Do Thumbtacks=Happiness?

Even though I've recognized my wallpaper heritage, it doesn't really help me.  Wallpaper is currently out of fashion. Once again, I'm slightly behind the trends- not a big surprise if you know me at all. As I was taping woodwork and "cutting in" near the ceiling in the guest rooms, I started to realize that  I was about to eradicate the presence of the former tenants of these rooms and I didn't really know too much about the former occupants of our new home.

What I do know is that the owners each had 3 children, all girls, 5 of which are in college and one is still in high school.  Six girls. According to the realtor and the tape on the basement floor; the parents used to hang curtain partitions in the basement and had cots so when they all came home from school on break they each had some "privacy"- if you call living in the unfinished basement on a cot privacy. I'm sure it was a slice of heaven.

But let's leave the basement and head back up to the second floor guest rooms and the plethora of holes in the walls.  I have to assume that the parents sacrificed the thumbtack battle in hopes of winning a more significant dispute somewhere else down the line. I must have spackled hundreds of thumbtack holes between the two rooms.  The walls looked like they had chicken pox when I was done.  Who were these girls and what did they have hanging on the walls? We're they happy? I kind of have to assume they were because it would freak me out to have a negative vibe hanging around the place.  My preference is to think about happy memories that no doubt occurred in those rooms: Christmas morning, getting ready for their first dates, studying for their drivers license, sleep overs with best friends- those types of memories. Not about the tears, fights with siblings, heartbreak, or the dart tournaments they obviously held in their rooms.  Seriously, what was going on with all the holes in the walls??  So as I painted over the robins egg blue and chocolate brown I said goodbye to the previous occupants and hoped that they enjoyed their time in the house. I'm looking forward inviting family and friends to stay in those rooms and help us build our own catalog of happy memories- once their luggage has been screened for thumbtacks.