![]() This interplay of romance and practicality is a theme of Green’s life. “It also adds insulation to the room because the layer of paper keeps the heat out and the cool in.” “It’s so romantic and it makes me happy,” she said. It’s a Mediterranean scene that features large, lilac-covered terra-cotta arches that open up to a calm blue sea. In Green’s kitchenette there’s a wallpaper mural she put up years ago, flanked by two fake plants. “I hang out with her all the time,” Pate said. And when they don’t see each other, they talk on the phone. Pate slept on the couch at Green’s house for a week until Green made her go home.Įven when they’re not hanging wallpaper, they see each other almost every day. When Green broke her ankle in April, her son called Pate from the hospital. ![]() Their first episode together was titled “New Co-Host - Instant Connection.” They co-host an occasional podcast called “Reita’s World,” with episodes about finding strength and acceptance, and being happy with where you are in life. “See, I want to help save the world, and so does Beverly,” Green said. Pate helped Green with scheduling the jobs they now do together and making the many inspirational signs Green places at the edge of her property, with messages such as “Love with all your heart” and “Doubt and fear hold you back.” Over the next year and a half, Green taught the 28-year-old Pate the art and craft of wallpapering: how to prepare the wall surface, make clean cuts with a razor blade and trust that any lingering air bubbles will disappear on their own, even if it takes a day or two. “And you said you would like to learn, right?” Green said, looking at Pate. “I said, ‘I love your spirit, and you can do things like I can.’ I said, ‘I need a wallpaper hanger and I would love to teach you how to do this.’ Over pasta, salad and wine, Green posed a question. Green thought that showed real class and invited Pate over for lunch in her backyard. Pate was short on wallpaper (it happens a lot), and when Green came back a week later to finish the job, Pate insisted on paying her for her time, even though Green said there was no need. I hung all the drapes in here.’ And I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get to know this woman.’” “And I say, ‘Miss Beverly, are you working with power tools?’ And she said, ‘Yes. “So I’m in the living room and I hear brrrp brrrp,” said Green, taking over the story. In the meantime, Pate was using an electric drill to install curtain rods in the bathroom. Green, who wears her shoulder-length white hair pinned back in pearl-studded clips, got right to work. “She comes in with her ladder, buckets, table, dropcloth - and she doesn’t want any help. “So we scheduled a meeting, and I mean, she’s what, 84 at the time?” Pate said recently, sitting in Green’s home in Burbank. In October of 2020, Pate, a former dialysis technician who had recently moved from Hollywood to Burbank, was looking for someone to install the white marble wallpaper she had long dreamed of hanging in her living room.Ī Google search led her to Green, whose business cards read, “Wallpaper Queen and Inspirational Leader.” It was wallpaper that brought them together. “Oh, no, you keep me in very good spirits, Beverly,” Green replied. “I think you keep me in more good spirits than I keep you,” Pate said. ![]() Pate said wallpapering with Green never feels like work. “We respect one another and we bring the best out of each other.” “Without Beverly I couldn’t have made it this far,” Green said on a recent evening after the two women had wrapped up for the day. Within months, Pate had become Green’s partner in wallpapering, her protege and - most important - her best friend. “I knew the universe would help me when it was the right time.”Īnd then in 2020, she met Beverly Pate - a warm young woman 58 years her junior, who exudes patience, kindness and a can-do attitude. “I was getting older, so I started keeping my eyes open for somebody,” Green said. But a few years ago, even the Wallpaper Queen had to acknowledge that eventually she might need some help. Since 1960, the former dancer and actress has run her own wallpapering business - lugging buckets, ladders and a folding table from her car to her clients’ homes by herself, well into her 80s. It’s not an art that is wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.” ![]() “You just pull the paper back and put more paste on it. ![]() “You can’t be upset if it’s not working right away,” said the 86-year-old, who has been hanging wallpaper in and around Los Angeles for more than half a century. LOS ANGELES > Ask Reita Green the Wallpaper Queen what makes a successful wallpaper hanger and she’ll tell you it’s practice, patience and believing in yourself. ![]()
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