Elena recently submitted a comment that made me remember I wanted to post about these: Wallpaper murals — 9′ wide for walls up to 10′ tall — made by Thibaut. Can you believe it, but this one above, Memory Lane, was on the wall behind President Lyndon B. Johnson when he addressed the nation on TV for two hours from his Texas ranch house. Hey: That means it was in Lady Bird Johnson’s house — our 4th “First Lady” Retro Renovation connection — can you name the other three so far? Today, we still catch occasional glimpses of wallpaper murals in time capsule houses. They are SO OF THE ERA. You can still get four different designs, in a number of colorways, from Thibaut today. Looks like the retail price is just under $900.
UPDATE: These are no longer available. I’ll keep this 2011 story up for historical reference, though.
- Sigh: Remember when the discontinued stock went up for sale for just $50 per set in 2014?
Ooooh, these are soooo pretty. I think I am partial to Memory Lane, like LBJ and Lady Bird. Thibaut says that particular era design is their best-selling wallpaper mural of all time.
I recently visited the showroom of a company in the San Fernando Valley in So. Cal. that has a wonderful collection of vintage wallpaper (trade only), and if you have the $$$, also makes custom wallpapers…. The gal I spoke with said that they are getting many orders for red flocked paper these days – perfect for a 50’s dining room. I am looking, though, for “rose red” — more a bluish red. I may go with a gold pagoda pattern embossed on grass paper made by Schumacher, though the red flocked stuff is tempting for our 1956 California ranch dinging room. Any suggestions Pam – I am in the exploratory phase? P.S. Anyone seen any great vintage looking wall paper murals? My grandmother always had them in her living/ dining room and the nostalgia factor has me searching. And Pam, you have no idea how you’ve inspired us to purchase a very neglected Carmichael, CA home and embark on bringing it back to its glory. Many thanks, Elena & Brian
Yay, Elena and Brian, I’m so happy to hear about your new/old adopted Carmichael house. But don’t curse me in your weaker moments, okay? And, yes: Red-flocked wallpaper! I ‘fess up: I tore it out of the foyer of my first house ever, a 1938 mid-century modest in Grosse Point Farms, Mich., which I bought when I was 25. What the heck did I know? Tragique.
11 wallpaper mural designs just 11 years ago
Thibaut’s wallpaper murals are silk-screened by hand — sounds beautiful — I bet they are just like grandma’s. I found a new release online from 11 years ago, which indicates that their collection then included a total of 11 designs. The news release alluded to:
…beautiful wisteria flowers, Roman columns, garden images reminiscent of impressionistic paintings, elegant Chinoiserie, and wonderful examples of trompe l’oeil…
Sounds like those were nice, too. I would love to see the Chinoiserie, sigh. Thibaut: Retro = hot, bring ’em back! Thibaut also notes:
Decorating with murals can help add a view to a windowless room, visually enlarge a small space, or simply add elegant, artistic touches to any interior. The murals can be used as a single image, continue on to a second wall, or go clear around a room.
Cheryl Warren says
These are great. I’ve been trying to find a new vintage wallpaper mural. The mural in my foyer is trying to come off the wall. It is a Mediterranean scene with a villa on a hillside dipping down to a body of water in the distance. Any other vendors have these great vintage murals?
Barbaa McDowell Whitt says
The rental ranch house my parents moved to in a small Iowa town in the early 1960s had a picture of a mountain and lake with a wooden frame in front of it. The frame made the scene look like a view through a window. They kept a couch under the picture.
Donna says
seeing “Memory Lane” in the blog today looked pretty close to home to me,
since this is in our dining room
http://image83.webshots.com/183/7/6/15/2472706150033013223osMIDo_fs.jpg
pam kueber says
love it, donna! can you take a “long shot”, too — stand back further so we can see the whole thing in its natural habitat?
Becky says
I posted a pic of my grandparents’ place on my blog (www.post40rambling.blogspot.com). You can see a good chunk of the mural in the background. My brother still has that chair we’re sitting on. I used to drive the adults crazy with that lamp behind us – it turned on/off by pulling on those gold tassels. They were silky and I loved the feel of them, and would turn the light on and off endlessly until forcibly removed. ; )
Janice says
What an adorable picture of you and your brother!
pam kueber says
Yes — GREAT photo!
Janice says
When we bought our 1957 ranch 2.5 years ago, we inherited a wall mural in the family room. To be honest, it was one of my least favorite things, but it could have been because it was all in earth tones and some past owner paired it with the infamous burgandy, hunter green and navy of the 1980’s/early 90’s and the color clashing was chaotic. When we renovated the family room, the mural met its demise. Now I feel guilty about getting rid of it. I should have known better. 🙁 You can see a bit of it in my this photo on my flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/retro-kitty/4326052918/in/set-72157623335293974/
Brini says
Oh, that would have been the basis for all kinds of 70’s fabulous for me. Too bad you 86ed it.
pam kueber says
oh my, that looks like it was cool. but don’t fret, janice — we all do things that we second guess ourselves on later. Like I said in the main post — I ripped red flocked wallpaper out of my first house. Little did I know!
Brini says
We all do it. I have always regretted removing this amazing vinyl tile floor from an entrance hall. It was white and green and the edges of the tile were lightly beveled to resemble marble. I haven’t seen anything like it before or since.
Allen says
I assume these are similar (if not the same) to the murals on the walls in Samantha Stevens’ home on the first two seasons of Bewitched?
pam kueber says
Bewitched? Woah!
Dave says
They had that cool wall mural to the left of the swinging kitchen door. You can see some of it here on a Bewitched fan site. http://www.1164.com/set/tv/dining-room/index.html Samantha always always had a good eye for decor.
pam kueber says
hilarous!!!! thank you!
Gavin Hastings says
That is the one we had in our kitchen- 1964!
It is a Paris street scene with a river, buildings, bridges and sidewalk cafes.
susan says
Thank you so much for the interest in the wall mural as seen in the tv series bewitched. I have been searching for it to have in my house. Does it have a title or name, is it of an actual place, is it able to be purchased and where please?. The other half is on the opposite wall in the same room.I’d like both halves. Thank you for your help.
Tania says
I remember murals like these in my doctor”s office when I was a tot in the 1960s. They were of trees, and it seems that there was a water feature–but I was 3–so that could be just my imagination. The walls and the smell of the office is the main thing I remember. It’s been well over 45 years since I’ve even been in that building. Wouldn’t it be really cool if that mural was still hanging after all these years?
Angela says
omg the first one was *IN* one of my doctor’s office rooms when I was growing up!! The doctor’s office had murals in a a few of the rooms, then a couple had cute little lambs and other baby things on it.
This doctor had seen my mom from baby to teen, then me from baby to teen. The one story small office building looked early to mid 60s to me but I went there in the 70s-80s. It remained the same the whole time. He was a much loved doctor in my town and practiced until he was at least 80. He just recently passed away in the past 5 years. I think the building is still there, but has been remodeled.
There was an atrium in the center of the small building that you could see when looking out the waiting room windows. It was full of plants and humid looking. There was a frog in there also! I think maybe a little pond with fish? I always wondered how they got in there, because I could never see any door. There was another office on the other side, so was sort of a duplex building.
The chairs in the waiting room were those fiberglass chairs in white….I think there MAY have been a few colors too like blue, orange and yellow. I can’t remember. The carpet was kind of a slate blue with very very pale blue walls. Anyway, I recognized that mural right away from years of sitting in those rooms waiting for the doctor. 😀
pam kueber says
Isn’t it funny what we can remember from our childhoods?
J.R. says
The ’68 rancher my parents bought in California had one, in the living room, a scene of the scrubby sea cliff trees in Monterrey (CA). Lots of green tones to match the sea foam green shag carpet that covered nearly every inch of the place. It also had silver foil wallpaper in the bath… I still see that stuff in my dreams, or rather nightmares. But the tree mural was nice, if I could find it again I think I would use it in the Asian-esque bedroom of my current ’56 split level.
Becky says
My grandparents had one of these in the dining area of their *apartment* that they moved into in the mid-60’s. It covered one whole wall. I always loved it. The only real colors in it were aqua/turquoise, green, and then all the detail was taupe/light brown. The kitchen had aqua cabinets and avocado green appliances. Fountain Square apartments in Louisville, KY – they’re still there. The outsides of the buildings are still pretty 60’s but of course the insides have all been updated. When they moved in it was brand new and quite the posh complex – they had a hair salon on site!
pam kueber says
When I get old, I want to live in an apartment complex with a hair salon on site. I am going to die my hair poodle blue for sure.