Evening star., 1942-10-21

COulQ nOU compete IlS programs.
So, spurred on by her disappoint-
ment and the desire to complete her
dining room this young woman de-
cided to do the job herself.
She purchased for most reason
able sum paperhanger's kit. This
included straight edge, paste, brush,
dry brush, roller with a cutting
edge and paste A long strip Of ply
wood laid over two saw horses made
her table. The scrub bucket held
the paste and the household step
ladder furnished transportation" to
the high points.
Feeling very confident because she
had q simple striped paper which
needed very little matching, and
aware that there was only one i'm
portant wall, the rest broken by
windows, doors and paneling, she
got to work. Knowing absolutely
nothing about procedure, she learned
by the trial and error" method. In
one instance she had to remove the
same strip of paper from the wall
three times before it was right. In
stead of being annoyed at the in
convenience, she was amazed that
ID wss possible to do this without
tearing the paper.
She learned that 1t was best to cut
all the full-length strips at the same
time, to estimate her important full
strips, and fill In the other points
with small pieces. She found out
that 1t saved time and temper to fold
the pasted end back over the wet
paste surface. This made the strip
easy to handle. Starting from one
pencil line marked in the center Of
the long wall which she was sure
was absolutely true, she found that
the second and third pieces slipped
into place with no effort at all.
Confidence came with getting used
to her equipment, delight with the
changed appearance of the whole
room. The openings around doors,
windows and paneling had to be
fitted carefully. This took time, but
was not difficult once she had
learned that the wet paper could be
creased to conform to uneven edges,
and the roll cutter could trim
around windows with great precision.
The pleasure of setting up the
dining room with the lovely china
reposing in its tinted cupboard, and
the fun OF having the whole room
glow with color, made up for all the
difficulties.
A week later. when the bedrooms
began to seem dingy In comparison
with the fresh walls of the dining
room, she decided to repaper the
three bedrooms. A neighbor who
had come to chat while the work
was going on, remained to marvel
and to envy. Finally she offered to
become an apprentice to learn the
game" so that she could try 1t in
her own home With two pairs of
hands, 1t was a matter of only two
days to do three rooms.
Because they were their own
boss" they tried many tricks the
plOlCOS1Oll A1ofC IiO~1ACN tkSolA'
They papered the inside of closets
with contrasting colors and finished
them with decorative borders. They
did a ceiling with paper covered
with rambler roses, cutting out the
motif and carrying it down over
the ceiling line to blossom on pale
green wall paper. They admit they
went through as many contortions
as q snake charmer on this task
and will not soon tackle another
ceiling, but the results are most
satisfactory.
Two more neighbors have been
added to the group, and though they
all admit they are probably far from
tops" as judged by the trade and
will never be any competition in the
profession, they are pleased. They
will never again have to live in a
grimy house when roll of wall
paper and q bucket of paste is all it
takes to change 1t.