For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 08, 2017

In a comic strip nearby this one.

Michael: Dad, when is mom going to be done wallpapering? I can’t get to sleep.

John: Wallpapering is a quiet activity. What’s the problem?

Elizabeth: It’s not quiet when mom does it. Listen.

{in the background you hear “WIPE WIPE PRESS PUSH WIPE”}

John: Hum! I forgot about the sound effects.

Elizabeth: Can’t mom do this tomorrow?

Michael: Or do it without sound effects?

John: Now kids. If it weren’t for those sound effects we wouldn’t know what she was doing.

Michael: I don’t want to know what she’s doing!

Elizabeth: Go tell her to stop. I’m so sleepy!!

John: I hate to do that when she’s in the mood.

Michael: Daaad!

Elizabeth: Please daddy!

John: All right. Wish me luck. Here goes!

{in the background you hear “AAAGGH!! I’ve stripped this piece off three times and still the pattern won’t match!"}

John: I am not going in there. No way.

Michael: You’re not afraid are you?

John: When your mom is in that kind of mood, yes I am.

Perhaps Elly should head to bed and try again applying the wallpaper in the morning (after breakfast).

I still think painting is much better than wallpapering…

I HATE wallpaper. Pictures don’t look good when you hang them on a wall-papered wall. I agree with Argythree that painting is much better.

The one doing the wallpapering is not a rational being at this point. I’ve done projects in just this fashion, and you become obsessed and OCD about it. :P

I still say wallpaper is a nightmare! Give me some paint, a brush, and a roller any day!

I got suede wallpaper, no pattern to match.

Stripes. Lots of fun to work with.

What? Nobody notices that her pocket changed sides again?

1. Throw paper away. 2. Wash wall. 3. Go to bed. 4. After John and kids go to work/school, paint walls.

Lynn’s Notes:

I eventually learned some of the tricks of the trade…but by then, I’d messed up a lot of walls.

Ceilings were the big problem with wallpapering, however, my dad could do ceilings with ease! However, when he built a new house in 1950, walls were plaster – no more paper.

House had hideous wallpaper when we bought it. By the time we moved in, no more wallpaper.

Sometimes I feel that way about jobs I do. You have to quit and come back to it later. Go get some sleep Elly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39wx7UeTXfw

That is why wallpapering has fallen out of fashion – they are a pain to do. Just paint, Elly, or cough up the money for a professional wallpaperer.

First thing you need to do when wallpapering is draw a plumb line!!! Walls are never straight!!