It was the summer of 1979 or thereabouts. I was 11 years of age and the beginning of the school year was still weeks away. It was a peaceful existence until one weekend in July when my Mom and Dad decided to put up wallpaper.
They hung molding at the midpoint of the long hallway in our home. Then came the wallpaper that was hung from the molding to the ceiling.
If the wind is just right you can still hear the litany of Cuban curses floating in the air. I made it a point to spend the weekend playing outside with the neighborhood kids across the street, Amos and Andy. Yeah, you read that right, Amos and Andy. Did I mention I was from Alabama?
After that weekend, I swore to myself I would never have wallpaper in any home I owned. Nothing in life was worth that level of frustration.
As I was looking through listings this week, I thought I’d make an effort to come across a real beauty. Just look at this incredible Victorian home located at 216 E Cemetery Ave in Chenoa, IL.
The exterior has so much character it’s easy to picture yourself spending your summer evenings on the spacious front porch. This home looks like a magnificent dollhouse that any little girl would enjoy.
The back porch has a gazebo attached to the home so you can enjoy overlooking almost one acre. The home has five bedrooms, three bedrooms, and has 3,650 square feet.
The charm from the outside was left on the front porch. The excessive amount of wallpaper made me think of a dollhouse that had little possessed dolls waiting to scare the owners.
No sooner did that thought enter my head than I came across this photo.
Yeah, the doll room. They kind of blend in with the wallpaper. There’s even a doll in a baby carriage. How could someone feel comfortable in that room? You’d never want to turn your back on those dolls. It makes me wonder, what comes first the dolls or the wallpaper?
The coup-d’etat is the family room. It’s dizzying.
I will give it to my parents, when they put up the wallpaper in our home it wasn’t in every room or from floor to ceiling. I can only imagine the litany of curses still lingering above this house. Perhaps it’s that litany that causes the dolls to become creepy.
