Today I am following on from last week's theme of tasks that are manageable and safe to do by yourself. My earliest first-hand memories of wallpapering are rather dramatic - my mom (always a sucker for a bargain) had been to a closing-down sale where you could have as much wallpaper as you could carry for some ridiculously small amount. Despite being less than 1.5m tall, she managed to carry a boot-load of rolls out of the store, leaving my dad and myself with a legacy of many weekends of DIY joy! Back in the day (and even now in some countries), wallpaper was not just a decorative finish, but an important part of the construction of a house, sealing off all porous building materials and gaps in boarding to make the rooms more airtight. People would simply add another layer of paper when the old one became a bit faded and torn, improving the insulation with each refurbishment. In places where lightweight boarding is the main external and internal walling method, plain paper is us...
Reflections on architecture, design, interiors and inspiring creativity