The search for the perfect wallpaper
Jan. 13th, 2014 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzWhen I first went to my dietitian here in Boxtel, I was impressed with her office. One wall was wallpapered with a lovely striped wallpaper, and the rest was bland white and standard office equipment. (She also had an electric menorah on her desk in December, so I'm guessing she doesn't mind standing out).
Last time I was there, we were just starting on the work in my apartment and I told her I really liked her wallpaper, and where she had bought it.
"Oh, that one paint store near the double railway crossing." she said.
I Googled it and paid the Joosten Paint & Wallpaper store a visit today.
Little did I suspect that my one picture of the office wallpaper would unleash a hunt for the Right Thing. I had no idea that there would be over a dozen books filled with wallpapers in that store, or that wallpaper books have an expiration date (luckily none as fleeting as fashion, but still...)
The man helping me in the store browsed through the books for me, but we couldn't find the right wallpaper. I was bummed. I hadn't expected the search to be this hard, although I don't really know what I did expect. From my browsing the hardware stores, I expected just 30 different kinds of wallpaper, ranging from white to grass green and from red to black.
But what I had told both my parents rang true: once you find something that you really fancy, anything that's not quite comparable just doesn't cut it anymore. None of the samples I had brought back from other hardware stores could quite live up to the lovely, lively swirly stripes with a little glimmer that I had seen at my dietitian's office.
After looking through all the books and not finding them, I was ready to give up and settling for any old hardware store wallpaper that would do, but another store clerk came to help us out. She offered to look through their records to find the old order form. I didn't know how long ago the wallpaper had been put up, so there was no telling whether the paper in question was still available.
"What did you say your friend's name was?" the woman asked me.
"Tolen." I said. "She has a dietitian's practice here in Boxtel."
"I do have a Thoolen..." she said. There was an order for three rolls of 5209-11 from a certain brand. We looked through the books again, but found that the wallpapers were not sorted by number, and there was no telling if the book had been renewed recently. The order for 'Thoolen' was from february 2011, and I figure 3 rolls of wallpaper would be suffient for the length of wall.
"Let's give her a call." the first clerk said. There was no answer. "Voicemail of Saskia and Dion..." he said, after hanging up the phone.
"That could be. Her name is Saskia Tolen." I replied.
The second clerk Googled the phone number she had. "Registered to a different surname;" she said; "but if that's the other person, that could be. It is a number here in Boxtel."
In the end they called the manufacturer to see if they could get a picture e-mailed of the wallpaper. I left my contact information and went to Eindhoven for some more wallpaper scraping (the stuff in the bedroom is proving to be mighty resilient!)
And then I received a phonecall from Joosten, the paint store. They had forwarded the e-mail to me, and also the person they had phoned had called them back and said she had opened the practice a few years back and that was when she had bought the wallpaper.
So I guess we do have a match. And the best news is that there are 11 and 14 rolls from 2 separate dye batches still available, which should be more than enough for my apartment.
And I'd like to nominate Joosten for Efficient Store of the year!
Last time I was there, we were just starting on the work in my apartment and I told her I really liked her wallpaper, and where she had bought it.
"Oh, that one paint store near the double railway crossing." she said.
I Googled it and paid the Joosten Paint & Wallpaper store a visit today.
Little did I suspect that my one picture of the office wallpaper would unleash a hunt for the Right Thing. I had no idea that there would be over a dozen books filled with wallpapers in that store, or that wallpaper books have an expiration date (luckily none as fleeting as fashion, but still...)
The man helping me in the store browsed through the books for me, but we couldn't find the right wallpaper. I was bummed. I hadn't expected the search to be this hard, although I don't really know what I did expect. From my browsing the hardware stores, I expected just 30 different kinds of wallpaper, ranging from white to grass green and from red to black.
But what I had told both my parents rang true: once you find something that you really fancy, anything that's not quite comparable just doesn't cut it anymore. None of the samples I had brought back from other hardware stores could quite live up to the lovely, lively swirly stripes with a little glimmer that I had seen at my dietitian's office.
After looking through all the books and not finding them, I was ready to give up and settling for any old hardware store wallpaper that would do, but another store clerk came to help us out. She offered to look through their records to find the old order form. I didn't know how long ago the wallpaper had been put up, so there was no telling whether the paper in question was still available.
"What did you say your friend's name was?" the woman asked me.
"Tolen." I said. "She has a dietitian's practice here in Boxtel."
"I do have a Thoolen..." she said. There was an order for three rolls of 5209-11 from a certain brand. We looked through the books again, but found that the wallpapers were not sorted by number, and there was no telling if the book had been renewed recently. The order for 'Thoolen' was from february 2011, and I figure 3 rolls of wallpaper would be suffient for the length of wall.
"Let's give her a call." the first clerk said. There was no answer. "Voicemail of Saskia and Dion..." he said, after hanging up the phone.
"That could be. Her name is Saskia Tolen." I replied.
The second clerk Googled the phone number she had. "Registered to a different surname;" she said; "but if that's the other person, that could be. It is a number here in Boxtel."
In the end they called the manufacturer to see if they could get a picture e-mailed of the wallpaper. I left my contact information and went to Eindhoven for some more wallpaper scraping (the stuff in the bedroom is proving to be mighty resilient!)
And then I received a phonecall from Joosten, the paint store. They had forwarded the e-mail to me, and also the person they had phoned had called them back and said she had opened the practice a few years back and that was when she had bought the wallpaper.
So I guess we do have a match. And the best news is that there are 11 and 14 rolls from 2 separate dye batches still available, which should be more than enough for my apartment.
And I'd like to nominate Joosten for Efficient Store of the year!
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no subject
Date: 2014-01-14 07:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-14 08:24 am (UTC)Enne, wat voor soort behang is het? Als het vliesbehang is, komt dat mooi uit. Als het papierbehang is, wordt het iets lastiger: het is best een kunst om dat netjes op de muur te krijgen, als je de klus zelf wilt gaan doen.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-14 05:04 pm (UTC)En mijn vader is erg ervaren met behangen, met allerlei soorten, prijzen en afkomsten!