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After the horrible experience we had with Marshalls, I collected wallpapers from different stores and I asked one of the shopkeepers for wallpaper application ‘cuz maximum of my papers were from there… we had already guessed that he would be hiring people from outside but we thought he’d give them proper instructions because he knew what had happened previously… To my shock they sent only one person to do the whole room and one of my Korean wallpapers had a huge Panna (breath) it’s bigger than other normal wallpapers and he knew about it, some girl had the same complain in her Elementto review because they all appoint one, single person for all these imported wallpapers and for some reason they expect them to do it neatly, anyway, as you must’ve understood… they are not able manage it and they end up ruining the whole room. My father was asking him to send one more guy to which he said, “I’ve spoken to the supervisor they will only send one…” I kept revolting so my father said, “You mean to say he will stick the wallpaper with one hand and put it or hold it on top… on the height with another? Such a big paper?” He kept arguing or explaining his point so he added, “I don’t care about your supervisor, he is not here, so am I supposed to spend 4-5 days behind this wallpaper work and supervise him while you’ll sit there and earn?” Coincidentally when he used the word “Supervise” I glanced at my open browser, I was already on Asian Paints website and their tagline over there read, “The safe and supervised way to get a home makeover” It was for their painting work but I had scrolled below to see the form so what was visible to me was just the tagline and that word instantly caught my attention because my father was shouting it from the other end… We had already done our wall preparation, waterproof putti, primer and painting for my wainscot panelling from there (I’ve designed it and it’s very inexpensive + less time consuming when compared to other common styles such as Shaker/Hampton’s or Victorian, Grooved Panelings) and I was thinking of calling them for the wallpapers too but then we were told that they would be sending another fellow within 2 hours so we could ask the first guy to start off which is again like imposing your own will, they were very adamant, so we told them we’ll start when he’ll arrive. The guy kept waiting down hoping we would change our mind but then he eventually went to get another guy so we were basically getting cheated… my mother kept shouting at my father for using that word “supervise” She said, “So you don’t want to supervise your own house? Why? You want to get paid for it?” I was like it’s not a bad word I mean I kept thinking about the coincidence and I also wondered, if we are getting it done from here… then why did that coincidence happen? Anyway they came and when my father told them that we’d just done our painting work so they’ll have to be a bit careful especially near the white paint & the cornice border which is usually very fragile, instead of reassuring us, one of them said, “The glue will come on the border.” So we told him that he can be a little careful… to which he said very roughly “No it will come on the border” Moreover, Mr Mordani had himself told (even I have read this online) that the glue has to be applied on the walls not the paper if it’s non woven, so we just told him… “You will have to apply the glue on the wall okay cuz we have non woven papers” and he flipped out, he immediately threw the wallpaper roll on my bed… that too quite aggressively and told us, “Ask someone else to do it” He just banged it which irked my father, he lost his temper and he seriously felt like hitting him, it led to a rancorous argument and they started shouting then they got scared cuz my father was not able to control himself and my mother was constantly pulling him back, those guys were actually like thugs, they got scared and they started running and they were now talking properly, they were like, “Mam mam maine sirf Yeh bola” my father said, “He was showing so much attitude, he threw the roll and he was not ready to do it.” I also lost my temper, I said, “First of all they should have been given instructions, I mean he knew what had gone wrong the previous time, his team should have done that, secondly we had to tell them everything and they still want to do it their way, don’t they know that all wallpapers are different? What are we paying for? At NGC they don’t charge for wallpaper application after a certain threshold… they left after that and whatever happens, happens for good, they would’ve used Bartoline like Marshalls and all other places and sometimes I also doubt that this particular glue is neither compatible nor quick to dry, the one who had applied less glue on the window wall had not used bartoline, he had used a locally made cheap glue and there is not a single stain there, whereas Marshall’s striped paper had already developed stains on the same wall before we removed it.
There was one more nice coincidence, this time it was linked to Mordani, he is not bad but when it comes to wallpaper application, they rely on all these freelancers or third party people who are very incompetent and loutish, I was not able to find any wallpaper of my choice I was constantly being told that they are out of stock or out of production or that I’ll have to place an international order and import them, I was giving up and I started crying… I then saw my name twice while I was tearfully looking for more options on google, it was like, “Zara, Zara…” it was supposed to grab my attention & it did, it instantly reminded me of one of my (mean) “so called” friends, she was very fake but whenever I would break down, she would take my name like that in the exact same manner & ask me to stop crying… it wasn’t her but it was as if someone was doing the same thing, I then saw a few more reassuring signs and I haplessly asked Mr. Mordani to send one of those Floral catalogues from which I had shortlisted some wallpapers, he said he will have to order it from another state cuz he had discarded his after the papers had gone out of production, I had already asked if he had a few rolls left and they were available in outer-state, I asked him to call for it and he agreed, I had chosen an embroidered wallpaper in raw silk and I wasn’t sure how heavy it was so I was a bit skeptical… to my surprise he sent that catalogue without even telling us on the same day itself by evening… he found it and I chose another paper which had no embroidery, I liked it more because it reminded me of my favourite cardigan which has the same colour and the same print as in those Ditsy Flowers… I have never seen any ditsy paper as perfect as this one (alhamdullilah) not even in US or Europe… I finally started believing in those signs.
We eventually asked Asian Paints for their “supervised” service and they are quite helpful, I told them whatever wallpapers I had liked from their store were out of stock so I had to buy wallpapers from somewhere else and I got exactly what I was looking for, I just needed someone for the application, they said they can’t give any guarantee warranty as it’s not their paper but they’ll ask the applicators to get in touch with us and one of them called, he was also insisting on coming alone but we told him we had big huge rolls so he got one more guy, he said, “You can pay me after 10 days if you are satisfied with my work” they don’t use Bartoline, they got Nilaaya cuz they find it better and honestly even I didn’t want Bartoline, they have a lot of gadgets even the one who had come for painting (wainscot) and wallpaper preparation (we had done all that also from Asian Paints) had a digital meter reader so he didn’t have to crawl up everywhere with a measuring tape & notepad, these people use rollers instead of brushes, they have different sizes in rollers and they are equipped with all kinds of tools for a seamless application process. They were very hygienic they cleaned everything nicely, they wanted to put water on the thicker paper to make it soft but I asked them not to and I also instructed them to put the glue on the wall instead of the paper, the previous ones had not opened the roll before dumping it, these people saw it and according to them one of the rolls was woven because it was a bit thicker, it’s actually waxed so it can have pvc or some form of coating but I insisted so they said we’ll see if it sticks directly on a glued wall or else… I told them if it doesn’t, then they can apply glue on the paper but they can’t put water, there is no need to soften it and luckily it stuck… so we didn’t have to apply glue on the paper either. Unlike the previous guy, he even said that if the border would spoil because of the glue I will get that touch up done and they kept wiping it but it impossible to avoid spillage, luckily it didn’t drip further cuz they were being careful so the design and carving is safe… their cutting and neatness were impeccable, it was very impressive, my father left early cuz he didn’t have to “supervise”… this literally sounds like a commercial right now, Asian Paints should start with wallpaper service, the buffalo plaid checks were hand drawn and freestyle so they had to match each and every block because they were no aligned symmetrically, they said there won’t be that much perfection or sync but o can’t see any difference cuz they did their best, they’ve successfully managed to blend everything together and it might sound like I’m raving right now but I can’t see any incongruity… I didn’t have to give more instructions, they did what I would’ve done on the ledge also, they were very careful with the checkered paper cuz it was very delicate and there is not a single bubble or gap anywhere.
You can see all the images and videos here instagram.com/_thechalet_
Xoxo
Zara Sauleh
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