Oliver owes us $$

So, we (well, mainly I) decided it was time to take down the wallpaper and repaint the house.  And by take down and repaint, I meant hire someone to do that (as Bob would say, that's not my job).  We are currently in the midst of it...almost all of the wallpaper is down.  I thought I'd share some pictures because the choices of the previous owners of the house are pretty damn entertaining.

The real impetus for this work was Oliver being a menace.  It's a good he's such a friendly and cute cat, because Oliver has turned our walls into a scratching post.  We have a lot of wallpaper in the house, but most of it is painted over or was pretty innocuous.

Innocent looking cat

Plus neutral wallpaper

Equals shredded mess!

Look how high he can jump!

We can't blame Oliver for all of the wallpaper.  He hasn't actually touched the wallpaper that's been painted over...I recently discovered what was under that plain white paint.  It's pretty crazy-pants.  

In the dining room, it was a fabric-y & mauve.  

But in our bedroom, it was even more impressive.  Rattan?  Twine? The 1960's version of island getaway?  And you can't see it, but there was definitely a silver metallic undertone. 

 I am not sure what they were going for, but it definitely reminded me of one of my favorite videos ever about matching your refrigerator to your mood, hobby, or party theme.  I originally caught this awesomeness on Turner Classic Movies.

Unbelievably, that was not the biggest surprise covered up in our house.  When they took down the terrible 80's-tastic wallpaper in the basement, they uncovered this hot air balloon mural.

I think that our paint choices will be improvements (well...except for maybe the mural).  When it's done, I'll post pictures, and you can decide!