House Beautiful, de GournayThere has been some rumbling and buzzing around the topic of wallpaper lately. Do you remember a time in the not so distant past when there was a Wallpaper To Go store in every suburban strip mall? When teeny flower prints with matchy poo borders were considered fabulous and chic? I look back and cringe with vivid memories of mom pants, hair scrunchies and young girls screaming for New Kids On The Block! I often thought how ironic we can put a man on the moon, but why the heck can’t we make superglue stick like wallpaper? I lost count how many perfectly good manicures were ruined, spending countless hours stripping fuggly wallpaper off walls of homes I moved into. I suspect I was not alone when barely a tear was shed after wallpapers swift and sudden downfall.
House Beautiful, Cole & Son
Thibaut
In typical nostalgia fashion, I started fondly reminiscing through rose colored glasses. I thought why not explore and take a closer look at what is available on the affordable market scene of today. Much to my surprise I'm kinda digging wallpaper again! I know I have been lured into a peaceful lull by the manufactures promises that they are easier to clean and remove then in the past. Like a sweet talking, cheating ex-boyfriend, I don't totally believe the hype, but its flattering to be wooed.
Thibaut
ThibautThere is something about this soft Scandinavian blue and creamy white that speaks to me. The boldness of the print creates a fresh updated feel. I'm thinking it would be perfect in a room on a grey, overcast winter day.
Trend Glass Mosaic Wallpaper
What a fantastic look, but for the price of $32.15 per square foot I might as well install the real deal.
Graham & BrownDoesn't this look authentic? At $40.00 a double roll this is a bit more palatable. However, I would need to verify the quality by ordering a sample first before making any long term commitment. I definitely sense potential here, pity the colors are a no go for my space.
ThibaultHonestly, I'm more in love with this bathtub and faucet then the paper. A quiet and unassuming backdrop, it is still worthy of a nod in its direction.
Thibaut 
56 Comments. *Click to leave a comment*:
Cathy long time no visit! sorry... Life kind of pulls and pulls you know when you have young kids.
Anyway, I love this post about wallpapers! I love all the pictures, but I love the last bathroom one with that mirror. I have the same looking picture frame and am now determined to get one and turn it into a mirror frame. Hmmmmm....
Hugs dear friend,
Chandy
I absolutely felt as you did in the past. After my mother's death I thought that the wallpaper in one bedroom (that room only) was ugly enough to make selling the house difficult (it finally sold, though).
Two years ago, after living in our house for eight years and hating every minute of the "fuggly" (great word) border around every room in our home (built in 1917 and the former owners did it up in dark colors and oppressively heavy-designs borders) I finally convinced my husband to redo it all. I've loved the freshness of lighter paint, sans any wallpaper.
But, guess what? I found myself falling in love with the red-white checks, the toile' (I have a vase in that design and have always loved it), and the Scandinavian blue. Still, in my home, which is small, I probably will not go that route...at least not without asking for some expert advice down the road.
As I continue to remove "unremovable" wallpaper, I just can't get back on that wagon, even for a short ride. I have removed it from multiple walls in our condo. (See my blog). This week,I am working at our home to remove it from a bedroom that has been papered for years. We built in 1979 and in 1981 I papered every bedroom and bath an of course my kitchen. All of it is gone, except for two bedrooms upstairs and they are on my list! Sorry, didn't mean to go on so long. It will be interesting to see how the trend takes hold. I am sure it will be accepted by those who have not tried it.
Have a wonderful day.
Charla
I have promised myself that never again would I put up wallpaper, after tearing it all down. I said that knowing that if and when it came back out I probably would want it again.
So - that being said, I didn't even want to look at those pictures! I'm not ready now, but I can see it coming.
Cathy, I have removed every bit of wallpaper from the kitchen, 3 baths, and back entry in my house, vowing at the time NEVER to EVER wallpaper again. However......the toile - ah, and the last print in your post - love it! Those people really like to mess with our minds, don't they. Hmmmmmm....Linda
Hi Cathy, My current house has wallpaper that I love but in my last home where I lived for 20 years we banned wallpaper after going through the pain of putting it up and removing it. Two years ago when I walked into this home I immediately fell in love with it, in part because of the wallpaper in the dining room and the bathroom. I like a little wallpaper as long as someone else is going to put it up and remove it when the time come, but I would really have to be in love with it before I would do it again. Hugs, Patti
I LOVE the new patterns and colors in wallpaper {I'm also a fabric nut}! My hubby has banned wallpaper in our home {circa the geese/wreath era} - well, on the walls at least, I hope to use it at some point in other creative ways.
There are some really pretty wall papers there. It it love/hate thing for me. One place we rented had wall paper. However, the house had poor insulation and in the winter rains, it was getting moldy. So the owners gave us the okay to remove it and paint instead. One room had three layers of wall paper and the closet had four or more!! And it was getting soaked! A blanket that was handwoven for my son was ruined from the mold. The other room was almost as bad. Yuck! Plus they were ugly wallpapers too. Then another place we lived it was wall papered in the kitchen. I hated the pattern and the owner would not change it. So I had to live with that one. Due to that experience, I am not sure I ever want wallpaper again. But then again, there are some very nice ones out there. Thanks for your interesting post!
Ugh, I remember when we moved into this home how I (yes me!) put up papers and then just two years ago started removing and ripping everything down. I've always like wall paper, but there really is a "time and place" for it. I have to admit though...if my kitchen "eating area" was a smudge bigger I'd love that plaid in there and I'm really digging that toile. God help me!
Oh Cathy these pictures are wonderful! The second one has just a softness to it I love and the bed; well it's stunning. The soft green with white furniture; the lovely light blue and the toile oh be still my heart. And those faces, HA, now how cute is that. I would pay the price to look at that every morning in my bathroom.....speaking of which I have spent the past month pulling little pieces the size of a quarter off in my very TINY bathroom and so with that being said, NO THANKS. It is safer on the other side with the paint can in one hand and the paint brush in the other. I still have my kitchen and dining room to tackle and it is stuck on there REAL good. Someone once suggested painting over it and that scares me more than pulling it off and ruining the sheet rock. But yes, it will be interesting to see what the trend moves towards. Thanks for a lovely post and trip down a fantasy lane I will not travel again ;)
Sharon
Oooh! Great post! I'd try wallpaper but not on all the walls in a room, kwim? I'd probably do just one wall or even a section.
Blessings,
Sandra
Hi Cathy,
First, great post! We lived in a very small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for many years. Our house was built in 1921 and just had a brown coat of plaster so the walls HAD to be wallpapered.
In our town, Hazel was the wallpaper lady and she removed and installed all wallpaper that came down and went up in Still Pond. Not EVER having had to remove wallpaper, I have always loved it. Your pics are beautiful! All the walls in my house now (in PA) are painted but you have made me start thinking about wallpaper again!
Thanks,
Jana
hi Cathy, i hope you are enjoying your summer. It has been so hectic and so busy i have barely had time to visit my blog friends, im sure i have missed so much. I can recall the wallpaper days and swore i would never have it in my house, but the new wallpapers are so irrestible. However, i still wouldn't be brave enough to do a whole room, that is why we only did four feet behind the tv and i actually do enjoy it in that small dose. Good post!
hugs
janet
Wow Cathy these wallpapers are just stunning! My husband grew up in the 70's and he has recounted to me endless times how awful the wallpaper was in the house he grew up in .. not to mention the orange shag carpeting! I would be soo happy to have some of those wallpapers in my 1950's home. I think they would finish off a room nicely.
Wallpaper came and went and I too, was ripping it down wondering what these people (or even myself)were thinking when they put this up!!
But....the winds of change are blowing AGAIN! There are some beautiful wallpapers out there again.
I wonder...in 10 years will we be looking at these new styles going YUCK! What were we thinking??
Have a great day!
Lou Cinda :)
I love the wallpaper post...I have a new thing for wallpaper too!
far too 'busy' for me to be comfortable in, except for the first 'thibault' ;)
Wallpaper seems to go around in cycles. One year I was papering the house and the next someone declared wallpaper was just not fashionable. There was a wallpaper store in my town for years and years and it is now going out of business which is sad. I think with the economy wavering less and less people will paper no matter how lovely the paper for fear of selling their home down the road to someone who does not want to deal with wallpaper. Realtors around here roll their eyes when they see wallpaper in all the homes in any price range. I also agree with you that the one mosaic tile paper is so pricy I would just tile:)
Joyce
Joyce,
Your point is well taken. Many people are uncertain if they might need to sell their home so are playing it safe and keeping their colors neutral.
Cathy
I have to admit. Wallpaper is growing on me. I think it look great in a powder room.
xo,
cristin
ps- you'll have to drop by - I'm having a fabulous giveaway.
Like your post!
Plesant thoughts,
d
Boy, do I remember when there was a Wallpapers to Go in every strip mall--I worked in one myself! I got a good employee discount on all the papers, so I covered my house in them. (I cringe to think of the future owners who were faced with removing them all. My apologies to them, whoever they are!)
I think wallpaper looks fresh to us now because it has been so long since we've seen it. I just hope the trend doesn't trickle back down and get translated as duck borders like before!
Great post--so many pretty examples of how to do it right.
I'm loving that red plaid wallpaper with the print chairs. Haven't had wallpaper in my last 3 houses!
Cool post...
You've brought me back to those good old days... NKOTB ... oh how can I forget?!
Those wallpapers are gorgeous, great eye and taste you have.
Very nice photos, and I agree, I'm liking wallpaper now, but in the past, I was not a fan. Love how you did both trad. and contemp. styling with your photos!
The Pink French Toile!!!!!!I feel another "Le Bath" redo coming on.....xoxo~Kathy~ @ Sweet Up-North Mornings...
What a fun post.. I loved the French Toile paper.. then again I love anything toile and Frenchie.. lol.. I stripped all the paper off here a few years ago and fauxed all the walls.. I still love the fauxed effect.. I was delighted you stopped by to see the Checker Tablescape...Have a super day my friend..
hugs ~lynne~
my favorite but maybe also the creepiest is the faces wall paper
Shopannies,
The faces are a bit stern, since none are smiling. I thought they were compelling so included them. I would not hang this in a bathroom, because it would feel as if many eyes were looking. Catching a glimpse of them in the dead of night might be startling. I expect they would be considered bad Feng Shui, but they are definitely interesting.
Cathy
Cathy,
Oh I really love the Toile pattern too as well as the Scandinavian Blue!
I've always been crazy about about wallpaper. I guess I because my mom always put up wallpaper in every home we lived in! She also taught me the importance of using wallpaper primer on the wall before applying it, to help make removing it easier in the future. Fortunately I haven't felt the urge to remove any of mine yet to see if it really makes a difference!
Hugs, Sherri
I hate to admit it, but I love wallpaper! I know it's supposedly sort of dated and everyone wants solid walls in earthy tones now (Which is evident from the 45,000 cans of brown oops paint at Lowe's! lol) but I still love a beautiful flocked damask or a gorgeous silk.
I'm firmly on the fence, I'm afraid. If I could afford someone to install it nicely for me, and then come along in a couple of years and change it when I'm bored, then I would love to try some wallpaper.
But I'm realistic to know that undertaking it on my own would lead to a broken marriage or broken ankle, or both!
I loved the toile paper, but I will never use any of it in my house. It is too hard to change it when I get tired of it. Painting is so much simpler. Very interesting post! Hugs ~cindy s~
Nice collection of wallpapers!
Thank you Cathy for covering wallpaper in this
bog. I have been involved in a lively
discussion on to paper or to paint at a
sorority house in two small areas. Your
pictures and comments plus the comments of
your friends will be so helpful to help
settle this particular problem for us.
Hugs, Myke
V E R Y S C A R Y P O S T ! ! !
I will play it safe and admire someones elses.
It sets off the gag reflex then I cringe no matter how lovely. Of course I said that about bell bottoms too... ate those words.
Great Comments Everyone!
I always love a lively discussion and a bit of fun controversy! This seems to be a topic people obviously have strong opinions on and I find it very interesting to hear them.
Cathy
I just don't know if I can commit to the wallpaper... I get bored too easily, and paint my rooms and start over. But, some of them are really gorgeous...if I could only commit...
~Amy
if you would have asked me several years ago i probably would have laughed...but i have to admit that wallpaper has come a long way and i'm actually a little tempted to try!!
Yes, I love it. I just spent $1,000 on papers for my new home being built (as you noticed re: bricks disaster!!) haha.
I'm trying to load the pics of the papers I have bought onto my blog, the samples are on their webpage not as a .jpg, so I don't know how to save the image to PC and then onto my Blog. So I may never get to show them off - they are gorgeous (like yours above!)
The paper with faces was cool. I don't know if I would want it on a wall though.
Renee xoxo
Hi Cathy, I think we have all had our wallpaper experiences. There are some beautiful papers available now, but I don't think I could go down that road. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, it is always nice to meet new blog friends. Your blog is lovely!
xo, Michelle
I've put it up and I've taken it down. The worst was a tiny hall with foil paper. That was almost 30 years ago and I still have bad dreams about. We still have it in 2 rooms. We have an over-the-top floral on our powder room ceiling. I've loved it every day for 20 years. Better have a pro pick it out.
Love love love the scandinavian blue!! I could also live with the toile, but I'm not sure how long! Very nice post!
Jen
I too have notice growing presence of wallpaper, Cathy. Yes, some are beautiful; but like you I shudder to think about having to strip them off the wall when they no longer compliment the decor. I have a feeling wallpaper is about to cycle back "in". Maybe that might be a worthy $$ investment. Wallpaper's to Go made a bundle the first few years. I think the original franchise owners sold before the wallpaper market fell off the radar. LOL @ your comment of "sweet talking cheating boyfriend!" I think the wooing has begun!
Tina
I, too, have been pulled back to wallpaper. But only in the hall bath. And only in a classical print, like toile. And only in black and white so as to remain kind of neutral. I just did a post about this....come look for yourself! -shirl
I'd definetly get one french toile for my little girl's bedroom.. its just so chic!
Cathy you have an award waiting for you at my blog! thanks for being such an inspiration!
I'm with you on that Cathy! Wallpaper is making a comeback in avery big & serious way. I was actually amazed to find out that much of what's out today resounds with the Y generation, vintage modern, bohemian chic & contemporary. I'm putting one up in my bathroom. Hopefully, i'll love it for a long time!
What a well-written post, and I love the photos that you chose to include. I actually have a wallpaper post in the works as well--will probably publish early next week. I tend to fall into the "no wallpaper" camp in general. Will be curious to hear your thoughts if you'd like to stop by!
I love the toile as well.
Sorry-I've been out of commission -- terribly sick for over a week-- but do you want to know how I cut my grocery bill in half? go to Cut your grocery bills now plus I have a give a way and a new MckLinky party starting Monday
Cheri
Its So Very Cheri
Cathy, you so generous with your comments over my tablescapes, so heart you for it! ;-)
Actually you're not the first person to tell me that, so at least in my head, it's in the works. If I could just learn how to sharpen the details of my shots, then we'll revisit that possibility. LOL
Thanks again, I so do appreciate you...
The high end wallpaper examples you showed would really make me want to use them (along with an installer who will do the work perfectly).
However, I am still smarting from the experience of having wallpaper removed from my master bathroom last month. It took three days to remove, then repair the sheetrock with a plaster coat, then finally apply paint.
I'm very tempted once again, but I swore like others, once I stripped it off the walls in our last home...NEVER AGAIN. So I like damask style designs.....And now I'm thinking of doing an Allover Stencil Design in a Damask Pattern in a subtle color pattern maybe on one wall or in a small powder room. The Allover Stencil patterns are amazing and there's no stripping paper at a later date. Like paper, stencil designs have come a LONG way!
Nice interor... Really innovative
I have been noticing the comeback too...we are building a new house and have tromped through a lot of show homes over the years. I have noticed the use of the large graphic papers in accent rooms like a powder room, or one wall of the dining room and it looks really great, especially the dark ones. I refused to put any in the last house we built and have been torn this time, but am leaning toward the stenciling idea too. So many choices and I don't want anything trendy that I will hate in 5 years! Thanks for all the great pictures you have shared with us!
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I love hearing from you and try to comment back when I can. Thank You! ~Cathy~