By Eavin Moore
My wife hates painted walls. I never caught on to this until after we were married. I’m not saying it would have changed my mind, but it’s definitely something I feel she should have disclosed prior to the engagement. 
As we toured what would become our first home together, she kept saying cryptic things like, “hmmm, I think we could do something with this room.” I thought she meant hang a picture here, put a throw rug there, that kind of thing. Ha! Little did I know.
She’s pretty devious that one. She waited until after we had signed our names a couple of hundred times at the closing before suggesting a stop to look at wallpaper on the way home.
We visited a couple of big mega-stores, poring over their catalogues of samples that could be ordered, making note of the differences in roll size, and the pattern repeat. She had the dimensions of the dining room in her head and when we did the math, I admit I had a bit of sticker shock. Wallpapering our dining room was going to cost more than I paid for the car I was driving at the time. Somehow, when I mentioned this, I was informed that this was not my area of concern. Where our home was involved, there was a definite division of responsibilities. She was in charge of all things décor. Colors, fabrics, furniture placement and everything else. I was in charge of maintenance, lawn care, killing spiders and investigating things that go bump in the night. She made her selection and we went home to begin the search for someone to hang it when it arrived.
After talking to a few professionals from the phone book, it looked like we might have to re-finance the house to pay them. That was when I uttered a phrase that would haunt me the rest of my life: “I bet I could do it.”
I went to the library and found a very informative instruction book. It didn’t look so hard. When the paper arrived, I cleared the room and sent the wife out for the afternoon while I got busy.
I used all the tips from the book; I used a level and chalk line to get the first piece just right. I matched the pattern perfectly and used a straight edge on the corners. I cut around the windows and removed the outlet plates like a pro. I smoothed out the air bubbles and was just cleaning up when the wife came home. “This’ll be great,” I thought, “she’s gonna love it!” And she did…..at first.
I was in the bathroom trying to get the dried paste out of my arm hair when she came through the front door. “Oh Honey, it looks super!” I heard her say. But after a short pause I heard, “Oh no!”
It seems the complex pattern of subtle shapes were actually tropical fish of various kinds. My beautiful wife objected, for some reason, to the fact that the fish were all swimming upside down. She is so picky!
Anyway, that was just the first in over thirty years of wallpapering adventures. My technique has certainly improved. But more important financially, was finding the right source for the paper. The difference in price from regular retail to a good discount store can be huge. Over the years we have found a few sources that we kept as well guarded secrets. The big warehouse place in
That brings me, in my typical, long winded way, to the point of this piece, which is Wallpaper, Windows and More at 2327 North Belt.
I guess I’d seen the sign out of the corner of my eye and planted it in my subconscious, because even though the store has been there a couple of years, and six more at a prior location, I hadn’t been in. Once the wife started measuring the new place, I knew I’d have to check it out. Boy was I surprised.
It doesn’t look that big from the outside. It could be easy to miss if you weren’t searching for it. My suggestion is to look for the giant paint can that marks the entrance for Schaller’s Paint which is right next door.
The owner, Kelly Long, showed us a large selection of in-stock wallpaper at prices that seemed to average around 50% or more off of the book price. The selection was good too. The wife was in decorating heaven and I was going to save some coin. Sweet!
As she was carefully scrutinizing row after row, I was perusing the perimeter, my bargain sniffer on full alert. As I reached the back of the store, I saw a sign with an arrow that said that little word that sets my heart aflutter: “CLEARANCE”
Oh Baby! It was the wallpaper motherload. We’re talking cheap! They have dozens of bins of really nice paper starting at $1.99 a roll. Are you kidding me? At that price, you can wallpaper the garage. Maybe the doghouse. And lots of colors and patterns too. There may only be a few rolls of each pattern, but plenty to do any one room, and for less than you’d spend for a gallon of cheap semi-gloss.
I’m sure the owner would want me to mention the custom blinds, the window treatments, the framed art, the gourmet coffees and all the other interesting things they have there. But unfortunately I used up a lot of space early with my own wallpaper adventures. Sorry about that. I guess my readers will just have to go see for themselves. Go meet Kelly and see if she doesn’t tell you, ”Come Look At My Stuff!” And please don’t forget to tell her Joe sent you!