HK5Corner: Cats & Wallpaper

Note to self, when planning on using fabric wallpaper, make sure you don’t have a cat, or plan on ever getting a cat. Entering the arena, Mort & Chili. We’ve posted about them a few times on insta, but I am not a big poster of pets on the family blog. Same goes for pets on holiday cards. I love seeing pets on other people’s cards, but I am weird like that! I get it. Recently I was sick, and laying in bed late in the morning, being lazy, as one does when you are fighting a bug. We had just gotten back from the east coast. I was admiring the sunlight hitting the master bedroom wallpaper. If you read my wallpaper post for the master last year, if not, let me bring you up to speed. My wallpaper contractor almost killed me for this selection. A silk fabric wallpaper that is a contemporary knotted weave fabric. I found the wallpaper through an online vendor and ordered samples of all the colors. You can find more info in the post linked above.

Installing this paper had it’s challenges, but I was impressed with the final install. The contractor even color matched the paper and painted a trim between the paper and where it met the stained ceiling molding and baseboard. I still need to do that to the master bathroom myself. Some day that project will be finished. That morning I had noticed how the fabric just lit up with the morning light beaming through the east facing windows. The light turned the blue fabric into a silver color. I had been extremely happy with this wallpaper, until we decided to add 2 cats to our family.

Now entering Mort and Chili. They are cute, and like our dog, just as crazy as me! I won’t lie, this was a fear of mine from the beginning, installing any kind of wallpaper in the house. At some point, they will realize the sitting room, master and our bathroom are lined in a scratching post. Well, it did’t take long for them to figure out the master bedroom was covered in fabric. About three months after they arrived, we started to see little threads falling from the paper back at the corner of bedroom entry hall. How did we resolve that problem. Snipped the loose threads and we try to close the door as often as possible. I also have two paintings sitting on the floor to block the corners from being used as a scratching post. I didn’t say it was permanent solution but it’s working for now. Do I know which of the two is the culprit, most certainly. It’s also the cat who has some kind of funky version of at UTI that required emergency surgery. As of right now, the damage has been mild, we are not at the level of our shingle damage from the dog’s emotional trauma from being left at home alone during our summer vacation. Thankfully that is finally being repaired. More on that later. Would I do fabric wallpaper ever again. Maybe is my current answer. I do enjoy it, but it does collect debris. Especially when the cleaners use their dirty rags to fling debris of the wallpaper. For now I do still love it. For now I am trying to just figure how to prevent the cats from damaging it any further.