The Mystery Behind The Wallpaper

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Available On Amazon

​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
By Patti Liszkay
Available on Amazon.

​THE MYSTERY BEHIND THE WALLPAPER

      I've always loved my dining room wallpaper. 

       The old-fashioned flower print was on the walls when we bought the house 35 years ago,

​ ...and has been the backdrop for all the dining that's gone on in that room,

...as well as the feasting and celebrating,

...not to mention the various and sundry other activities and endeavors that have taken place there, some more enjoyable,

...than others.

     The thing is, I loved my dining room wallpaper. Until suddenly one day I didn't, and was hit with the notion that the wallpaper had to go. And not only the wallpaper but the wood chair rail and the chandelier along with it. Out with the old, I decided, and in with something new.
    Furthermore, in honor of our recent kitchen update (which will continue [Aggggh!] with the upcoming replacement of the floor),

...I decided to say adieu to the chair rail in the kitchen as well.

      And so I hired a guy.
      First  he pulled off the chair rails,

      Then I watched my long- loved wallpaper come down.

      Now, I had always assumed that the dining room wall paper was as old as the house, which was built in 1972.  In retrospect, I'm not sure why I assumed that this wallpaper must be an original feature of the house. I guess I had just gotten into the habit over the years of saying about the wallpaper, "This paper is (20, 30, 40, 50) years old. Doesn't it still look just like new?" In fact, that it was holding up so well despite its advanced years seemed all the more reason not to toss it. (Mayhaps on some deep psychic subconscious level I even wished to identify with the wallpaper: aging, but still attractive and functional).
       However, when the wallpaper came down a couple of discoveries came to light: 1. This wallpaper was not part of the house's original decor; it was put up just a little over a year before we bought the house, and 2. Before the wallpaper, there was something on the walls that nobody around here can decipher.
    The clue that the wallpaper was not as old as I'd thought was revealed by some pre-wallpaper era drawings found on the bare walls:

    The pictures were dated and signed,

     And so from these drawings and dates we could surmise that the wallpaper went up sometime after September 5, 1985 and before December 23, 1986, which was when Tom first looked at the house - without me. In fact, Tom liked this house so much that, sure that this was the end of what had been a long, tiring, new-house-hunting  odyssey, he wanted me to come and see it, too.
      But at the time I was pregnant with our fourth baby, tired, suffering from morning, afternoon, and evening sickness, and dealing with Christmas. 
​      "If you like the house so much," I recall telling Tom, "let's just and put a contract on it. If it has four walls, a bathroom and a spot to put a washing machine in I'm on board." And so on Christmas Eve, 1986, we put a contract on the house, sight unseen on my part. But it was all good. When I finally saw the house I liked it just fine. Especially the dining room wallpaper.
     But I digress.
      Anyway, the second thing that the stripping of the wallpaper revealed was that before the wall paper adorned the walls something else did. It's exactly what that something was that we can't figure out. 
      We found what appeared to be eight panels around the wall. 

       What were these panels? Remnants of some built-in wall decor?  Mirrors? Over-ambitious shelving?
       We don't know. All we do know is that they were a devilment to remove the wallpaper from and a pain to plaster over. I would love to know what they were, though, and to have seen what the wall looked like when they were in place. But that may well be a mystery lost to time, plaster, and a new coat of paint.

 Epilogue:  
        I recognized one of the names on the drawings as that of a little girl who used to live in the neighborhood but whose family moved away years ago. She would be all grown up and gone by now, anyway. 
​       But it's not outside the realm of possibility that I might be able to get in touch with her or one of her family members. If I should ever find out the answer I'll share.