Saturday evening brought this on YouTube
Brilliant movie of the Muriel Spark novel, all world-class actors, Cyril Cusack, Maggie Smith, Zoe Wanamaker, on and on. It's well worth watching.
Elsewhere in Blogland I read about a domestic standoff between a perfectionist spouse and a more realistic one, in the matter of laying wood flooring.
I think it's parallel to the ultimate test of a union, papering a room together. Handsome Partner and I did this back in the seventies.
The date is important because it explains why we were papering the kitchen with a sort of busy sunflowery prepasted paper. Think Bob Newhart show. Bob and Emily had our wallpaper. We also had an orange shag rug in the living room. Don't judge, it was the seventies and we were young!
The kitchen was very complicated, three doors to work around and cabinets, not a single solid wall. So we started out on opposite sides, working around to meet in the middle.
This was an old house, not a right angle in the place. So HP, the scientist, measured, drew diagrams, transferred the measurements to the paper, cut then papered. Took hours. It looked perfect.
I, the more freeform artist, gave him a long head start, had a pot of tea, then laid the paper on, cut and pasted where it hit, no measuring, matching as I went. I have a good eye. It looked perfect.
Where we met, I razored around flower motifs, tip I remembered from a professional paper hanger, to create an invisible join. It looked perfect.
He insisted that was cheating, wallpaper was supposed to have a straight edge. Also that no matter how good my section was, I should have measured, not done it by eye. I pointed out that I was tired, we'd done a fine job and never again. Also that I was still holding a box cutter.
Discretion ensued on his part. But he never gave up the idea that working by eye instead of a diagram was somehow suspect!
It seems to be a cosmic joke that diametrically different people find each other. Maybe each completes the other. Or maybe each drives the other off the edge. Or both.
Happy day everyone, be careful who you partner for paperhanging.. or anything, really.
Today's the 62nd anniversary of our wedding. One of us checked out a while back, but is still very much alive in memories.
Happy 62nd year of memories. SG and I would never hang wallpaper together. Yes, opposites attract.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWell done, on that wallpaper project. I think some things are best left to the one who does them best -- or thinks he does! But then I have memories of helping lay a ceramic tile floor with Rick and I don't think my back was ever the same! Or knees, for that matter!
ReplyDeleteI find a lot of jobs like laying tile are good once. After that, better save up and hire professionals.
DeleteI read with a smile on my face. Never mind the measurements, it has to look right to the eye. Neither partner should ever be free holding a box cutter.
ReplyDeleteI agree, if it looks right, it's right, however it got there. So there!
DeleteSuch great memories. Happy anniversary!
ReplyDeleteThank you. The paper hanging is funny now, a bit tense then.
DeleteWhen we wallpapered (does anyone do that anymore?) Sue made all of the decisions, and I helped. It went smoothly. She's better at some/almost all things, and I know it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a working partnership.
DeleteWonderful wallpaper story!
ReplyDeleteBetter in retrospect!
DeleteGreat story and a great memory and good to think about on your annivesary. When RC and I got engaged we purchased a house that needed some work before we could live in it. One of the jobs was to 'do something (anything!) with the main bedroom. At the time (46 years ago) paneling was the thing so we duly went with the trend. Little did I know that RC was a perfectionist and would continually take a panel down to shave just a miniscule sliver off - over and over, until I was ready to scream. It's a wonder we even got married after that experience and never again was there any mention of using paneling anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds familiar!
DeleteOh, dear, Boud. "I was still holding the box cutter" made me laugh out loud. It is good to know that we are no different than many other couples. It's also good to know that simply holding a sharp instrument can make for speedier resolution.
ReplyDeleteOh, home decorating in the 70s. A funny story. We stockpile appliances for the rentals and if we see a good deal on an appliance, we'll pick it up used, if it is in good shape. A man advertised a washer and dryer. He claimed it was only a couple years old, but that he'd married, and his wife had a washer and dryer, and his had just sat in the garage for the past two years and he thought he should get rid of it. We went there and he showed us. They were avocado green! We thanked him politely and said we weren't interested. He was very irritated that we'd wasted his time.
A couple of decades old more like it! Yes, a sharp instrument in the hand of a small woman, the equalizer.
DeleteHappy 62 years of memories! I remember orange carpeting and an orange couch as I was young in the 70's, too!
ReplyDeleteI'm divorced and so my marriage memories are not very happy. But I am much happier now. ;)
I'm glad I'm not the only shag rug culprit! And that you're happy now. Yes, all memories aren't funny.
DeleteHappy 62 years of memories. Mark and I do not work on projects together.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably a wise policy.
DeleteWe bought our house in 1978 and immediately started wallpapering. Our only solution to domestic strife was to wallpaper separately. I went to my mother's when he did the kitchen in the copper and avocado kitchen tool paper. He had to work out of town for a week when I secretly bought the pink flowered wallpaper and did the bedroom, one wall at night after the kids went to bed since it was so hard to move the furniture in the small room. I don't remember who hung the Winnie the Pooh paper in a bedroom, but when we traded rooms enough to make that the master, I remember standing on the bed one night and ripping it down late one night before bed because I was "30 years old and I am not sleeping in a room with Winnie the Pooh wall paper". We now have a no more wallpaper pact, lol.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if wallpaper is a thing of the past now. I hear of very expensive high end hand blocked stuff used by interior designer, but not so much ordinary folk.
DeleteJust last week I bookmarked that movie on YT, so I'm glad to have a firsthand recommendation! Over the many many years of making and doing and building, I've found it quite useful to have - or be - a "helper" rather than a "partner" on a specific project. Input is great, but when it comes to a 1:1 disagreement, voting is rarely helpful ;)
ReplyDeleteThat's a better arrangement all around. And I think you'll like the movie. I could hardly believe it wasn't a rental.
DeleteSometimes, when I'm working in the kitchen and Mr. Moon comes in and we have a discussion which may not be as peaceful as it could be, he will say, "Put that knife down and we can talk about it."
ReplyDeleteThis is his joke. I think that a boxcutter would be the same.
He's a perfectionist like HP was, like Tim is. He always quotes his dad, "If something's worth doing, it's worth doing right," to which I silently answer, "Well. Not always."
Yes, done is better than perfect. And well done is fine no matter how you get there.
DeleteHappy, happy, happy anniversary!!! The only time I wallpapered was in a very old house with uneven walls, too. I'm also a judge it by eyeball lady. It looked fine. ;)
ReplyDeleteSounds good to me.
DeleteHappy anniversary. Remember the good and funny stories your life created.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that for some strange reason opposites do attract.
Makes for a lifetime of aggravation. I guess it’s to keep things spicy
It's certainly interesting.
DeleteWonderful memory, now that it's a memory! 62 years ago you two launched quite a partnership. Glad it (and HP) survived the wallpapering.
ReplyDeleteMike and I have learned to stand back out of each other's way and let the more skilled one handle whatever project is at hand. I take Ms. Moon's approach.
Chris from Boise
It takes a while to develop that kind of partnership. Sometimes decades..
DeleteYes. Happy Anniversary! Fun here for me tonight. February 21 will be 60th anniversary. And, yes, he checked out about three years ago.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile. We bought our house in 1978! Gold shag carpet throughout. Gold kitchen appliances. Wall papered bathrooms. We later did the wallpaper thing ourselves, too. No major skirmishes there. We did the ceramic tile bit. Kitchen and large sunroom floors. He loved the times we worked on projects together. Generally my being the foreman, and him doing the labor. He was happy with that arrangement. There was one thing we could NOT do together, though. Assemble a backyard grill. A fight every time! One of us had to do it. Together, no way!
Thanks for this post. Happy memories. And, yes, I read about Debby's floor.
I can see your house as I read! Handsome partner was that combo of perfectionist but not all that skilled. Also he was used to" having people" at work. But so was I! Two bosses, oh dear.
DeleteIt's not that I have a good eye; I'm just impatient. Husband drives me mad with his insistence on precision so I leave it to him! We can't waltz together without arguing either . . .
ReplyDeleteThat's funny! HP was a great dancer, I'm hopeless. Not a good combo.
DeleteIt is wonderful when the differences come together to make it better as a whole. Sounds like you and your partner had that. That's very cool.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it was wonderful.
Delete