books of patterns to take home. Once home, the books were placed on the dining room table for her to assess their desirability and made a selection. This was a familiar routine for many families, back in the day.
Do you remember the large floral print wallpaper on the walls of your parent’s home, or maybe your home back in the ‘60s? Maybe you recall wallpaper with raised designs and a velvet like finish. Some individuals were drawn to wallpaper with wide, bold strips. Others preferred wallpaper with a theme. Many years ago, my wife and I had our son’s bedroom wallpapered with images of the Volkswagen automobile. Even today, my basement sitting room is wallpapered with red and white stripes; it as the room that houses all of my back in the day Kappa paraphernalia.
I love wallpaper but recognize it is an option buried in the past. Trying to find a store that carries wallpaper is difficult. There are a limited number of wallpaper specialty stores today. If you locate one and make a purchase, you are then faced with the challenge of having it installed. Locating someone who is skilled in applying wallpaper is a difficult task as is a dying craft. In the past, there was always someone in the neighborhood that was skilled in hanging wallpaper, but just try to find one today.
Many in the past, though inexperienced, tried their hand at applying wallpaper. I have memories of mixing the paste, cutting wallpaper to the necessary size, placing the paste on the back and then placing it on the wall. Overlapping patterns and matching all the seams was challenging. For me, and many amateurs that engaged in wallpapering, the most challenging aspect was the ceiling. It was so difficult until many of us just painted the ceiling and wallpapered the walls. Wallpapering the corners of a room was another challenge. Do you recall the movement from applying paste to wallpaper to wallpapering with a treated backing which required that you roll the wallpaper in water to get it sticky enough to apply to the walls? If you recall this type of wallpaper, then you probably recall the type of wallpaper with a backing that was peeled off to expose an adhesive back to apply to the wall. Wallpapering was even more challenging when the industry introduced vinyl, cloth and other types of wallpaper. These wallpapers even required a special paste to be used for these wallpaper jobs.
Think about the challenges when the room to be wallpapered had been wallpapered previously. Removing wallpaper was often a major challenge. Attempts were made to steam the wallpaper followed by scrapping it off of the wall. Back then, a sponge, a bucket of warm water with vinegar, and a scraper were used for this job. Such jobs took forever! Once the paper was removed, you were then confronted with spackling the walls to fill holes and cracks, and then sanding to smooth the rough spots. While this was all tough work, you could save a bundle of money by preparing the walls, and even hanging the wallpaper yourself. I suspect that some of you papered over the old wallpaper, or simply painted over the wallpaper, in order to save time and money, back in the day.
In sharing the contents of this column with a close friend, he cautioned me not to become too complacent with the disappearance of wallpaper. He strongly believes in the parable that what goes around, comes around. Thus, one day, and it will not be long, wallpaper will make its reemergence and assume a desirable role in homes just as it once did. Several news outlets have recently provided stories supporting this position as they have indicated that wallpaper is clawing its way back into homes just as many of us remembered and appreciated, back in the day.
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