Readers’ votes are in, and the winner of our special Anne Taintor+Retro Renovation caption contest is… Jennifer, for her sassy reminder to “others” that vintage wallpaper is, golly, nearly sacred here. Congratulations, Jennifer, you win an Anne Taintor prize package and after I talk to you and assess your “needs,” a nifty gifty from the blog, too. But wait! Jennifer won in a real photo finish… and we have a runner-up who gets a prize from my retro hoard goodie bag, too…
Ahead the whole time, but missed winning by just two stinkin’ rotten votes — Donna F. So close, Donna!
Thanks to the other three finalists…:
Above: Nancy in PA‘s caption reminds me of what my husband often has to say about “improvements” made by some of the previous owners of our homes. tee hee
Above: Mike Shaffer of Walker, WV, had me giggling at the thought of “surprising” friends with a home makeover that they might not quite “understand”. Yet!
And Richard S., above, channeled one of my favorite sayings of all time: Life’s a big canvas, so throw on a lot of paint (although…. maybe not over pristine vintage wallpaper, of course)!
… and mega thanks to everyone who submitted captions and voted … and very especially, to the fantastic team at Anne Taintor… together, taking time out of your busy days to help make us all smile! xoxo
TerriLynn says
Hilarious, I have a kitchen with painted over wallpaper, and knowing that I was going to be redoing when I moved in, I NEEDED to paint but didnt want to do a ton of work, so I left it and painted over it again. Maybe in a couple months when I DO get to the kitchen I will be able to just pull it all off the walls! Or maybe it just becomes part of the drywall…
JKM says
We, too, painted over wallpaper when we moved into our house. A temporary fix to update our infant daughter’s new bedroom, it was a quick, inexpensive improvement to hide h***** [edited] but well-adhered wallpaper. She’s 21 now and the room’s been repainted at least three times, haha.
Mike Shaffer says
You know how at awards shows the celebrities and producers and writers always say, “It was a pleasure to be nominated”, and you’re like, “Yeah, right, but you really wanted to win”? Of course I wanted to win this contest, and I can honestly say that it was indeed an honor to be nominated. Hope there are other contests just for the sake of getting in a few laughs! Brilliant, these.
Sheila says
Cheers to the winner and all the entrants!
And yes, I knew he was rolling-on rather than covering up that pattern but I still voted for this one because I thought it was so funny! And I love Anne Taintor, too. I keep a stash of her things on hand for last-minute gifts.
Jay says
Congratulations to the winner and the runners-ups; very funny!
Pam, you had it right the first time – HOARD. There is a new cable show in the works – Retro Hoarders burried alive. The RR faithful are probably all candidates for the show.
Mary Elizabeth says
Ha, ha! Congratulations to the winner. However, I would like to point out that what the man is doing is one of the 1970s DIY projects. That is a special roller that “stencils” a wallpaper-like pattern in one color over a painted solid wall in a contrasting color. (Notice the triple roller and that he has white paint in the tray, not green.) I actually had one that my MIL gave me, which I never used but is probably in a box somewhere in my basement. It was the precursor to (or perhaps came in at the same time as) sponge painting.
But the joke is still funny and prize-worthy, IMHO. 🙂
pam kueber says
Yes… I knew that, too. Still super funny!
Sandra says
I agree with Mary Elizabeth! Since we recognize that they are not painting over wallpaper, but instead painting imitation wallpaper, it just isn’t funny to us. Maybe it comes from having been laughed at for things we weren’t doing…
Joel says
The surfaces he is painting over could very well indeed be wallpaper. Not all wallpaper has bold patterns – some is a solid color, or very subtle texture/pattern. I know most of us have actually seen where people have painted over wallpaper.