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It seems a bit too cloudy and dark to take photos of finished craft work today- so I thought instead that I would post these pictures of gorgeous wallpapers I've been finding inspiring lately. These are pages from a wallpaper book- The Papered Wall– which I found at the library and have been poring over. Quite a few of the wallpaper prints are in black-and-white which I think must have looked pretty dramatic in a house once upon a time.

Certain wallpaper prints are nostalgic and can evoke rather strong memories- in much the same way vintage household goods are memory-laden and old textiles hold such meaning for us- especially childhood items like bedspreads and curtains. Looking through this book has made me think about the wallpaper in our house when I was little (pasted by my grandmother, I think- those big ornament-style gold circles with flowers and curlicues) and the yellow design in the home of my other grandparents- (this one) and then of course the floral Laura Ashley style my mum chose in the 1980's. 

I love wallpaper (and use it for other things such as wrapping) but feel a bit wary of pasting it up in our rented house- so I will admire it in the book for now.

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8 responses to “prints for the wall”

  1. Lotus Avatar
    Lotus

    Oh these are lovely, particularly the bottom one. Hopefully I won’t always live in a rental!

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  2. nancy Avatar

    Wallpaper does evoke strong memories. My parents had white on white flocked wallpaper similar in style to the yellow one you linked to. I had one with orange outlines of birds, bumblebees, strawberries and large bouquets of purple flowers that the previous tenants had put up. It was pretty wild and very 1960s.. Can you imagine?

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  3. Lesley Avatar
    Lesley

    we have the design and colour you linked to in our rented house,in two large rooms…luckily the yellow has faded quite a bit as the rooms are carpeted in mustard coloured ,textured carpet….most of the house hasn’t been redecorated since the early 1970’s!

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  4. Angela Avatar

    Ged & I reciently went on a wall paper mission, I wanted somthing ‘different’ but the only thing we seemed to find was what looked like it walked straight out of a home & garden magazine or one of those tacky DIY mitre 10 programmes, anyhow we finally chose this AMAZING deigign in a wee interiors store hidden quietly on the outskirts of town, it’s a sanderson design: http://www.sanderson-uk.com/DesignDetails.aspx But at $189 per roll it’s been put on the wish list! The store was so cool though Mel, they had books on wall paper made in the 1910’s, 20’s that you could still order today!…as for the fabric in there! sigh xxx

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  5. ella Avatar

    Ahh, gorgeous. I love wallpaper but I’m such a practical nana all I can think of is how hard it might be to maintain. I can see children ripping it off and furniture making dents and and….. Maybe I’m actually just a pessimist. My nana’s bedroom used to be papered in with a print of huge green roses. And her cupboards were painted avocado. It was a very green room.

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  6. Ariadne Avatar

    While reading you today I was reminded of a childhood memory when I used to go to a neighbour’s flat and loved touching, feeling her yellow golden wallpaper.And then I went to the link of your grandparents wallpaper and saw what I had in my mind!Amazing!Thank you!AriadnefromGreece!

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  7. Emily Avatar

    Wallpaper is so evocative of other eras really, isn’t it. Especially those gorgeous yellowy-green styles from the 60s. Gorgeous.

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  8. Beth Avatar

    …we had a sofa & bench pads covered with the first dark green floral William Morris print about 30 years ago! (or more)

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