We arrived at the "new" house in grand style. Our first act as new tenants was to check out the place. It consisted of 4 rooms and a kitchen area across the back. Enter the front door of 709 Strong Street in Nickerson, Kansas. Nothing was to be brought in until the room was "repapered". This was always the first thing that happened when you took possession back then. Wall paper has always fascinated me. You first measure the room and figure out how many square feet of paper you need. This leads to another conundrum.
You figure how many square feet of paper it will take to cover all four walls of the room. It matters whether or not it needs to "match" but only when you go to buy it. For the record it usually does need matched, so there you are. Ceilings were about 10 or 12 feet up there in those days. This is something I never understood. No one ever grew to 6 feet in those days, so why the ceiling needed to be so high was more than I could fathom. These rooms were about 12 x 12. So 12 x 12 x 4= 576 square feet. Wall paper is sold by the single roll, but is packaged in one big roll that is called a double roll. So say a single roll contains 36 square feet then a double roll would contain 72 square feet. So this job would need 16 single rolls, or 8 double rolls. Now you have to add a roll or two extra for "in case ofs", and there are a lot of those.
See this is what happens, you lay a bunch of newspaper, or old towels or sheets or something on the floor. You then measure you very first strip of wall paper. It will need to be cut a few inches longer than the wall height, in case you measure wrong. Then you take the roll and the next strip will be "matched" to the first strip, and make it just a little longer in case you are off a little. You will do this for the first wall. So there they lay face up. One person on each end and flip the whole pile so it is now backside up. Now the fun begins! And I really to love to hang wallpaper. Well, I used to. Little old for that crap now.
The step ladder is brought in and placed in the first corner. The paste is mixed and the paste brush laid out. The decision is made that Father will climb the ladder because he is the only one that can be trusted that high up in the air. The paste is applied to the back of the first strip being sure to "get the edges good." This is a job for Mother. The strip is then folded and readied for transport up the ladder. The top of the strip is folded to the middle paste sides together and then folded back up so the very top edge is free. The bottom is folded accordion style with the paste sides together leaving a strip that is now about 7 feet long. Father slides his left arm under the middle of the strip and catches the top free edge and up the ladder he goes. The first piece is hung in the corner, and then they realize that the room is not "plumb" so an adjustment is made while a string is hung from the ceiling. The first strip is crucial because if it is not straight, the whole room is "off".
Father pats the first strip overlapping the top where it meets the ceiling. This is folded down straight and cut so it butts nicely against the ceiling. While he is doing that Mother is "matching" and us kids are patting and smoothing. The brush is then brought into play and the strip is smoothed and all bubbles worked out and then Mother cuts the bottom straight with the mop board. We admire our "new wallpaper" and then in a frenzy we attack the job of "finishing what we started." With all of us working it is done in just a few hours. Many hands make light work!
The moving and the papering took most of the day, so we did not completely unload the belongings that night. We did bring in the beds. Two for the front bedroom and one for the middle bedroom. One bed in front for Father and Jake and one for Josephine, Donna, Mary and me. Mother had the other bedroom with Dorothy. Sometimes Mary slept in there also since she was "almost" a baby. Sometimes Mary slept with Father. And mostly Jake slept on the floor behind the stove. Sleeping was just something that had to be done in a prone position. Nothing special about that chore.
Now I am sure sometimes Mother and Father were at least more than casual acquaintance's, but I was never privy to that! (Just want to clear that up.)
So ended the first day at the Bartholomew residence on Strong Street. We would live there many years and make many memories, but tonight we were tired and the front room was papered and we were in our own beds. So as I lay in my bed I began to worry about what we would have for breakfast since there was no stove to cook on and no pans were inside the house. While far away in another place kids were dreaming of sugar plums and stuff like that I was dreaming about survival.
You figure how many square feet of paper it will take to cover all four walls of the room. It matters whether or not it needs to "match" but only when you go to buy it. For the record it usually does need matched, so there you are. Ceilings were about 10 or 12 feet up there in those days. This is something I never understood. No one ever grew to 6 feet in those days, so why the ceiling needed to be so high was more than I could fathom. These rooms were about 12 x 12. So 12 x 12 x 4= 576 square feet. Wall paper is sold by the single roll, but is packaged in one big roll that is called a double roll. So say a single roll contains 36 square feet then a double roll would contain 72 square feet. So this job would need 16 single rolls, or 8 double rolls. Now you have to add a roll or two extra for "in case ofs", and there are a lot of those.
See this is what happens, you lay a bunch of newspaper, or old towels or sheets or something on the floor. You then measure you very first strip of wall paper. It will need to be cut a few inches longer than the wall height, in case you measure wrong. Then you take the roll and the next strip will be "matched" to the first strip, and make it just a little longer in case you are off a little. You will do this for the first wall. So there they lay face up. One person on each end and flip the whole pile so it is now backside up. Now the fun begins! And I really to love to hang wallpaper. Well, I used to. Little old for that crap now.
The step ladder is brought in and placed in the first corner. The paste is mixed and the paste brush laid out. The decision is made that Father will climb the ladder because he is the only one that can be trusted that high up in the air. The paste is applied to the back of the first strip being sure to "get the edges good." This is a job for Mother. The strip is then folded and readied for transport up the ladder. The top of the strip is folded to the middle paste sides together and then folded back up so the very top edge is free. The bottom is folded accordion style with the paste sides together leaving a strip that is now about 7 feet long. Father slides his left arm under the middle of the strip and catches the top free edge and up the ladder he goes. The first piece is hung in the corner, and then they realize that the room is not "plumb" so an adjustment is made while a string is hung from the ceiling. The first strip is crucial because if it is not straight, the whole room is "off".
Father pats the first strip overlapping the top where it meets the ceiling. This is folded down straight and cut so it butts nicely against the ceiling. While he is doing that Mother is "matching" and us kids are patting and smoothing. The brush is then brought into play and the strip is smoothed and all bubbles worked out and then Mother cuts the bottom straight with the mop board. We admire our "new wallpaper" and then in a frenzy we attack the job of "finishing what we started." With all of us working it is done in just a few hours. Many hands make light work!
The moving and the papering took most of the day, so we did not completely unload the belongings that night. We did bring in the beds. Two for the front bedroom and one for the middle bedroom. One bed in front for Father and Jake and one for Josephine, Donna, Mary and me. Mother had the other bedroom with Dorothy. Sometimes Mary slept in there also since she was "almost" a baby. Sometimes Mary slept with Father. And mostly Jake slept on the floor behind the stove. Sleeping was just something that had to be done in a prone position. Nothing special about that chore.
Now I am sure sometimes Mother and Father were at least more than casual acquaintance's, but I was never privy to that! (Just want to clear that up.)
So ended the first day at the Bartholomew residence on Strong Street. We would live there many years and make many memories, but tonight we were tired and the front room was papered and we were in our own beds. So as I lay in my bed I began to worry about what we would have for breakfast since there was no stove to cook on and no pans were inside the house. While far away in another place kids were dreaming of sugar plums and stuff like that I was dreaming about survival.
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