25 July 2011

Tell me it ain't so!

I swear I think I've seen this wallpaper before (and I can hear in my mind my mom saying, "Cheri! Don't swear!") I believe it was in the downstairs bathroom of the house we bought in Naperville, Illinois, back in 1981. I was pregnant up to my eyeballs when we transferred from Houston to Chicago for Mike's job. I was six weeks away from delivery and there I was, perched precariously on a ladder, removing a wallpaper very similar to this in that bathroom right after we'd closed on the house. Everything about it screamed "SEVENTIES!!" in loud, punctuated, tenacious tones. Metallic gold accents...shudder!

So when I saw this online today - ON SALE for $59.95 per roll down from $89.95 - I was aghast! There are just some historical (and I use that term loosely since it was only 30 years ago - that makes it more "vintage" than historical) trends that do not bear repeating. They should be buried and forgotten.

But I am sure there are others who beg to differ. And most of those others, I'd wager (and NOW I can here my mom saying, "Cheri! Don't gamble!") are in their 20's and 30's, passionately in love with all things '70s. I say that because there are so many people who have embraced "mid-century" furniture. the stuff I grew up with - in the '60s because it was hand-me-downs that my folks had been able to procure on their lean budget. Blond woods, sharp edges, lots of aluminum banding (I'm thinking of our kitchen table now), Formica laminate tops (tables, counters, bathrooms), modular looking upholstered pieces. My mom hates it to this day - and so do I frankly. I'm not sure why exactly but it wasn't "comforting" design and we both crave an environment that says, "Come in, sit down, put your feet up, be comfortable". And most of our 50s stuff was the antithesis of that.

To each his own. And ones interiors should speak to them personally. Which is why, when I saw this, it said to me, "Na-na-nanana!" And I shuddered.

I don't like being taunted by wallpaper.


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