The large landscape painting to the right of the stove is a piece of an old oilcloth wallpaper. Wallpapers like these were hanging on the walls before the house was renovated by Goethe’s father in 1755. During the renovation they were removed and some of them even used as protection from the rain. The plan had been for the family to continue to live in the house during the renovation.

Goethe writes in Poetry and Truth: "Father stubbornly persisted with his plan during the first stage; but when at last a part of the roof was also removed, and the oilcloth (made from our stripped-off wallcoverings) that had been stretched over the space did not prevent the rain from dripping onto our beds, [...]," other arrangements were made for the mother and children after all.