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But if you already have wallpaper it's easier to find a new one that you like and paper over the old stuff than it is to scrape off the old wallpaper. Sometimes the old wallpaper can't even be removed without significant damage to the drywall and in extreme cases large sections of drywall have to be replaced.
My foyer has wallpaper on one wall only and it will be faster and cheaper to find a paper I like to put over the old stuff than it would be to remove the paper, texture over it (which is a cheap crappy shortcut), or re-hang the drywall.
YIKES!
Even when rewallpapering, your supposed to remove the old wallpaper!
I'm glad I'm not buying your house. If you think removing one layer of wallpaper is hard, just removing two layers!
Sometimes the old wallpaper can't even be removed without significant damage to the drywall and in extreme cases large sections of drywall have to be replaced.
As the saying goes in old-house land: "Sometime wallpaper is structural". Especially when dealing with old plaster. I'm guessing that's the reason the textured, paintable wallpaper was invented.
I like all the suggestions here so far. Also spotted some retro-inspired prints at Anthropologie today.
As the saying goes in old-house land: "Sometime wallpaper is structural". Especially when dealing with old plaster. I'm guessing that's the reason the textured, paintable wallpaper was invented.
I like all the suggestions here so far. Also spotted some retro-inspired prints at Anthropologie today.
I thought about the textured paintable stuff; Graham and Brown has one that I really like. Then I realized that the texture would collect dust. I don't need another thing to dust!
I would only wallpaper if I was planning on staying in my home for a lengthy period, and then I would be planning on removing it, if I wanted to sell my home. Wallpaper was all the rage in the 60's-80's, and some of us (like me) remember the dreaded removing and redoing.
It is a really great way to eclipse your style, but I do think your room becomes dated much quicker.
Having said that, there are some great choices here. Very reminiscent of the 70's and 80's for me
I wonder if you've thought of watching some of the great old 1960's movies for decor inspiration? You might get some good ideas. I'm thinking of the Doris Day, James Garner, Tony Randall, Rock Hudson movies. Auntie Mame would be another good one. You could have a "total immersion" 60's film festival, and see how the rooms were decorated.
I, too, am a wallpaper hater, but I can understand how in very small doses, wallpaper can be a great design asset.
I hate removing wallpaper!!!
If you are selling your house anytime soon, please don't wallpaper it. It is a nightmare to remove it, especially when the previous owner had overlapped 10 layers.
However, I am a true wallpaper lover. If used properly, and tastefully, it is a huge decoration asset to a house.
Thanks for all the awesome ideas and links, everyone!! The C-D decorating section is *way* more helpful than I ever imagined.. I'll have to start hanging out here more often. (The Northern Virgnia section might be one of the more active around here, but even it gets boring after awhile.. heh. )
Anyway, now I'm looking at a house built in 1940, too (and still have my eye on the 1960 ranch I originally mentioned), so I've expanded my chronological era a bit to include the immediately pre- (the tail end of Art Deco, if you will) and post-WWII (modernism's beginnings, roughly) periods. Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpaper is an amazing site for this time period:
And those trying to talk me out of wallpaper.. not gonna happen.. hehe. (I do understand where you're coming from, though.. I have relatives with excellent taste who are also wallpaper-phobic; I just like to push the envelope a bit. ) Mind you, I don't want my entire house plastered in wallpaper (though it can look absolutely fab in an older house, like a Victorian, particularly if the wallpaper is the real deal [but hasn't brittled]), but I do absolutely adore quirky/artistic paper used in moderation. I'm also comletely enamored of linoleum lately (not vinyl - though I'm not exactly one of those 'ewww, vinyl, icky' people, either - actual linoleum), both the square tiles (particularly in 3-4 related shades) and the larger pieces cut in custom patterns (say, an abstract flower on the floor of the laundry room).
I recently went on a house tour of Arapahoe Acres(Arapahoe Acres Historic District), a mid-century mod neighborhood in Denver, and a few houses had grass wallpaper on the ceilings between beams. It looked great!
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Especially when dealing with old plaster. I'm guessing that's the reason the textured, paintable wallpaper was invented. 
(The Northern Virgnia section might be one of the more active around here, but even it gets boring after awhile.. heh. 
) Mind you, I don't want my entire house plastered in wallpaper (though it can look absolutely fab in an older house, like a Victorian, particularly if the wallpaper is the real deal [but hasn't brittled]), but I do absolutely adore quirky/artistic paper used in moderation. I'm also comletely enamored of linoleum lately (not vinyl - though I'm not exactly one of those 'ewww, vinyl, icky' people, either - actual linoleum), both the square tiles (particularly in 3-4 related shades) and the larger pieces cut in custom patterns (say, an abstract flower on the floor of the laundry room).
