Saturday 12 February 2011

You cannot be serious!!

That was the reaction of our girls to news that we were planning to wallpaper the saloon walls in Harry. Well we are. Wallpaper is the new black. Or in the case of narrowboats, the new ash veneer.
The one thing we were agreed on was that we didn't want Harry to have one of those look-alike shiny wood veneer interiors. Too modern. First of all we thought of going the all solid oak route. ("You cannot be serious; it'll be like living in a coffin!" Guess who said that.) We bowed to their opinions - and to the eye watering price of solid oak.
We thought of painting. We thought of scumbling. We thought of using tongue and Vee-groove. And then we thought of wallpaper. "It's traditional for tugs like yours," insisted Ray at Streethay.
All we'll need is a couple of rolls so we can splash out on some expensive remainders off Ebay.
Now all we need to do is agree on the which ones. There are 16,424 items listed under 'wallpaper' on Ebay. Maybe we should ask the kids...

4 comments:

Brian and Diana on NB Harnser said...

Harnser is wallpapered. Make sure you use a heavy duty paste and size the wood first.
Not being live aboards we did get bubbling when the boat was left in damp weather, but within 24 hrs it all looked good again. The first point of failure was around the edges but that was 6-7 years of use.
We used a light colour with no real pattern.

Nev Wells said...

Wack a load of pva in the paste mix works for us in bathrooms and kitchens

Nev

David O said...

Well that takes the biscuit....ex Editor of Canal Boat, a supporter of tradition on the cut with a fetish for tugs and what does he do whilst the crew are away, propose wallpapering. Not that I think it a bad idea far from it....I just hope Ebay's bargain basement has something that will meet with Starwoman's approval, I trust Brian has been consulted.

Nancy and Max said...

Sanderson or William Morris if you value my opinion!