Need vintage wallpaper to match the era of your house? With its introduction late last week of 53 reproduction wallpaper designs from the 1930s, Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers now has every era — from Victorian to the 1960s — covered. Bradbury explains the 1930s look:
The 1930s were known for both floral and abstract geometric styles — the whimsical and the bizarre — and many with a bit of Art Deco flair.
Let’s take a look >>
My favorites are the sort of illustrative, handpainted-look florals layered over geometric backdrops, like #132 (above) and #144 (shown in the photo at the top of the story).
#138 (above) is quite lovely too — that soft peachy pink field color is divine!
Faux bois with flower pots in #114!
Super cheery #151.
Gnomes! Who doesn’t need a 1930s house with gnomes making a surprise appearance! #135.
Link love:
- See all 53 designs of reproduction 1930s wallpaper now available from Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers.
- See all my stories about wallpaper options for a midcentury and vintage house here.
Decollage — Andre’s “Bohemian decay” living room wall 
Thousands of rolls of NOS vintage wallpaper in Elkhart, Indiana – good prices 
Ceiling glitter — where to buy it — and my very pressing questions 
Thibaut nautical wallpaper mural — a wonderful addition to Chris’ dining room 
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Nice!
Why has wallpaper suddenly become forbidden in the mass marketeering of houses? I mean, mention “wallpaper” and it’s like saying you want to wear a lime green leisure suit and disco medallions every day at the law office, or something, only without even the hint of ironic anachronism.
Wallpaper is actually “in” again today! Well, at least among the design world. Whether it’s really making it into the masses, that’s another question. My experience is: The majority, possibly the vast majority, are fearful of how to use color, much less pattern!
Well, that would certainly explain the current mass marketeered palette of colors ranging all the way from gray to grey.
Thank you: Quote of the week and it’s only Monday 9:30 a.m.:
It’s hard to make me just really belly laugh out loud, but your post really put me there. I’m dying here laughing. And it’s funny but we had this exact conversation at work the other night. I am the ONLY person out of about 10 or so ppl at work that particular night that likes color, wallpaper, mid century, etc. The rest belong to the greige nation. Amazing. I ended up telling them I don’t live in my house with thoughts and plans about selling or what someone else might like. I live in this mid century ranch for ME and what makes me the happiest every single day. No regrets. When I’m gone, the new owners can greige everything up all they want, but while I’m here, I’ll wallpaper, paint my colors, have my turquoise refrigerator, stove and dishwasher and proudly display every single kitschy thing I want.
LOVE your attitude!!!! I’d probably want to steal everything from your home, so don’t invite me over.
LOL @ Jan Guttman! I am almost completely done with my bathroom remodel too. Black,white and PINK. My reno guy and I fought almost every single step of the way. He was just insisting upon things that I couldn’t stand (greige tiles, greige backsplashes, huge sandstone beige/gray wall tiles,etc) . He couldn’t even understand why I wanted the 4×4 mid century. It was for sure an uphill battle. I ended up losing my cool more than once, BUT there is now a Turner Flamingo vintage mirror hanging in that “back to fab” pink, black and white bathroom. He is mortified. I am elated. HAHA
WHY would a contractor fight with a homeowner about what the homeowner wants to put in. Beyond me.
No idea. I really got the feeling that he doesn’t care for mid century or vintage, so there was no appreciation from beginning to end. He kept trying to talk me into “other” options, etc. It got kind of truly annoying. Some people just truly do not understand mid century and think of it as simply old or out of style. No class. lol
Interestingly, all the contractors who worked on my kitchen were OVER THE MOON in love with what I was doing. The Building Commissioner bust a smile a mile wide when he walked in to do the inspection, “We’ve been tearing out kitchens like this for the past 20 years — now we’re putting them back in!” he said. I truly think they were happy to be doing something outside the norm, for once.
My bathroom remodeler was less ecstatic, but never once did he question my choices. That was a tougher project actually because of product delays right from the start yadda yadda. Remodeling of ANY sort is bound to be stressful.
My parents had the exact same experience when they remodeled their bathroom. The tile guy really tried to talk them out of the pink and white 4 x 4 tile with a black liner strip. He kept saying “but it looks so dated”. He did a beautiful job, but I don’t think he ever did ‘get it’.
I’ve wondered where some of the patterns I’ve seen in linoleum and papers at homes of estate sales came from, now I know it was the ’30’s!
Ugh, tho’ – too many decisions (and I’m not even looking for wallpaper now!) All I KNOW is that I’d like cherries in the breakfast nook.
So/too cute to see they’re offering Dollhouse-sized papers!
From my perspective, it seems the early 1990’s was the last time people were papering but my experience is office areas. I DON’T understand “slubbed” (?) finishes on walls yet no one wants popcorn ceilings. Anything textured will attract dust, dirt, and grease.
Thanks for this early present!
Here’s the cherries! https://www.bradbury.com/3D_133.html
Plenty of cherries here, too, and these papers are screen-printed, which I like even better: https://www.bradbury.com/postwar.html
This new 30’s collection is their best yet. Better order more of the Gnomes. That’s going to sell out fast. Would be perfect in a child’s room.
I believe it’s print-on-demand, so likely, no rush!
Bungalow-esque 🙂
It sounds contradictory, but so many of these designs manage to be both charming and sophisticated, with some, such as the gnomes and #107, verging on the surrealist.
When I was a kid, my folks decided my room should have cowboy wallpaper, which they put up themselves. Unfortunately, the seam was right at the horses, shall we say, hip section? For years they griped about that damn cowboy wallpaper with the horses’s asses that just wouldn’t line up. It is 55 years later, and I can still picture those poor disjointed horses.
I inherited some 70’s photos of my 1921 bungalows’ bathroom and the wallpaper was the waterlily pattern with the wood work painted light yellow. I would love to take it back to that same look. I was looking at Laura Ashley wallpaper recently in the UK but now I can get it closer to home, YEAH!! I love the gnome paper too.
I love Bradberry and Bradberry wallpapers. These are especially cute, but I really wish they had a better selection of colors. they seem to have a lot of stuff in green. Their turquoise is somehow still more that arts and craft green, which they do so well.
I’m still waiting to find something atomic (vs grandma) to go with pink kitchen.
Atomic Doodle in pink? https://www.bradbury.com/5w_atd_115.html
Or Googieland in Ivory? https://www.bradbury.com/5w_goo_700.html
IMO it’s because they make much more profit on the widely available mass produced cookie cutter products and can then quickly rush on to another job.
I partially grew up in extended-family farmhouses in the sticks of Kentucky, in the fifties, and my grandmother, and great-grandmothers (who were both still living and decorating…) were in love with wallpaper in every room, and re-papered often using homemade wheat paste. (And the countless layers of paper, one atop the several underneath, provided all the insulation there was…on walls that were just 2 boards between the warm hearth inside and the winter outside.)
Their esthetics hadn’t progressed past their homemaking zenith in the 30’s, and those designs were still available to buy, likely cheaper than the newer, trendy ones…so these patterns are the background of my childhood……and bring back a flood of warm feeling.
Sitting here diggin’ waves of comfort, safety, caring, homey-ness, and love (and piping hot buttered biscuits).
Neil
There is more wallpaper on TV and in movies than in real life, because the camera, set designers, directors of photography, and production designers love the way it keeps the walls from looking flat (on a flat screen), in addition to adding character to a set.
No reason we can’t do the same at home!
So I am not alone in fussing about the prevalence of four shades of grey when you go to choose a new car color ?
WHY oh Why do so many people want a grey / gray World ?
Even the ” happy ” colors in the stores have a touch of grey added .
Let’s go back to the days of a ” Pink Cadillac”
( I tried to paint my old truck pink and the closest Macco could come was Fuschia
I wish I could afford to buy their wallpaper, it’s just too expensive for me. Sigh…..