Suburban archeology

This week's expedition involved taking down wallpaper. Steamy!

The mudroom was uneventful. Sometimes I peeled away wallpaper and discovered handwriting. I hoped for something romantic. Scrawled initials. A naughty child's nonsense. Nope. Just "paper." Instructions for the work crew. Not romantic at all.

The butler's pantry had more to reveal. Well, "butler's pantry" may be too grand for a house that has never seen a butler.

The top layer has a certain Laura Ashley charm. The wallpaper could have stayed, but for the large water stained area in the mudroom. I think people who put up wallpaper should repeat this mantra to themselves. What goes up, must come down. No matter if it is the most chic wallpaper in the couture-iverse. So please, please, do not superglue it.

Under several layers, we found this. Could it be the original paint color? This soothing yet cheerful color lies somewhere between Farrow & Ball Arsenic and Blue Green.

Oddly, we were considering these colors for the mudroom. Blue Green or maybe Teresa's Green. The color also echoes the Cooking Apple Green of our cabinets (color seen below).

When we were designing the kitchen, we didn't stick with what was period appropriate. We were creating a functional family kitchen, not doing a historical restoration. But it makes me happy to know that we're listening to our house and keeping its authentic character.

Oh, and this is something else we discovered while demolishing part of the kitchen. Isn't it festive? The kitchen cabinets used to be a bright mustard gold to coordinate with the paper. Definitely not vintage 1935!