Introducing our latest journal feature: Design Highlights! In honor of Thanksgiving, our very first Mat of the Week is Mee-Maw’s Wallpaper; read on to learn why…
When I was growing up, each Thanksgiving we would go to Grandma Martin’s for lunch and Grandma Emery’s for dinner. Two huge meals in one day. Each house was crammed full of people, food, and simultaneous conversations. At Grandma Martin’s I was one of the younger cousins (I’m the 8th out of 11 on that side), and while my older cousins and the adults would sit in the living room visiting or watching football, the younger cousins and I would gather on the floor of the dining room. For some incredibly fantastic reason Grandma Martin’s radiator was on the floor — it was a huge black ornamental grate 3 feet long on each side. My grandma Myrtle had a collection of silk scarves that we would position on the grate, and when the radiator kicked in the scarves flew into the air and danced above our heads. The woosh of air didn’t last long — but it didn’t matter — we would continue to sit on the grate, reposition the scarves, and wait for the dance, over and over and over.
The dancing scarves are the reason I have such strong memories of her dining room. I can visualize the furniture, the kick-knacks on display, and most vividly, the wallpaper.
The wallpaper was art. Grandma’s house didn’t have monochromatic color schemes in cool greys and tans. Each room was an art installation. Pink tile in the bathroom, bold kitschy patters in the living room AND the dining room — it was AMAZING!!
This design Mee-Maw’s Wallpaper is a tribute to my grandma and the simple pleasure of sitting on her radiator with a box full of dancing scarves. Perhaps you too have vivid memories of a time before constant distraction and always-on connectivity, of the simple pleasures of friends and family, of laughter and conversation and loud board games with aunts and uncles and siblings and cousins.
We hope that Mee-Maw’s Wallpaper will help evoke those distant-yet-powerful memories of your younger self every time you unroll it, and help you to commune with the warm comfort of those self-same relatives even if they’re no longer around. After all: They’re never really gone as long as someone lives who still remembers them. (I love you, Grandma — thanks for all the dancing scarves!)
Because you’ve read ALL the way to the bottom, we have a special surprise, just for you: free shipping on a purchase of Mee-Maw’s Wallpaper!
Use discount code MYRTLE to claim FREE SHIPPING (AKA $10 off) on Mee-Maw’s Wallpaper.
(Good until midnight CST this coming Sunday, 12/02/2018 :-)
