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1960 Houston time capsule house — Foil wallpaper galore, you know I luv it

pam kueber - Updated: August 13, 2021

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

foil mylar wallpaper on the ceilingtime capsule tuesday on retro renovationI bumble bumble don’t even know how to start. The bedrooms and bathrooms in this 1960 Houston time capsule house — are just blowing my mind. All the glorious, mirrored vintage wallpaper — covering the walls, covering the ceilings… accented with glamorous lighting, raised platform beds, smoked plexiglass screens, yadda yadda yadda sing: We got the funk, we gotta have that funk…”. Thanks to reader JamieAbe for tipping us off to this beautiful home — gold star! And thanks to real estate agent Linda Scarborough for permission to feature these photos — I am showing 9 11 fabulous photos in all, prepare your eyeballs –>

mylar wallpaper on the walls and ceiling of a bedroom

Above: You know I adore the wallpaper, along with the overall layout of the room — amazing. I am thinking those are vinyl parquet floor tiles, though. Not so much likey if they are vinyl, but if I bought this house and they were in fabulous shape, I would probably keep them. I certainly like the look. Much of the parquet flooring in old houses was real, 3/4″ thick wood, cut special to make a parquet design. I have it my dining room. At the time, it was more expensive than tongue-in-groove oak laid the regular way.

House details: 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2928 s.f., on the market for $450,000. Right now the listing says “option pending”.

mylar wallpaper on the walls and ceiling of a bedroom

Fantastic colors. Love the green. You know, there is a lot of vintage carpet h*** bombs being thrown around these days, I think. If it’s in great shape, I say clean it and keep it. In particular, I love carpet in a bedroom and in a family room.

mylar wallpaper on the walls and ceiling of a bedroomIt’s impossible to choose a favorite, because there seem to be new delights behind every bedroom door. This vintage foil wallpaper design is just wonderful…

mylar wallpaper on the walls and ceiling of a bedroomSauna alert!

mylar wallpaper on the walls and ceiling of a bedroomI am not a huge fan of fiberglass shower inserts. But I would keep this. Super cool. Update: I super duper wooper agree with reader/commenter Patty who wants to see the faucet handles. I have just added close ups from two bathrooms, there seem to be two different designs:

vintage bathroom faucet glass handles
glass lever faucet handle bathroom Focus on the bathroom faucet handles — glass or crystal or maybe plastic, each bathroom looks to have a slightly different design

Yes YEs YES!

beautiful vintage bathroomOkay, so now I’m gonna say I like this one the best. French Provincial cabinetry… meets crazy foil wallpaper… my oh my. Note: There is a Joan Rivers video from her 1960s talk show in which she talks about this foil wallpaper, calling it “the new look” or something like that. It was ALL THE RAGE. I gotta go find that episode.

Yes, there is an outside the house. And a kitchen, too. The kitchen seems lovely, but a much more sedate, newer wallpaper there. I would love to see photos from the 60s – I bet there was mod wallpaper in the kitchen, too.

This house overall: YOWZA, Fantastic in so many ways!

What do you think?
Could you live with all this foil wallpaper?
P.S. Even if your answer is “no”, please express your opinion in a nice way, let’s spread luv 🙂

(That is: I’m moderating downers, so phrase it happy-like even this ain’t your cuppa.)
Link luv:

  • The listing (property now sold) — shows “pending option” right now.
  • Linda Scarborough, of the Reyna Group.

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91 comments

Comments

  3. Alison Hardy says

    Wowza!! I looked at a house in tony Newton, MA that had flocked wallpaper in nearly every room. More traditional patterns than this house, and thankfully not on the ceilings. Gold paper with red flock, silver paper with black flock, green with tan flock – It was quite a shiny/fuzzy site and the new owners could not wait to rip it down.

  4. Roxie says

    I would keep it as is. I love the whole thing. There is something to be said for beautiful wallpaper, even when it is extreme. The wallpaper could never be replaced, embrace it and enjoy. If it were to be removed, it needsto be steamed off carefully so it can be reused by someone who loves it.

  5. lulu says

    This isn’t 1960, more like late 60’s or early 70’s. I was there, and I know foil paper wasn’t the thing in the early 60’s. In the later 60’s there was a huge revolution in interior design from pastels of the early 60’s to contrasting patterns and earth tones of the late 60’s and early 70’s.

  6. Carol says

    I like the bathrooms, and the office area. The bedrooms are a bit too strong for my taste though.

  7. Misty @Throughthedutchdoor says

    I love it! I don’t think I could live with it but how, in good conscience would you ever be able to tear it out? I have so much brass in my late 80s house that I hate, but I know one day it will be so old, it will be cool, so I leave it 🙂

  8. Teresa says

    This is just a beautiful example of its time…they had excellent taste! Don’t know if I personally could live with it now but would love to visit it in someone else’s home.

  9. Heather says

    Whoah! Holy foil wallpaper, Batman! I love the house but the wallpaper’s gotta go!

  10. Terry says

    The house is nice, but there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing.” I can see using the foil wallpaper on an accent wall, but every wall in the house, and on the ceilings? No.