Wallpaper with Pink Roses

Diary Entry, May, 1937

My neighbor, Mrs. Hunnycutt is a woman of means and insists on helping me decorate the cottage.

I am grateful for her guidance because I’m not sure where to obtain the beautiful items that she recommends.

Are these decorative trappings practical? No.

But to me, they are necessary, because a few pretty items here and there make the cottage feel more like a home.

Mrs. Hunnycutt suggested that I put up wallpaper immediately, and she said that homes always, always need flowers.

The first thing we did was take a trip all the way to Albemarle and visited a nurseryman named Mr. Efird.

I purchased from him the most lovely and delicately scented pink rose bush.

I planted it in a sunny spot right in front of the cottage.

Next, we got out Mrs. Hunnycutt’s Sears catalog and looked for the most perfect wallpaper. It was difficult to choose because there were so many options. But I settled upon a wallpaper that looked exactly like the roses that I purchased from Mr. Efird.

We carefully filled out the Sears order form and took it to Locust to be mailed.

We had to mail it to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and it took a while for it to get there.

After waiting a month, the wallpaper finally arrived.

With Mrs. Hunnycutt’s expert paper-hanging abilities, we pasted the wallpaper up in no time.

After our hard work, we sat down to a light luncheon of cucumber sandwiches and tea.

(Mrs. Hunnycutt likes to keep things fancy.)

She was right!

This house did need wallpaper, and it gives the room a much more cozy look and feel.

And sleeping is much more pleasant with roses decorating my walls, and the scent of cut roses on my bedside table.

I will stop writing, for now, diary, as I must tend to my vegetable garden.