I have been truly monomaniacal re wallpaper lately, as I search to find the perfect pattern for the main ceilings in my Mahalo Lounge. Yes: Thank you, dear readers, for alerting me: The open weave jute is indeed stinky, so ix-nay on that, pooh. During my obsessive searching for a new or vintage wallpaper alternative, I saw that Hannah’s Treasures had lots of rolls — turns out, 7,000 rolls of vintage wallpaper from the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s added this year — just loaded on to their website. Owner Marilyn gave me the back story, along with permission to share some of the delicious patterns. I’m gonna make this “Wallpaper Week” on the blog. Let’s start with a look at some of the 1940s and 1950s kitchen wallpapers — which are amazing.
I asked Marilyn how she acquired her wallpapers. She wrote:
Hi Pam,
I have purchased three large loads of wallpaper this year. In February I went to California and brought back nearly 4000 rolls of 1920’s-1940’s wallpaper. We just finished adding the rest of it to the website today [late August].
This year alone, our collection has grown by 7,000 rolls.
As with anything a person tries to collect, sometimes it requires patience to acquire it. We waited 20 years for the California load of wallpaper.
In contrast, this July we bought two loads of wallpaper in less than 10 days! One load was close to home here in Iowa and the other was a few hours away in Illinois.
As far as the back stories on these loads, the information is sometimes funny and sometimes unbelievable and miraculous, but we like to keep those little details close.
We still have at least 100 new patterns to add to our website, hopefully we can get all of them up on the website before October.
Thank you,
Marilyn
Wallpaper heaven. Marilyn, can I make a request? Can you add a “new” category/tag so’s we can keep up better with what’s newly added? Thanks for letting me share all these photos!
Link love:
Cyd says
Just catching up on reading after spending time clearing a lot from 60 years in a house built in 1900 and remodeled throughout the years. I wasn’t sure what to do with a roll and (a half?) of wallpaper likely used in the 70’s.
Pat says
Oh, if only I could afford to buy some of this luscious paper! I have original 1926 wallpaper in our bedroom, a little worn and faded, but I still love it.
Wendellyn Plummer says
I love these wallpapers! Every March my Grandmother and I would go to a little paint and wallpaper shop and get the latest paper for her house. Then for some unknown reason, in the hottest part of the summer, she and my mother would steam off the old paper, with a Kirby vacuum cleaner, steamer attachment in use. Of course NO air conditioning, and they would work all day until the new paper was hung. I do miss those days of having my Grandmother around. She was one talented lady and someone I miss terribly.
Neil says
These vintage papers bring on such gladness of heart!
Neil