Wallpaper and Paint

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Speaker 1 welcome to bedtime stories for everyone

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens

Speaker 1 you feel good

Speaker 1 and then you fall asleep

Speaker 1 i'm catherine nikolai I create everything you hear and nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

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Speaker 1 and has been shown to slow down heart rate and breathing,

Speaker 1 all of which will ease you to sleep.

Speaker 1 And the good news is, all you need to do is listen.

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Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Wallpaper and Paint

Speaker 1 and it's a story about a room in a cottage by the lake that is ready for redoing.

Speaker 1 It's also about a claw foot tub

Speaker 1 and an airy kitchen with beams crisscrossing the ceiling, the faded patches of wall behind pictures,

Speaker 1 ferns and seagrass, binoculars and stir sticks,

Speaker 1 and the wonderfully satisfying feeling of peeling away the old and laying out the new.

Speaker 1 Hey listener, I want to tell you about something that's changed my daily routine in the best possible way. You know those days when your gut just doesn't feel right?

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Speaker 1 We've got it linked in our show notes as well.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 you are

Speaker 1 exactly where you are supposed to be right now.

Speaker 1 There's nothing you need to keep track of.

Speaker 1 Nothing more is needed of you. Get as comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 Unclench your jaw. Soften your shoulders

Speaker 1 and hands.

Speaker 1 And feel the touch of your sheets and pillow.

Speaker 1 You are about to fall asleep.

Speaker 1 And you will sleep deeply

Speaker 1 all night.

Speaker 1 Draw a slow breath in

Speaker 1 and sigh out

Speaker 1 again, fill up

Speaker 1 and sigh

Speaker 1 good

Speaker 1 Wallpaper and paint.

Speaker 1 Beside my chair, where my binoculars hang for bird watching through the big picture window,

Speaker 1 I noticed a small rip in the wallpaper.

Speaker 1 A curl of paper

Speaker 1 sticking out

Speaker 1 just a half inch

Speaker 1 and as wide as my pinky.

Speaker 1 I reached out to touch it,

Speaker 1 trying

Speaker 1 very hard not to pull on it.

Speaker 1 When I was a kid,

Speaker 1 my mom had papered the powder room near our front door.

Speaker 1 She'd been very careful about lining up the the edges

Speaker 1 and matching the border to the dark blue of the stripe.

Speaker 1 And it had remained fairly pristine for several years.

Speaker 1 But we,

Speaker 1 her children,

Speaker 1 and I suspect even her husband

Speaker 1 had begun to peel it away

Speaker 1 whenever we found ourselves alone in there.

Speaker 1 It was too much to resist

Speaker 1 the satisfying feeling of sliding a finger under a spot where the paper had puckered and pulled away

Speaker 1 and to slowly and in as big a strip as possible

Speaker 1 remove it from the wall.

Speaker 1 Oh, my poor mother.

Speaker 1 Over the course of a summer,

Speaker 1 her pretty, elegant powder room

Speaker 1 had been denuded

Speaker 1 and as our destructive mischief always happened behind closed doors,

Speaker 1 she could never even catch us in the act.

Speaker 1 I smiled,

Speaker 1 remembering how that summer had ended,

Speaker 1 with my brother and I

Speaker 1 standing shoulder to shoulder

Speaker 1 in the small room, with the steamer and scraper in our hands,

Speaker 1 and piles of gluey strips at our feet.

Speaker 1 Mom had switched to paint after that.

Speaker 1 I must not have learned my lesson, though.

Speaker 1 As soon as my fingertip found the curl of paper beside my chair,

Speaker 1 a frisson of excitement went through me.

Speaker 1 This was my house.

Speaker 1 If I wanted to peel away the paper,

Speaker 1 I didn't have to hide it.

Speaker 1 I could change anything I wanted.

Speaker 1 And suddenly, I wanted to change this room.

Speaker 1 My house is more of a cottage, really.

Speaker 1 It sits on a bluff that slopes down to a lake.

Speaker 1 The rooms are a bit small,

Speaker 1 and there are only a few closets and cupboards in the whole whole place.

Speaker 1 But I have a stone fireplace

Speaker 1 and butcher block counters, well treated with mineral oil.

Speaker 1 There is a claw-foot bathtub

Speaker 1 in the single bathroom.

Speaker 1 And when you open the windows in the loft,

Speaker 1 even on the hottest summer days,

Speaker 1 cool air from the lake washes in

Speaker 1 and makes me dream of lily pads as I sleep.

Speaker 1 The kitchen was airy and white,

Speaker 1 with wood beams in the ceiling that I hang copper pans from,

Speaker 1 and slate floors warmed up with woolly rugs.

Speaker 1 The loft is strung with fairy lights,

Speaker 1 and my bed made up with a giant sprigged cotton duvet.

Speaker 1 So soft and inviting

Speaker 1 it's difficult to get out of on rainy days.

Speaker 1 But this room, with my chair

Speaker 1 and the fireplace,

Speaker 1 now that I looked at it

Speaker 1 yes, it was time for an update.

Speaker 1 The wallpaper had a dark green and grey background,

Speaker 1 with oversized stems of Queen Anne's lace,

Speaker 1 and ferns unfurling from their fiddleheads.

Speaker 1 I'd always loved it.

Speaker 1 It made me feel like Alice,

Speaker 1 shrunk down in the garden.

Speaker 1 But it was faded in places where pictures had hung,

Speaker 1 leaving squares of brighter colors behind them,

Speaker 1 like better-tuned television screens

Speaker 1 among a sea of muted greenery.

Speaker 1 It also hadn't been pasted on very well.

Speaker 1 There were air bubbles in places,

Speaker 1 spots where the pattern didn't match with the strip beside it.

Speaker 1 And if you looked at it too long, you might begin to feel a bit cross-eyed.

Speaker 1 So I pushed the furniture

Speaker 1 to the center of the room,

Speaker 1 tossed an old flat sheet over it,

Speaker 1 and rolled up my sleeves.

Speaker 1 I'd done some reading on it

Speaker 1 and had a collection of tools to help me with my project.

Speaker 1 A scorer that would pop tiny holes into the paper

Speaker 1 to let water or solvent slip behind it and loosen the glue.

Speaker 1 a steamer and scraper,

Speaker 1 and a few spray bottles.

Speaker 1 But before I put any of those implements to work,

Speaker 1 I indulged myself in just reaching for that little tail

Speaker 1 of dried-out paper and slowly pulling it away from the wall.

Speaker 1 I had a sudden visceral memory

Speaker 1 of peeling the paper in the powder room.

Speaker 1 How often it would split or rip immediately.

Speaker 1 I'd come away with a tiny scrap in my hand.

Speaker 1 Decidedly unsatisfying.

Speaker 1 But every once in a while

Speaker 1 you'd have just the right angle on it,

Speaker 1 and a huge sheet would come off.

Speaker 1 It reminded me of the feeling of trying to get the dregs of a finished candle from its jar.

Speaker 1 When it unsticks from the glass

Speaker 1 and pops out in one whole piece.

Speaker 1 And much of my grown-up living room

Speaker 1 was like that for me now.

Speaker 1 The paper must have been very old.

Speaker 1 It was asking to come down in many places.

Speaker 1 And I could just slide my finger or the corner of my scraper under it

Speaker 1 and feel a chain reaction of popping

Speaker 1 as it released along the sheet

Speaker 1 and fell to my feet.

Speaker 1 There were a few spots

Speaker 1 around the windows and mantle

Speaker 1 where I did use the score and the steam.

Speaker 1 I gave the stubborn pieces a few minutes to soak up and soften

Speaker 1 and then scraped them away as well.

Speaker 1 When the walls were clear and paper-free,

Speaker 1 I opened all the windows

Speaker 1 and gave them a day or two to dry out.

Speaker 1 I picked a beautiful pale green sea foam color that matched the lake on hazy days.

Speaker 1 And after I'd primed and taped,

Speaker 1 I opened up a fresh can of it

Speaker 1 and stirred it slowly,

Speaker 1 even this part,

Speaker 1 prying open the lid,

Speaker 1 stirring the thick liquid with a long, clean stir stick

Speaker 1 and pouring it into my rolling tray

Speaker 1 was full of pleasing moments.

Speaker 1 I became mesmerized as I worked,

Speaker 1 rolling out the paint,

Speaker 1 watching it spread and soak into the wall,

Speaker 1 the white primer overtaken by the soft minty green.

Speaker 1 Did I still have a favorite color?

Speaker 1 I asked myself.

Speaker 1 This must be it, I answered.

Speaker 1 Outside, the seagrass bowed in the breeze,

Speaker 1 and from far off on the lake,

Speaker 1 I could hear the splash of swimmers,

Speaker 1 their voices and laughter, jumbled and ringing

Speaker 1 like chimes in the distance.

Speaker 1 When the paint was dry,

Speaker 1 and I peeled off the tape,

Speaker 1 re-hung my pictures,

Speaker 1 and arranged the furniture.

Speaker 1 I thought I might send a picture of the finished room to my mother.

Speaker 1 A nod to all the hard work it took to pull a space together

Speaker 1 that I understood better how she'd felt

Speaker 1 and had learned not just to tear down,

Speaker 1 but to rebuild

Speaker 1 wallpaper and paint.

Speaker 1 Beside my chair

Speaker 1 Where my binoculars hung

Speaker 1 for bird watching through the big picture window

Speaker 1 I noticed a small rip in the wallpaper

Speaker 1 A curl

Speaker 1 sticking out

Speaker 1 just a half inch

Speaker 1 and as wide as my pinky.

Speaker 1 I reached out to touch it,

Speaker 1 trying

Speaker 1 very hard

Speaker 1 not to pull on it.

Speaker 1 When I was a kid

Speaker 1 My mom had papered the powder room

Speaker 1 near our front door.

Speaker 1 She'd been very careful

Speaker 1 about lining up the edges

Speaker 1 and matching the border

Speaker 1 to the dark blue of the stripe

Speaker 1 and it had remained fairly pristine

Speaker 1 for several years.

Speaker 1 But we

Speaker 1 her children,

Speaker 1 and I suspect

Speaker 1 even her husband

Speaker 1 had begun to peel it away

Speaker 1 whenever we found ourselves alone in there.

Speaker 1 It was too much to resist

Speaker 1 the satisfying feeling

Speaker 1 of sliding a finger under a spot

Speaker 1 where the paper had puckered

Speaker 1 and pulled away,

Speaker 1 and to slowly

Speaker 1 and in as big a strip as possible,

Speaker 1 remove it from the wall.

Speaker 1 Oh, my poor mother

Speaker 1 over the course of a summer,

Speaker 1 her pretty elegant powder room

Speaker 1 had been denuded.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 as our destructive mischief always happened behind closed doors,

Speaker 1 She could never even catch us in the act.

Speaker 1 I smiled,

Speaker 1 remembering how that summer had ended,

Speaker 1 with my brother and I

Speaker 1 standing shoulder to shoulder

Speaker 1 in the small room with the steamer and scraper in our hands

Speaker 1 and piles of gluey strips at our feet.

Speaker 1 Mom had switched to paint after that.

Speaker 1 I must not

Speaker 1 have learned my lesson, though.

Speaker 1 As soon as my fingertip

Speaker 1 found the curl of paper beside my chair,

Speaker 1 a frison

Speaker 1 of excitement

Speaker 1 went through me.

Speaker 1 This was my house.

Speaker 1 If I wanted

Speaker 1 to peel away the wallpaper,

Speaker 1 I didn't have to hide it.

Speaker 1 I could change anything I wanted,

Speaker 1 and suddenly

Speaker 1 I wanted to change

Speaker 1 this room

Speaker 1 My house is

Speaker 1 more of a cottage really

Speaker 1 It sits on a bluff

Speaker 1 that slopes down to a lake

Speaker 1 The rooms are a bit small

Speaker 1 And there are only a few closets and cupboards in the whole place.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I have a stone fireplace

Speaker 1 and butcher block counters

Speaker 1 well treated with mineral oil.

Speaker 1 There is a claw foot bathtub

Speaker 1 in the single bathroom.

Speaker 1 And when you open the windows in the loft,

Speaker 1 even on the hottest summer days,

Speaker 1 cool air from the lake

Speaker 1 washes in

Speaker 1 and makes me dream of lily pads while I sleep.

Speaker 1 The kitchen kitchen was airy and white

Speaker 1 with wood beams in the ceiling

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 I hang copper pans from

Speaker 1 And slate floors warmed up

Speaker 1 with woolly rugs

Speaker 1 The loft is strung with fairy lights

Speaker 1 and my bed made up

Speaker 1 with a giant

Speaker 1 sprigged cotton duvet,

Speaker 1 so soft and inviting

Speaker 1 it is difficult to get out of on rainy days.

Speaker 1 But this room

Speaker 1 with my chair and fireplace,

Speaker 1 Now that I looked at it

Speaker 1 Yes,

Speaker 1 it was time for an update

Speaker 1 The wallpaper had a dark green and grey background

Speaker 1 With oversized stems of Queen Anne's lace

Speaker 1 and ferns unfurling from their fiddleheads.

Speaker 1 I'd always loved it.

Speaker 1 It made me feel like Alice,

Speaker 1 shrunk down in the garden.

Speaker 1 But it was faded in places

Speaker 1 where pictures had hung,

Speaker 1 leaving squares of brighter colors behind them

Speaker 1 like better tuned television screens

Speaker 1 among a sea of muted greenery

Speaker 1 but also

Speaker 1 hadn't been pasted on very well

Speaker 1 there were air bubbles in places

Speaker 1 spots where the pattern didn't match

Speaker 1 with the strip beside it.

Speaker 1 And if you looked at it too long,

Speaker 1 you might begin to feel a bit cross-eyed.

Speaker 1 So I pushed the furniture to the center of the room,

Speaker 1 tossed an old flat sheet over it,

Speaker 1 and rolled up my sleeves.

Speaker 1 I'd done some reading on it

Speaker 1 and had a collection of tools

Speaker 1 to help with my project.

Speaker 1 A score

Speaker 1 that would pop tiny holes into the paper

Speaker 1 to let water or solvent slip behind it and loosen the glue,

Speaker 1 a steamer and scraper,

Speaker 1 and a few spray bottles.

Speaker 1 But before I put any of those implements to work,

Speaker 1 I indulged myself

Speaker 1 in just

Speaker 1 reaching for that little tail of dried out paper

Speaker 1 and slowly pulling it away from the wall.

Speaker 1 I had a sudden visceral memory

Speaker 1 of peeling the paper in the powder room,

Speaker 1 how often it would split

Speaker 1 or rip immediately,

Speaker 1 and I'd come away with a tiny scrap in my hand.

Speaker 1 Decidedly

Speaker 1 unsatisfying.

Speaker 1 But every once in a while

Speaker 1 you'd have

Speaker 1 just the right angle on it,

Speaker 1 and a huge sheet

Speaker 1 would come off.

Speaker 1 It reminded me of the feeling

Speaker 1 of trying to get the dregs of a finished candle from its jar

Speaker 1 when it unsticks from the glass

Speaker 1 and pops out

Speaker 1 in one

Speaker 1 whole piece.

Speaker 1 And much of my grown-up living room

Speaker 1 was like that for me now.

Speaker 1 The paper must have been very old.

Speaker 1 It was asking to come down in many places,

Speaker 1 and I just slide my finger

Speaker 1 or the corner of my scraper

Speaker 1 under it

Speaker 1 And feel

Speaker 1 a chain reaction of popping

Speaker 1 as it released along the sheet

Speaker 1 and fell to my feet.

Speaker 1 There were a few spots around the windows and mantle

Speaker 1 where I did use the score

Speaker 1 and the steam.

Speaker 1 I gave the stubborn pieces

Speaker 1 a few minutes to soak up

Speaker 1 and soften

Speaker 1 and then scraped them away as well

Speaker 1 When the walls were clear

Speaker 1 and paper-free,

Speaker 1 I opened all the windows

Speaker 1 and gave them a day to dry out.

Speaker 1 I'd picked a beautiful pale green sea foam color

Speaker 1 that matched the lake on hazy days.

Speaker 1 And after I'd primed and taped,

Speaker 1 I opened up a fresh can of it

Speaker 1 and stirred it slowly.

Speaker 1 Even this,

Speaker 1 prying open the lid,

Speaker 1 stirring the thick liquid

Speaker 1 with a long, clean stir stick

Speaker 1 and pouring it into my rolling tray

Speaker 1 was full of pleasing moments.

Speaker 1 I became mesmerized as I worked,

Speaker 1 rolling out the paint,

Speaker 1 watching it spread and soak into the wall,

Speaker 1 the white primer

Speaker 1 overtaken by the soft minty green.

Speaker 1 Did I still have a favorite color?

Speaker 1 I asked myself.

Speaker 1 This must be it, I answered.

Speaker 1 Outside, the seagrass bowed in the breeze,

Speaker 1 and from far off on the lake,

Speaker 1 I could hear the splash of swimmers,

Speaker 1 their voices and laughter,

Speaker 1 jumbled and ringing like chimes in the distance.

Speaker 1 When the paint was dry

Speaker 1 and I peeled off the tape,

Speaker 1 re hung my pictures,

Speaker 1 and arranged the furniture,

Speaker 1 I thought I might send a picture of the finished room

Speaker 1 to my mother.

Speaker 1 A nod

Speaker 1 to all the hard work it took

Speaker 1 to pull a space together

Speaker 1 that I understood better

Speaker 1 how she'd felt

Speaker 1 and had learned

Speaker 1 not just to tear down

Speaker 1 but to rebuild

Speaker 1 sweet dreams.