Not Your Grandma’s Wallpaper

It’s true: wallpaper has a bad rap. You move in to a fixer upper and most times, you have to remove that old wallpaper. Pieces of plaster or dry wall come off with it. Wall repair. Nothing makes you want to paint like having to spend hours pulling old solid vinyl fruit baskets off your walls. But, York has been working hard to make wallpaper easier to hang and remove than ever. Not only do they now make most of their patterns on SureStrip, but they also recommend a spray bottle for wetting the paper instead of using a water tray. You can still use a water tray, but the simplicity of a spray bottle vs a water tray is appealing.

Perfect Paper for the Art and Photo Lover

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Our Item # PEY045, located on our Vintage Wallpaper page.

I’ve come across another favorite pattern, and we’ve just added it to our website! I see so much opportunity to get creative and fun with this one, and so many uses: powder room, bedroom, accent wall, children’s room. I love the idea of putting initials in the frames, or even a special photo. I personally have a sterling silver heirloom ornament that I think would lovely displaced in one of the “frames”. The possibilities go on and on. Do you have a fun idea? We’d love to hear it!

Before and After

This is our Garnet Harlequin Wallpaper, item # EGT058, and can be found on our harlequin wallpaper page.

Before

After

A  wall in our kitchen needed some freshening up, and we were ready to add greater interest to the area behind our antique dresser that we’ve re-purposed into a sideboard.  As the wall was already painted (and therefore primed) it was just a matter of cutting the wallpaper into strips and applying paste to the wall.

Our inspiration: Our favorite antique lamp with a colorful shade & a Pinterest photo of a beautiful hand painted harlequin pattern.

Inspiration translated:  Found a classic harlequin print in lovely shades of red.

Amount of wallpaper used: 1.5 bolts

Other details: It only took about an hour to complete our mini-renovation.  I’ve never been very fond of  painting, and it was nice to have very minimal prep (I simply wiped the wall with a damp rag), and a very quick clean-up (tossing wallpaper scraps in the trash). We kept our framed photos on the wall, that act like a border (these frames run around the room and down the hallway too).

Hurricane Sandy, Wallpaper, and Morning Glory

We packed up shop a little early yesterday in anticipation of hurricane Sandy, and I tried to take my mind off the howling wind and sheets of rain by watching a chick flick comedy. I almost choked on my hot cocoa when I spotted one of our newest patterns to hit our website in Diane Keaton’s dressing room:

Do you recognize this wallpaper?

   It is always very exciting to recognize a favorite wallpaper pattern in a movie and magazine! Here is this pattern on our website, available in two different colorways:

Found on our Toile Page Here

Gainsboro Toile wallpaper, our item # AFR078

Gainsboro Toile wallpaper, Our item # AFR076

The Friendliest Place on Earth AKA York Wallcovering

No, we’re not being compensated in any manner to print such a statement (But wouldn’t object if they wanted to. Just being honest.), but York Wallcovering, was indeed, one of the friendliest places to visit (and if you’re so friendly could you arguably be the happiest place on earth?).  We arrived to pick up a small amount of wallpaper and get a photo in front of the “York Wallcovering” sign (we are but a humble Dad and Daughter operation here), but we were ushered in and given a tour and introduced to many folks who are part of the manufacturing process, from creative idea to finished product.  We’re excited to post some photos of the highlights of our experience!

Of course, we did get our photo of a “York Wallcoverings” sign.

Recognize this fabulous pattern? One of our favorite brick patterns; our item # RCY032. This can be seen on our web-site if you head over to the “Brick & Stone Wallpaper” category.

We’ve always loved these lovely ladies. AND, we just added them to our website, too! Look under “Vintage Wallpaper”.

Oh, look who it is! The Dad half of the operation holding a cylinder that was used in surface printing.

New cylinder on the left, alongside two older ones. Very cool. Oh, and of course… lovely wallpaper on the walls. Wallpaper heaven…

Macro shot of older surface printer cylinder (pardon the daughter half here, hoping I’m using the term ‘cylinder’ correctly).

York’s antique surface printing machine still in operation, and this machine is used for some of the designer patterns. Gave us an all new appreciation for designer prints!

  Okay, we have a little more to share, but we don’t want to overwhelm with all of this Wallpaper Wonder. We’ll leave you with a quote from York’s site about the surface printing process:

“As America’s oldest and largest wallpaper manufacturer, York runs modern print presses alongside Surface presses dating to 1895, the year of York’s founding. The oldest form of machine printing, Surface designs “print wet and dry slowly, giving graphic patterns like Espalier (above) such softness and life,” says Ronald Redding, Design VP at York Wallcoverings.

A true labor of love, Surface printing requires the expertise of craftsmen who hone their skills the old-fashioned way: Through on-the-job apprenticeships. A craftsman’s eye for color becomes so keen he can precisely match a 12-color wallpaper to its original artwork in a single try; then mix each pigment by hand, unaided by a computer.”

A Link to the OFFICIAL YORK WEBSITE .

One of our Favorites from the Close-out Section

We love these playful and fun monkeys on an eye catching red background. This one is “hidden” away on our close-out page, but a great deal at $20.00 a BOLT.  You might have figured out by now, but:

2 single rolls = 1 double roll = 1 bolt

AND, here are some photos we took today that shows off how great this pattern looks when it is unrolled:

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   As always, you can get a sample for $5.00 (plus 1.95 shipping and handling). The five dollar portion is refundable with a subsequent purchase (In case you want to see what it looks like in your home).