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.

In the booming world of motor court hotels built in postwar America, the Madonna Inn stands out for its over-the-top rooms.

Many feature boulders and rock installations from the nearby excavated hills. The Inn opened on Christmas Eve 1958 with 24 rooms, then expanded again in the 1960s.

To my mind, the bedroom is a place where you can and should create the room that inspires you and only you. These rooms remind me of swanky jewel boxes…viva las vegas love nests. Life is big canvas, throw on a lot of paint! Er…wallpaper! Seriously. I am inspired. I have multiple rolls of metallic 1963 Thibaut wallpaper in my private stash – I think the bedroom is ripe for its 60s  makeover for sure!

Thanks to the kind people at the Madonna Inn, including Susie and Peggy, for their help with this post and more inspiring bedroom images to come! Here’s the link to the Madonna Inn – be sure to visit if you’re in the area!

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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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