The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California, provides all kinds of inspiration on how to give your bedroom some crazy retro flair. Today, I feature some of my favorite rooms – chosen for their delicious use of wallpaper.
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retro wallpaper
I heard from Ohio Catherine recently – remember her adorable ranch…and all her Drexel furniture? Catherine has continued to work on her vintage steel Youngstown kitchen — pulling together the extra pieces she needs — as well as her pink bathroom — including checking out Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper to go-with:
hey pam!
i got a few samples from bradbury today. i love all the grey in the sunnyside up for the kitchen! and in the bathroom, i thought i would like the googie better, but after i put them up on the wall i’m leaning toward the atomic doodle. what do you think?
the youngstowns in the pictures are my newest addition, before we tore them out of an old house about an hour from here. someone contacted me via my wanted ad on craigslist and told me they wanted them out of the house so he could remodel. they need a lot of cleaning, stripping, and painting!! but i have my corner piece! i cringed when i saw you posted my youngstown handles on your ebay picks, because i NEED them!! haha!!and lastly i sent a picture of my chambers sitting in the garage!thanks for all your suggestions, LOVE your site!!
Thanks, Catherine. You have your own Tag now! I agree – that Atomic Doodle wallpaper up against your classic Mamie pink tiles looks fantastic. But I am not so sure about the Sunnyside in the kitchen. Even though I think I recommended it – I tend to think the grid of the wallpaper alongside the grid of your tiles is not the perfect combo. So…I consulted Steve Bauer of B&B to see what he thought. He also had some great advice for wallpapers going into a bathroom:
Pam,
Thank you for taking the time to help Catherine and asking for our opinion! You mentioned “Atomic Googie” looking fabulous, but I didn’t know if you meant our “Atomic Doodle” or “Googieland”, but hey, I think they are both terrific in that incredible bathroom! I would recommend however that we seal the paper, (which is not expensive) if the bathroom produces a lot of moisture. She can ask for that through our Customer Service if she places an order.
As far as “Sunnyside”, it is probably the least grid-like pattern of the four Post War papers (when you compare them on our site) but it might pose some competition with her terrific tilework. Some of the reds we matched for these papers in the paper are actually values of “carmine”, a sort of wine red color used frequently in late 40’s and early 50’s papers rather than a primary red as it may appear in the photos. They definitely appear lighter however than the deeper maroon in her tile.
Does she have a breakfast nook off the kitchen? If so, she could paint the walls in the kitchen a light pearl gray to harmonize with her cabinets and use our “Scallop Trim” at the top of the wall, (the one with silver in it like the cabinet handles) and use “Sunnyside” in the nook with the “Trim” above that (!) The nook would then be a beautiful compliment to the kitchen without the two competing. If those options don’t sound appealing to Catherine she could always try to find a vintage paper through some of your links (?). From the tiny portions I could see it looks like a terrific vintage kitchen! I wish her the best!
I hope this offered something in the way of assistance to you and Catherine. We are always glad to help. Thanks again!
Steve
Thanks, Steve!
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Writing this blog gives me a good excuse to troll around the internet for hours on end. One day I found this. Wallpaper that you can color in with a crayon. Not something you’d have seen in the 50s, of course, although by the 60s you started seeing wacky design concepts like this. And of course, the subject matter definitely has that retro feel. What fun! Reader Abby helps by providing this exact link. Thanks, Abby!
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At some point this year, there will be a quiz, so please pay attention. Now what was my sole New Year’s resolution? To rid all retro renovators of any latent fear of wallpaper, and embrace this most wonderful of decorative gifts, of course!
In the continuing hunt to help Sebastian, Femme1 also found this site, hannahstreasures.com. 500 different papers, endless fun. I personally have a super mushy soft spot for ‘novelty prints’, so let’s look at some of those today!
Considering that this vintage wallpaper is $100 a roll, best be on the lookout locally and snap up any finds. If you have the greenstuff, though, why not recycle it into right into this:
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In searching for more wallpaper choices for Sebastian and his yellow and black 1955 bathroom, Femme1 has found an incredible stash on a website in Sweden. In the 1950-1965 section, there are 180 different styles alone, including many in multiple roles!
Hi again, Pam!
I was looking around for wallpaper for the post about Sebastien’s bathroom (what a great floor, by the way). I came upon this site, which is Swedish, but they have an English button on the front page, so you can read the info. This is vintage wallpaper and is very pricey, but there is some amazing stuff there. I’m temped to buy some, even though I don’t have a wallpapering project!
There may be some here that would work for his yellow and black bathroom.
The site is: Interior1900.com
Thanks, Femme1. Even though you called me a girly-girl yesterday – presumably because of my cutesy poo wallpaper reco to Sebastian. In any case, since you followed up your slander with action leading to this great information, I will overlook it. This time. 
If you have a lot of Euro’s stashed away, here is your opportunity. As Femme1 mentions, these are expensive — $100 a roll. Even if you don’t have the cash, this site is oh-so-fun to look at…and a great lesson that, if you see vintage wallpaper at an estate sale or Re-Store, you should snap it up.
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My one and only new year’s resolution: To ensure that all retro renovation readers overcome any possible latent fear of…. Wallpaper. As the advertising above so clearly states, miracles happen when you add wallpaper to your decorating mix!
Case in point: My kitchen. Clearly, to pull everything together … to take the kitchen over the top in terms of its success … I needed that vintage blue/black/gold atomic wallpaper on the soffit. I also used it along the back wall. The kitchen is definitely not “all about” the wallpaper — it’s the cabinets. But the wallpaper makes the cabinets look that much better. They “balance” and even sort of “tone down” the loud color — in a sense, providing a visual respite, funny as that sounds because in and of itself it (the wallpaper) is loud.
It’s so interesting to scrutinize how wallpaper is used in retro room interiors — and to hunt down vintage rolls for your homes. 2008 is the year of the Wallpaper!
Tips for finding vintage wallpaper:
- Old time wallpaper stores — ask what’s in their basement or buried in their racks.
- Basements at estate sales…you never know.
- Advertise locally on Craigslist, Wanted: Rolls of old wallpaper.
- eBay, of course.
- There are some online websites, these can be very expensive.
Regarding installation:
- For vintage paper, you’re going to prep the walls, install liner paper, then use wheat paste most likely for the paper.
- Vintage papers can be quite brittle, though – so require extra patience.
- The whole thing is not really hard, just tedious (if you ask me). You can also hire a pro – which might well be worth it if you really love the paper, have a limited supply to work with, or if it is really expensive and you don’t want to mess it up.
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