In Support of Wallpaper

Little Hi, Little Lo! Little Hey! Little Ho!

Sam and I had a rare night alone last week. We decided to make it a popcorn and movie night. The movie was my pick, and I chose Stuart Little. Sam hadn't seen the movie in years, so it was all new to his little seven year old mind. He loved it!

As we were watching, he said "They have a really nice house. I wish we had a house like that!"

Me, too! I have loved the Little house for years now. We had a "Little" house in Michigan. The movie inspired me to paint my entire kitchen a la Little...buttery yellow walls, pale green cabinets, and an adjoining family room in a warm peach. I still miss that house.

What makes the Little house so wonderful? It is classic vintage. Every element looks as if it's always been there and will always be there in the future. Vintage peach tiled countertop in the kitchen, wrought iron stair rails in the front entry, a stained glass window, curved archways. But one thing I love? The wall papers! So many amazing wall papers in the house...the green striped walls in the foyer, the stars in Stuart's room, the fruit in the kitchen. Everything about this house just says warm and homey.

Wall papers went out of style in the last decade, but I think they are due for a comeback. I wish I could wall paper in my current house, but it just doesn't feel like a forever house. This house feels like a "God's parking me here for what feels like eternity but I'll be moving any day now" house. And let's face it...today's picky buyers are not wall paper lovers. You can see them on HGTV, looking for their perfect model homes with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. They walk into an older home and the first thing they say is "Ugh. Wallpaper."

Wallpaper is personal. It's like a shirt in a favorite print. Either you love the look of a floral shirt, or you prefer a striped.

Thankfully, I can get my "fix" for wall paper just by using lovely patterned papers. Stampin' Up's Springtime Vintage papers are amazing! They remind me of the wallpapers in my Tante Mimi's house when I was a child.




{recipe: Baby Blossoms (SU), sentiment from Noteworthy (SU), Springtime Vintage papers, pear pizzazz ink/ card stock/seam binding, blushing bride ink, curly label punch, eyelt border punch, vanilla card stock}

Here's a little tip. If you buy the Baby Blossoms stamp set from the Occasions mini, the frame stamp will have an oval in the center that you punch out. Don't throw that oval away! You can use it to stamp a different colored oval in the center of the frame, as I did here:



It's been great fun watching all of the Stuart Little movies again with Sam. I'm reminded of just what a disposable society we live in right now. The newspapers and magazines feature perfectly good and functioning kitchens and baths in the "before" picture that get ripped out for the new and modern in the "after" picture. Well, guess what? In ten years, that "after" kitchen and bath will look dated all over again. Maybe this stinky economy will teach us to eschew trendy and embrace timeless once again. In the end, it's not about what makes us look like every else. It's about what makes us happy.

p.s. I found out I'm not the only person who loves the Little house! I loved this blog post from Hooked on Houses. You can see lots of photos of the Little house here:

http://hookedonhouses.net/2009/08/23/stuart-little-a-small-house-with-a-big-personality/