`We save marriages” is Sue and Jerry McCann’s unofficial motto. The husband-and-wife team of wallpaper hangers from West Chicago pastes many a marriage, plus 3,000 rolls of wallpaper a year.
“People are amazed that we can wallpaper together. So many couples can’t,” says Sue. “But we love doing it, and we love being together.”
Sue founded the business in 1979 after papering homes built by Jerry, a former carpenter-contractor.
“One day I was showing a home and the woman looking at it suggested I go into the decorating business,” says Sue. “So, I said, `Why not?’ ” Three months later, she had enough referrals to keep her busy full time. Ten years after that, Jerry quit building houses and joined her.
Now, clients recognize the McCanns’ lavender van with the “ONAROLL” license plate. They wear lavender polo shirts and carry lavender business cards. “No reason, really (for the lavender),” says Sue. “Our last van was lavender, and it just stuck.”
The two have a well-defined division of duties. “I hang the paper while Jerry cuts, pastes and sets up ladders and scaffolds,” says Sue. Before hanging the paper, she signs the walls “Sue McCann and slave,” sometimes adding a caricature of her husband, who takes the ribbing in stride.
“Signing is an old tradition,” says Sue. “We’ve found signatures back to 1927.”
The McCanns ask their clients to remove the old wallpaper before they arrive. “When we get there, the conditions vary from ready-to-paper to crumbling plaster. The weirdest thing we’ve seen are walls from the ’20s with animal-blood sizing,” says Sue.
“If the wall needs plaster or drywall work, we wait until they do that.”
The perfectly plumb wall is the exception to the rule, says Sue. “The older homes start out straight, but settle over the years,” she says. “New construction varies. There are some great custom builders out there, but there are homes going up with inferior walls with too many nail pops. Especially in foyers and in long halls where there are long spans, the walls are bowed. The trickiest part of the job is telling people they have poorly constructed walls without offending them.”
The couple works from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., eating their brown-bag lunches between rolls. “Time is money,” says Sue. They tune their radio to rock `n’ roll oldies stations. “We don’t follow the soaps, but we hear enough from the clients’ TVs to know that Susan Lucci is still on,” says Sue.
Back home, Sue returns telephone calls and Jerry loads the van for the next day’s job with snap lines, 30-gallon buckets of sizing and paste, ladders, scaffolding and hand tools including an antique, horse-hair wall brush that was a gift from a customer.
Then, Sue says she turns into Suzy Homemaker, making big dinners and homemade bread while her family works the ever-present jigsaw puzzle in the kitchen. The McCanns unwind by playing pool and pitching horseshoes.
“Sue’s probably the only woman you know with a lighted horseshoe pit,” admits Jerry.
Now on their second generation of clients, the McCanns get to know their clients, many of whom have become long-time friends.
“We see divorces and remarriages and arguments and flowers in between,” says Sue. “The kids like to tell us everything, all the family skeletons. Now we’re pretty good predictors of which marriages will work. One man pulled me aside and asked me if he should marry his girlfriend. They were always fighting. I told him no.
“We get to know the pets, too. The cats usually hide, but the dogs are our friends, and we carry chewies for them. For working couples’ dogs, we’re their company during the day.” The McCanns also have kept company with pet raccoons, hermit crabs and boa constrictors.
On Saturdays, when most of their clients are home, Jerry measures clients’ walls while Sue writes estimates, tells the clients how much paper to order and helps them choose patterns.
“What’s hot now are cabana stripes, hand-cut borders and appliques (our specialty) and fabrics, including polished cottons and silks,” says Sue. “We can hang any fabric that can get wet; we use a clear, cellulose adhesive that doesn’t stain. There are so many choices now, the sky’s the limit. The most unusual paper I’ve used was a handmade paper with a design made of sand attached with silicone. It wore my fingernails to the quick.”
Also hot, says Sue, are wallpapered ceilings, especially with textured papers that mimic tinwork. But some jobs call for more than walls and ceilings.
“We’ve wallpapered refrigerators, cabinets,” she says. “Jerry once wallpapered a man’s toaster as a joke, but then the man asked him to do the blender, too.”
Although the McCanns are busy year-round, clients are more demanding before the holidays. “People really put themselves under the gun, trying to get the house decorated for guests,” says Sue. “Then, after the holidays, we have a lot of jobs for people who are given our services as Christmas gifts.”
Over the years, their grown son and daughter have helped during busy spells. Neither joined the trades, says Sue, “but they’re both good carpenters and know how to hang wallpaper.”
Several times a year, the McCanns leave the lavender van home and take spur-of-the-moment trips in their leisure van, which Jerry keeps stocked with fishing poles. They’ve hit every state at least once, except Alaska and Hawaii.
Asked if they will retire, Jerry says with a shrug: “Why should we?”
“I have wonderful kids, a great partner and a job that gives instant gratification for everyone–us and the clients,” adds Sue. “Sounds corny, I know, but life is great.”
For more information, contact Sue and Jerry McCann, Sue’s Custom Paper Hanging, 0S535 Prince Crossing Rd., West Chicago, Ill. 60185; 630-231-5110.
