Everything old is new again

Awareness

Mr. Bungalow in the Hollow (henceforth, Mr. BITH) and I went to Savannah to celebrate our dating anniversary a little over a year ago. Mr. BITH used to live there and we quite like to meander around the squares and shops taking photos.

We were passing a storefront near our B&B, when we both stopped and took two steps back. There was a huge display window with a dining room set placed squarely in the center of the case.

We swayed left and right, then crouched and swayed some more (was there a snake charmer amok?)

Perhaps it was a partial swoon and because we spotted it during the golden hour . . . IT was actually what was behind the dining room set -- IT was the most amazing, wonderful wallpaper . The lighting was perfect. As we moved, the look and the feel of the wallpaper did too.

We were charmed.

I promptly went and tried the door. It was locked, so I knocked. A very confused man opened up and told us they were a private design firm. I guess our enthusiasm was endearing - because he let us in to chat and we left with a sample of the handprinted wallpaper and the name of the maker: Osborne & Little.

That was the beginning of our obsession with O&L.

Old ladyish? To the contrary!

''It's not an 'old lady' thing anymore,'' said Ms. Dow, whose hand-painted wallpapers hang in the homes of such un-grandmotherly types as Michael Ovitz, Calvin Klein and Paul Simon, as well as in the boardroom of the Andy Warhol Foundation and some of the high-roller suites at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Read more here

I am not under the illusion that it was ever an old lady thing. Like the saying goes, everything old is new again. Wallpaper used to be high fashion and then eventually cycled out. Those young, stylish people that thought a room was only finished when it had wallpaper up turned into older people who still wanted wallpaper.

It was another generation's need to distinguish themselves from their parents/grandparents that tagged it "grandma style" (the availability and sheer volume of horrible patterns along with the arrival of stick-up backing didn't help, imo).

Handmade you say?

Because I like to make things and listen to music and just generally appreciate creation in any form, I am thrilled and immensely gratified to see that so many others are craving the hand-crafted too. This is evident to me through the success of places like etsy and people of all ages knitting/crocheting everywhere you look.

Many of the handprinted papers are based on vintage/historical designs - they are just plain gorgeous. And expensive. So save up, because once you check out the links at the bottom of the post, I guarantee you will want something!

In the meantime, some of these studios offer samples for mere dollars. Why not order some of those and display them?

This sample set from Bradbury and Bradbury is $10.
I think it would look amazing framed (and in N&J's bedroom. Can't wait to see it up and thanks for turning me on to B&B):



This is a children's alphabet sample for $3.
Frame this up and put it in a nursery!



B&B even sells posters. They know they've got it!



A sampling of wallpaper companies

To browse a number of makers in a one-stop-fab-shop, Walnut Wallpaper will do you right . . . prepare to fall in love and don't say I didn't warn you!

Adelphi Paper Hangings

Bradbury & Bradbury

Burrows Studio

Deborah Bowness

Dunford Wood

Johanna Basford

Mason & Wolf

Osborne & Little

Plum Lines