Late this past summer, while worker dudes were at my home adding more insulation to my attic, a momentous thunderstorm swept through town. It was so fearsome that everyone stopped whatever they were doing and gathered in the garage to watch. We were there for just three or four minutes when BOOOOOM, right across the street a superpowered thunderbolt pounded into my neighbor’s front yard right. At least, it seemed that close… it was so fast. You could feel the strike deep into your reptilian brain.
Initially, there seemed to be no consequences. But when I drove down the lane on an errand a bit later, I saw that a humongous, old tree had been hit and fallen three houses down, at the intersection leading toward town. The entire DPW and firetrucks and gosh, everyone, was buzzing, it was some excitement.
Moreover, that night, when we went to watch TV: Nothing. No signal on two of the three TV sets in the house. Darnit, another project. Fast forward a couple days and a couple of service guys and it seems the lighting came right through the (ungrounded) cable and electrocuted the TVs. Today, we are proud owners of a big honkin’ flat screen with surround sound and high def and some variety of better cable service with 600 channels and which will be dissatisfying us by next year, I’m sure.
Our old TV was very old, so my husband likes to say, we have now left the 1990s and entered the 21st century. But not so fast. The first thing I want to look up, once I learn to triangulate the three remotes, is: Portlandia — a brand-new TV show where, yes, they they still dream of the 90s. It looks pretty funny. I like my satire. Note: Comedy/satire can be offensive… no political statement intended, not the purpose of the blog… and actually, in its way, I think this video actually pokes fun at all/both sides… Also, there is one reference to anatomical parts. Be forewarned.
Hey! My first post on the 90s!
I was bigtime decorating obsessed that decade. As I recall, the top trends included, (in no particular order):
- Pine furniture….
- Shabby Chic…
- Oversized slipcovered sofas…
- Corian countertops…
- Apron sinks…
- Arts & Crafts furniture…
- White kitchens with ivy trellis wallpaper…
- Huge prints of a pears…
- “Bringing the outside in” with architectural ornamentaion…..
What else, readers? I bet most of us were there! Note: BE NICE, everyone! This is not a post intended to diss the 90s.
Top-10 interior design trends for 2011? Let’s make a list 
1950s interior design and decorating style — 7 major trends 
Become a fan
My previous house, circa June 1996, was a split-foyer with VINYL siding. I remember it was built in less than 3 weeks with as little craftsmanship as possible. I don’t know what we were thinking! It had pale gray carpet and vinyl flooring in the kitchen & bath, & a large deck off the upstairs living room. I remember I wanted the split foyer plan because my children were teenagers and we finished the downstairs into a huge media room with state-of-the-art surround sound hooked up to that huge television that weighed 200 lbs. and it was supposed to keep them home & entertained. It was a big house! I had a housekeeper in those days. Don’t need one now for the little mcm cottage I presently own.
Vulcan stoves and stainless steel everything else.
Early Martha Stewart influences. Dish soap in a glass bottle w/ a liquor speed pourer! (I still do this, LOL)
What about decorative vinegar and herb bottles? I also seem to remember floral prints (think Laura Ashley home) as being huge in the ’90s when I was setting up my first home.
Was southwest the 90′s or earlier?
Although I’ve always liked mid century/retro, I did get my “new” old house living room rag painted back in 1993 when we first bought it. Faux finishes were big in the 90s. I think that was the first step from totally bland post-wallpaper-stress-syndrome to some sort of patterned/textured walls to the wallpaper-friendly decorating trends today.
My boys were in school back in the 90s and both played hockey, so I spent a majority of my time in ice rinks oblivious to what was going on, LOL.
Beige, beige, and more beige!
2-story foyers. I honestly beleive that a a lot of 90s houses were designed to be impressive when you walked in, but basically unliveable day to day.
Huge master suites and teeny tiny rooms for the children–actually saw some that had a wide space in the upstairs hallway where you could put a play area because the kids rooms hardly had any room after putting in a bed and a dresser.
No ceiling fixtures in the kids rooms.
MDG:
OMG, yes. Those 2 story foyers are useless. And they always had a massive brass or black iron light fixture hanging from a chain. Also yes to the huge master, tiny kids rooms & hallway as play area.
We actually built one of those monstrocities and thought it was the most beautiful thing we’d ever seen. Ten years and unbelievable amounts of rediculous electric bills later we came to our senses and moved into a much smaller home, with regular sized rooms and an entryway with a nine foot ceiling.
We weren’t able to convince the people in our old neighborhood that we hadn’t suffered some terrible reversal of fortune. We just didn’t need that lifestyle anymore.
That was in fall of 2006.
You can guess the rest of the story. Six months later, housing values in the old neighborhood crash, and rise in our new neighborhood.
WOW!
“Neutral” paint. Every imaginable shade of light brown, tan, beige, mocha, sand, or whatever else. Before greige, it was all tan neutrals all the time everywhere you looked, both exterior and interior. Oh, and panel drapery–decorative rods and finials with panel drapery.
faux finishing techniques, denim slipcovered furniture – and purple! omg, the purple “accent” wall in my family room. blech!
Oh how I HATED “shabby chic”! I hated the name, I hated the look, I hated that a friend had her entire home decorated with it and I always felt like there were paint chips clinging to my clothes after I left. Rachel Ashwell copyrighted the
phrase, so nobody else could use it. (eBay auctions were pulled…)
Here is what I remember:
Faux paint finishes
Stencils
Rows of framed black & white photographs, or one big Ansel Adams
Framed reproduction French & Italian liquor advertisements
Thomas Kincaid
Cement or faux cement geese on the front porch that had outfits that changed with the season or holiday. (My ex-MIL was actually going to get me one of these! Thankfully she asked my ex-h first, and he said nononononono!)
Not sure if these were 90′s or early ’00′s:
Accent walls, particularly in dark red
Floor to ceiling shelving painted black
I wanted my house to look like a cottage in Maine (in Texas, right? It didn’t work, with the 20 foot ceilings and the marble tiled fireplace and jetted tub, but I tried). Everyone kept calling it “Shabby Chic.”
Then comes the 00′s, and suddenly, everyone is doing cottage style…. except in Texas, where they will be stuck on Tuscany for the next 20 years.
I quit.
I show them pics of my “new” 1962 side split that I just bought, and they all say, “You’re going to gut the kitchen and put in granite and stainless steel, right?”
They all think I’m kidding when I say I like the birch cabinets, laminate and coppertone appliances.
you go, girl!
I will start my blog and send pics as soon I as I get up to Wisconsin where the house is. It doesn’t need much work at all. It is in nearly perfect condition.
Where about in Wisconsin is your house Ann-Marie?
I have one in Glendale (just north of Milwaukee) and I blog about it on RetroRanchRevamp! (I’m on Pam’s blog list if your are interested)
Kate, I will be in La Crosse. I used to live in Mequon, in a gorgeous Lannon stone house custom built in 1951 for a German man and his wife. Talk about time capsule! Only they took all their old 50′s furniture, and the O’Keefe and Merritt range with them.
We had to add on to it. We chose Junge to do the work, and they did such a fabulous job of adding on a second story that people couldn’t believe it wasn’t original to the house.
When we sold it to move to Texas, however, it the mid 1990′s, we didn’t recoup our investment. Only got $140,000 for it. I could just kick myself. The place is listed as being worth around $350,000 now.
I will follow your blog, and when I get mine up, I will let you know.
Hunter Green!!! I remember my first house I put the Waverley Ivy wallpaper and hunter green counter tops in the kitchen! I also went out on a limb with terra cotta tiles in the living room and dining room floors with shabby chic and antique furniture! Still have the antique furniture, that never goes out of style!
I was in the picture framing/art print industry from the late 80′s through the 90′s. Southwest and other pastels were mostly late 80′s, but some folks were still catching up with it into the 90′s. The hot colors in the 90′s were ‘jewel tones’.
My first home was built and bought by us in 1989. The in-thing in Texas was hunter green, burgandy, English decor, floral print fabrics, dried flowers, country oak, and brass!!! I had a brick red painted living room (walls) with huge tan couch with red flower print fabric (tan background). Hunter green chairs, and matching curtains with the couch. It was formal and lots of crown moulding too. The kitchen was wallpaper. Wallpaper was big. And wallpaper border was big too. I had the “dried flower” theme going in the kitchen with herbs growing in pots. I believe it was rather Victorian. Floral arrangements were also dried flowers. Faux painting came in but I never braved that.
White on white on white kitchens and casement windows … jetted bathtubs … volume ceilings …. I have all this stuff in my 1991 house and can pinpoint the construction year of a house based on these elements. My eye is turning to Early American coziness for relief!!
The decade started out with ‘southwest’ themed stuff (remember the howling coyote motif?), then it seemed to morph by 2000 into ‘Tuscan’ stuff and everything beige/tan. Ponytails and vandyke facial hair on guys. Cajun blackened or Australian everything.
In the NW (I lived in Seattle), it was handwringing over clearcutting, spotted owls, and salmon. We watched Almost Live, shopped at Costco, envied the smug microsofties, parked in the free lots under the viaduct, and bragged about their latest Bill Nye sightings over coffees at Torrefazione. Oh, and remember Grant’s beers?
in the kitchen, it was black appliances with touches of red. White cabinetry was the thing – high gloss – the more fingerprints, the better. And rather than clean and sparse, you required a display array of small appliances – cuisinarts, coffee grinders, blenders, bread makers, monstrous toasters, etc. At the end of the 90′s built-in appliance garages showed up in cabinetry designs to stop the clutter madness. Touches of Deco were everywhere in the house – Erte ruled.
I worked for a small kitchen cabnet company in 1984 and we had appliance garages in our kitchens, so those had to be earlier, I think. (At least in Oklahoma and Texaas)
In my former 1975 kitchen there were two appliance garages.
The hunter green/burgundy/navy/beige color story will always stick in my mind as the defining design feature of the 1990s. And yes, IVY prints!
Black everything appliances, components, floors, walls you name it. But moving in the kitchen toward stanless steel by the end of the decade. I used to do residential insurance appraisals and was amazed at the ceilings in these giant houses, trayed, coved, vaulted, two-storied. Lots of shiny marble or granite and giant open spaces and open doorways. Then there were the silk plants and flowers on shelves and brackets trying to fill all those soaring spaces.
I also remember distressed furniture!! I didn’t like it at the time and still don’t, if I want my new furniture to look old, I’d buy something old. Patina on furniture needs to be earned, otherwise it just comes off contrived.
GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!! And what about re ‘decorating’ every 45 minutes to follow the next trend…
What were folks doing with their windows? Roman shades… ?
Balloon shades
Those touch up/down accordians
I never did like those balloon shades and valances.
Vinyl mini-blinds! Many of them toxic, as it turned out. These came in burgundy and forest green, as well as neutrals. Vertical blinds were very big as well, and not just on sliding glass doors in apartment complexes.
Someone else mentioned valances and rods–window scarves were also big. Lace and sheers in Shabby Chic interiors. Jewel tone solid or floral panels in pseudo-victorian style rooms with floral wallpaper. Waverly trellis print panels and valances to go with that ivy wallpaper and placemats.
I saw lots of cellular blinds on windows, along with drapey scarf effects, huge curtain rods and draperies that didn’t actually close.
Lots of huge windows with no window treatments and people can see in at night. Also those half circle windows. You may not have taste, but you have money.
And what about lighting – in the dining room, kitchens and bathrooms?
Brass carried over from the ’80′s, often with glass. Simple traditional style candelabra chandeliers in the dining room and entries, simple lantern shaped glass fixtures as ceiling lights and on the outsides of houses. Glass and brass lamps in bedrooms. Country style rooms used similar styles in black. And yes, goose lamps with blue bows. I also remember a comeback for Tiffany style lamps, in ceiling fixtures as well.
There was a huge influx of Craftsman fixtures, starting with high-quality reproductions from sources like Restoration Hardware, Rejuvenation and Schoolhouse Electric, and then moving to lower quality and price in Big Box stores.
I remember my mom being into country. We had moved from New Mexico, so my mom phased out her southwest decor in 1991, and moved on to country~we had a country themed den, complete with pine end tables (the body of the tables were painted, the tops finished in a honey oak). Everything was country, down to the lamps. Geese were big; I saw a comment earlier and I remember my mom having quite a few items with geese on them.
Some people STILL dress those geese.
Re Country and country-southwestern, Mary Emmerling was my goddess. She still is.
3 Houses ago… I rented a house built in the mid 1990s and in truth I prefer my little 1970s bungalow now by far! The 1990s house had a white on white on off-white kitchen, cabinets, floor, etc (and boy did it show if you didn’t give the countertops and floor a *proper* scrubbing after just taking as much as a 2 second breath in the kitchen!)…
Another thing I also recall is the fake Chandeliers in both the bedrooms and the living room. Talk about tatty!
Beige carpet in all the bedrooms of course. All in all I thought the house was very featureless and dull.
In the1990s I was a teenager. I recall my mother mainly buying furniture from Laura Ashley. And yes, Shabby Chic was another huge thing. We had a lot of yellow painted wood furniture. Ew much?
I definitely don’t miss the design aesthetic of the era that’s for sure!
yours made me think of: Champagne-finish maple kitchen cabinets.
You may not miss it now, but you might 30 years into the future. A lot of my retro stuff I grew up with and inherited from deceased relatives.
That’s an interesting point, Patty, and one that I think about all the time. I grew up in the 80′s and 90′s and even when I was young I had an affinity for things ‘vintage’ and ‘antique’. But when I consider the 80′s and 90′s decor there is very little that I can say was interesting. There was much even at the time that I didn’t like, though it was new and fashionable.
Most of what I have in my house came from Goodwill and Estate/Garage Sales. The ‘new’ items I purchased are retro or classic in design, such as my sleigh bed. Lately it feels as though I’ve been drawn to mid-century pieces, whether decor or furniture, but I don’t feel as though I’m limiting myself to them, I just pick out the things that appeal to me aesthetically (and will definitely work in my house) and I don’t worry about if they are particularly trendy. But I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t really an item want it if it is new.
I guess what I’m trying to figure out is this: Do I find the items more interesting because they are more than thirty years old, and therefore more rare? Or did I always know that things made before 1980 were far more interesting than things made after it? Because I do tend to like things that are older, will there come a time where I’m longing for hunter green and burgundy? I tend to think no, since I’ve kept SOME from that era as well as having hung on to my mom’s cast-offs and the items I bought second-hand.
Sorry for the rambles.
Living and dining rooms painted cranberry red and/or dark green.
televisions hidden in armoires
“antique” pine case goods, finish removed, supposedly from england and europe
pickled or whitewashed wood for kitchen cabinets, furniture
over-sized upholstered furniture with big rolled arms
swags and poufed valances atop blinds and shades
extra-long, puddled side panels and drapes
stenciled and wallpaper borders
the country look
sponging and other faux paint finishes on walls
over-sized, exaggerated neoclassic furniture
white or off-white upholstery
neoclassic columns faux-painted to resemble marble
raised panel kitchen cabinets
jewel-tones
black lacquer furniture
glass-table tops and bases
Yes!! I totally meant to mention the TV/armoire thing.
yes, we women insisted on hiding tvs as if they were a badge of shame! and forget anything that reclined – if you wanted a tasteful decor, that is – and much of it deserved due to ugly designs… all the ridicule of those poor men who wanted to relax in a recliner – though it did inspire some better design for reclining chairs and sofas (you can now get ones which don’t look like recliners). now we proudly display the tvs right in the open, and almost everyone has some sort of recliner.
The bigger flat screened TVs killed that furniture. You can barely give it away.
Pudding drapes — yes!
This is not really related, but I’d like to see a post on 1980s homes! I’m pretty sure the 1981 colonial we just bought last year had some of it is original stuff intact, like holly hobby wallpaper in the bathroom and way too many candelabra lights. I’m all for preserving the character of the home, but the candelabra lights cast the worst shadows ever!
i forgot the silk flowers, ferns, vines and trees everywhere inside, and if you had a modern 1990s house with high ceilings (as I did, built in 1992, south florida) you had useless display ledges built in, gigantic dust catchers where these silk plants hung over to “soften” the ledge, often accompanied by over-sized ceramic pots and urns.
floors were wall-to-wall carpeting or ceramic tile, or marble in the bath if you were a high status seeker. i think tumbled stone and marble started in vogue late 1990s.
thick tapestry fabrics for pillows and upholstery. Chenille was big, later in the decade. revival of earth tones late decade.
yes: Chenille! That’s what I had on my sage-colored shabby chic style slipovered oversized sofa and chair-and-a-half!
yes, in the late 90s i had a huge monster taupe/beige chenille U-shaped sectional with chaise on one side, those big rolled arms, a monstrosity (which i loved at the time) made by mccreary modern for room and board and other retailers. it was 12 feet across the back!! the pillows wee chenille doesn’t wear as well as microfiber, which i love, though it’s not mid-mod at all. and yes, it did start to look shabby, but to my eyes, not chic!
So that was the point of those stupid plants.
i agree, no point to silk plants or flowers! but back then, it was soooo popular and big business!
I remember decking out my bedroom in country. The wallpaper was little pink heart “flowers” and a checkerboard pattern. Wood hand painted cats from craft shows adorned the shelves. I used to want a picket fence headboard to finish off the look.
Over the top Victorian is also another memory with lots of flowered wallpaper and couches.
Burgundy and forest green plaids, aqua and salmon sponge painting, unnaturally shiny brass light fixtures and also white, white, white kitchens with the light oak accents – if it had vaulted ceilings and skylights all the better.
Shabby chic? Still going strong in Nebraska. I’ll give it another 5 years or so around here. I’m a little guilty of this trend though I can’t bring myself to faux finish furniture so I think I’m safe. I guess it all circles back to the 90’s country bedroom of my childhood.
The comment in the video about being a little San Francisco made me laugh.
Yes, I remember the vertical blinds, my mom had those installed in every bedroom and even the family room. Now, 20 years later, the plastic “trim” that held each blind and the valance in place is now discolored and brittle. Those metal looped chains that pull to open and close the blinds are a hazard to small children as well. Good riddance!
Big square tile floor, probably ceramic and white – either in the kitchen, or the entire main living area. Open floor plans. “Lofts” in the second story. Vertical blinds. And yes, the carpet was almost always gray. Big huge “entertainment center”/ bookcases in dark cherry wood. In kids’ bedroom furniture, we hit what I used to call the black/white/metal combo: black metal tubular bunk beds, black metal desk with white top, white wire shelving, etc. Oh, and every kid I knew had a Pet Net in the corner of the bedroom for stuffed animals. In the mid-90s, I distinctly remember jewel tone stuff for teens – a combo of royal purple/bold turquoise, specifically.
Yea, the pet net! Do they still do that? Haven’t been in any kids bedrooms in awhile.
YES! I had a pet net hanging under my loft bed along with a black metal tube desk with a white top. I wanted the bright red metal loft bed with the built in desk underneath but my dad bought me a bland wood one because it was sturdier.
I’m not sure if they still sell pet nets but I always see them at garage sales.
This was the topic of discussion at our “snow day” breakfast here in Albuquerque, NM! In the Land of Enchantment southwest decor is never out of style, howling coyotes and pottery with bold accents were popular. Large over- stuffed leather sofas, the chair and a half, dark red accent wall, pickled wood and berber carpet stand out. The home office was really big with computer armoires. Along with the hunter green/burgandy color scheme we remembered the salmon/blue combination being popular. Of course the wallpaper borders!
The chair-and-a-half! Yes! I still have one tucked in the storage part of my basement. It is oversized and slip-covered: Sage green. Sage green! How about also: Martha Stewart colors? Those eggshell pastels…
They still sell that chair…a sad comment on the health/weight of Americans.
Toward the end of the decade, modern contemporary / IKEA (see David Fincher’s ‘Fight Club’ 1999). Here in the SouthWest it has been Spanish Revival for the last 100 years, but I remember the economic boom of the 90s and as the start of the mini mansion trend, which really took off in the 00s. Sorry to get ahead here. I was in art school in the 90s and didn’t pay attention to anything mainstream!
I live in Tennessee, so it’s practically the 90′s right now.
I’ll add plant shelves (I had fake greenery everywhere!), and “Bennigan’s Chic,” with old toys and electronics collecting dust on every surface.
“I live in Tennessee, so it’s practically the 90?s right now.”
Definitely one of the funniest comments in this thread! LOL!
We just got into the TV in an Armoire thing a couple of years ago – talk about behind the curve. But we now have two small kids and about a billion old VHS barney videos handed down and no place to store them out of sight, so we decided to do the armoire thing so we could stash all the tapes on the bottom shelf and close the doors so we don’t have to see the mess. Function and frugality over style in our house, I guess. We still have a working VCR, all the tapes were free, and our dinky 27 inch tv has no trouble fitting inside.
As a longtime Portland resident I have met every character on that show (more than once I might add). lol. Puddletown is one of the LARGE number of nicknames Portland has. City of Roses, Bridgetown, Rip City, Stumptown and City of Parks. Don’t quote me on this but I think Portland has the largest park within city limits, Forest Park, the smallest, the size if a phone booth and dedicated to the little people and one on top of an extinct volcano to mention just a few. Gosh, I love this often eccentric city. We have some wonderful mid century stuff too.
I could SO live in Portland! Every time I visit I fall in love!
Celestial prints! Everything had suns and moons and stars on it, it seemed. Definitely the hunter green and burgundy colours, to a lesser extent navy blue. Ivy prints and fake ivy for the kitchen.
Throw in a dolphin or two and/or a unicorn.
I saw a bathroom recently covered top to bottom in navy blue with those gold stars, suns and moons and it made me think 90′s! I used to love that stuff!
Wall paint techniques that can only be re-modeled by installing new drywall.
Aiming to redecorate an entire room on 100 bucks.
Painting every wall with enamel paint and a 3/4 inch nap (orange peel effect)
Huge furniture…huge….all covered in a floral tapestry.
And lastly- Home decor intended to last no more than 2-3 years…
Garages sticking way out in front of the house. This one started in the 90′s, and is still hanging on in some places.
In my online search for my mid century dream home, this feature makes it easy to jump past a whole decade.
Yes, I wrote a story about that garage trend for the Ann Arbor News!!! Also, how about: smallish McMansions decked out in victorian gingerbread?
Two words: pineapple flags. Nothing like driving around wintry Pennsylvania and seeing a Hawaiian pineapple drooping on someone’s front porch to make a girl long for California sunshine.
I also seem to remember that the wooden fat-lady’s-ass-bending-over-the-roses standup came to popularity in the 90.
Early 90′s: Hunter green. Floral prints. Oak furniture leftover from the 80′s.
Late 90′s: Martha Stewart, Celestial motifs, Candles, candles, candles.
In my corner of South Jersey it was Country Primitive. Lots of hand-made-looking decor and furnishings. Angels, benches, ladders, stars, moss. People around here still cannot give up those stars on the house. Colors:cranberry, dark green and cream.
Who can forget “Country Victorian” whatever that was.
Martha Stewart’s Fire King Jadeite collection,
Koi swimming in outdoor water features,
Glass bricks.
Have the words taupe and mauve been mentioned? These wishy-washy colors are as hard to describe as they are to pronounce. But, they were a big part of decorating in the 90s.
Was that the dawn of the age of those big L-shaped couches? I can’t think of what they call them.
Is this also when big backyard decks became popular?
And what about those dining rooms that barely hold a table…making it hard to walk around and get into your chair, in the more modest priced subdivisions.
The 90s were my teen and college years, so I wasn’t really paying attention to decor and home design. I do remember oversized floral couches, lots of hunter green and burgundy (had a green crushed-velvet dress that I recall very clearly), and the country look. My mom subscribed to Country Living and Victoria in those days (actually, I think she might still); I remember flipping through those. Mostly I remember the fashion of the era. Early nineties was babydoll dresses with leggings (which are back again for who-knows–what reason) and a little bit of the skinny jeans of the 80s (back again, too! They were awful then and they’re even worse now, at least on my body!). By mid-90s, we were channeling the 60s and jeans had flared at the legs (Thank God!), and I dug out all of my mom’s home-sewn dresses from her teenaged years in the seventies and started wearing them, when I wasn’t wearing my mid-nineties Grunge uniform– either jeans ripped at the knee, or cut-offs with fish-net stockings, tank top covered with a plaid flannel shirt, preferably stolen from a big brother or boyfriend, and Doc Martens (mine were 20 hole green steel-toe; I actually still have them, but I don’t remember the last time I wore them). At the end of the 90s, I was almost ready to graduate from college and was still wearing vintage clothes and worn-in boot-cut jeans (but tried to avoid actual rips), but had dropped the Docs and the flannel shirts.
I remember big fake leather sofas in shades of beige, peach and green being popular in the 90s (UK). My mum went mad for everything in her kitchen being blue and bright yellow. My parents bought me a cheap white bedroom suite and painted it to look like fake wood using the kits that were available in the 90′s. It was sort of a mint green wood…very strange.
Monogirl: ah yes, the celestial motifs! Usually done on rag painted walls with lots of stencils:)