Wonderful World of Wacky Wallpaper

One of the most fun things about our rat hole has been uncovering some of the interesting vintage stuff that lays beneath the many layers of horrible crap. No insult intended to previous owners - they did what they could with what they had, which is what we're doing. Ultimately, our house will probably be just as crappy as it's always been, but it'll be OUR kind of crappy this time. And one of the big reasons we bought the house was because it FELT good, which is something you can't pass up. This house feels like it's always been a happy home.

But I digress.

When we tore apart the living/dining room, it was interesting to see the gray wallpaper with the gigantor asiatic lilies, and the pastel green and pink stuff underneath that. It made me wonder what the rest of the house looked like, what sort of furniture was in it, why the people that lived here chose that, etc. And, of course, seeing the old newspapers from the 30s was super-cool. Even seeing the old linoleum-precursor flooring with the fake wood grain was sort of fun.

So, when we tore out the fake wood paneling (real wood product, but not nice, substantial paneling) in the nook, I was tickled to see several layers of wallpaper. It was nice to suddenly understand exactly WHY the kitchen had been painted pink and turquoise in the past. It actually must have matched the wallpaper quite well.

Here was the first find. This is classic vintage wallpaper, and I thought it was super-neat.



This rooster goes out to a friend of mine in New Mexico. She knows who she is. ;)



Beneath that was this berry-licious wallpaper. Very vibrant. Probably went well with both the pink and the turquoise.



There was a layer between the berries and the pink stuff, but we couldn't really get a good look at it. Maybe we will when we tear out the rest of the nook. But here's the pink stuff. Trippy and abstract.



And finally, the oldest layer of wallpaper. Pretty and blue, but somehow less kitchen-y than some of the other prints.



We have to enjoy the wallpaper while we can-we're not planning to have any in the house once we're done with it. Famous last words, I'm sure...