Clever Scandinavians

Ok—on with the big empty flat story…

While waiting for that carpet to arrive, there were other things to be done. Namely, something had to happen with the cold concrete walls. This was a bit of an issue because quality paint was hard to come by for one thing, and latex wouldn’t stick to this for another. Somehow, though, the ceilings were high (8’-10’) in these block apartments, and they had been treated with some chalky paint-like substance and were white and clean looking. I wouldn’t want to lick them, but they looked ok, so that was one less thing to worry about.

Now most Latvians covered these types of walls with bad wallpaper in antiquated, tight prints (often in varying shades of pink) which was predictably hidden by massive bookcases and wardrobes (the concept of closets were lost here). So without any furniture, much less the en vogue overpowering furniture usually found, or an affinity for the taste of a 120 year old woman, we needed to find another solution.

During this time, we had been invited to our friend Arden’s flat in Riga. Arden was an American; a Lutheran pastor from Minnesota who had been sent to start an English-language ministry in Riga. He set up shop in the old Anglican Church in Riga’s Old Town, and would in a few short months baptize our son there. We lived far away, so we weren’t regular attendees, but we enjoyed Arden whether we saw him behind a pulpit or behind a beer, so there we were at his flat one day. He lived in a similar but smaller block apartment than we did, and it was fixed up very comfortably. It took us a little while to figure out why it felt so comfortable, and then it dawned on us: he had PAINT on the walls! No distracting, headache-inducing wallpaper! How did he do this?!? Then two beautiful words that we’d never heard in such a combination came from his mouth: Fiberglass Wallcovering. Huh?

Fantastically fabricated by clever Scandinavians, fiberglass threads were woven together to produce a very strong and pliable fabric sold on meter-wide rolls designed to cover imperfections on walls, absorb paint, and provide a reduction in reverberation. Better than all that, it came in a variety of textured patterns to boot! We had to get us some of this.

I don’t remember for sure, but I think we may have purchased this in Helsinki. That sounds extravagant, but it really wasn’t because I was travelling to Helsinki on a regular basis anyway for pre-natal appointments. It’s kind of like the trip from Detroit to Chicago with a quick ferry ride added on. The Dan Ryan is as big a pain in the ass as any border crossing, too.

The fiberglass went up with regular wall paper paste, was very forgiving, and even before painting it, the walls looked great. We had chosen a pattern of very tight basket weave which added an interesting texture and dimension. We ended up being able to find decent latex paint imported from Germany and threw up a couple of coats of a buttery color. The light from our west-facing living room windows was no longer cold and harsh but warm and cozy. Form followed function.