IT'S MY COSTUME ERA

This Halloween season. R. Eric Thomas is embracing year-round getups.

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Let me tell you about my Emily Dickinson wallpaper. When the Apple TV+ series Dickinson first came out, I watched it because I was interested in the subject-a reimagining of the teenage life of Emily Dickinson. But I soon became fixated on the vibrant wallpaper in her home. I'd dream of statement-making walls. I'd shake my fist in rage at the ecru paint in my apartment. I'd go to dinner parties and say, "Why aren't we wallpapering anymore? We used to be a proper society!"

Because the algorithms read our thoughts, I began getting ads for wallpaper. One thing led to another, and I found Ellie Cashman Design. Her wallpapers-florals, often desaturated, in the style of the Dutch masters-are scalable. Costumes of the home, so to speak. You can order a design with small, discrete bundles of peonies repeating dozens of times or scale it up so that an entire wall is taken up by a single bloom. I was enthralled. I bookmarked. I dreamed.