Pic o' the Day #1310- The Lure of the Lares

In most houses in Pompeii you will find a shrine (sometimes two) that is usually called a "lararium", because it often held figures of the Lares, guardian deities that watched over the house and its inhabitants. There would also be statues of the prime deities (Juno and Jupiter, for example), ancestors, heroes, and small offerings to these various gods. Ceremonies of passage, thanks, and offerings would be held here, sometimes officiated by an outside priest (if you were wealthy enough.) These shrines persisted until the time of the Christians, when they were banned in favor of centralized places of worship (and fee collection!) 

Fairly elaborate lararium in the House of the Gilded Cupids

Shelves would have held figurines of gods, heroes, ancestors, and lares, along with offerings of food, flowers and monies.

Pic o' the Day #1307- Just like Grandma's

In a few of the antique houses in the Bay of Naples area (the shadow of Mt Vesuvius) you will find rooms like this one, with all over patterns that resemble wallpaper you might have seen earlier in the twentieth century. Only difference is they're not printed, or even stenciled, but instead are laboriously hand painted over the entire surface. Thus, unlike today, where repeat patterns are seen as common and cheap, this was a luxurious treatment worthy of a fine room in a fine home, which the House of the Gilded Cupids was. As you can see, it also had a mosaic floor, a faux marble socle (the lower part of the wall), and a vaulted ceiling with more plaster and painted decoration. 

Field pattern in the House of the Gilded Cupids looks like wallpaper, but it's not.