On a roll! Which pattern from Wallpaper from the 70s should I get?

There are dozens of ways you to divide Western society in two opposing camps. Are you a cat person or a dog person? Do you like the Beatles or the Stones? Want a Coke or a Pepsi? Do you support Trump…oh, never mind. The same cannot always be said for paint or wallpaper. When it comes to deciding what I’m putting on my walls, I guess I’m bi for the moment. Up until now, I’ve been into paint (mostly), but lately I’ve been fantasizing about switching sides again and going back to wallpaper for a while. It’s a confusing thought, but oh, so very titillating at the same time. What started me on my path, was this website I found last weekend called Wallpaper from the 70s. Now, contrary to what you might think, this shop does not just sell wallpaper from that most tasteful decade of the last century. It also sells hundreds of new patterns, dozens of which would look fabulous, fantastic, funky or all of the above right here at home. So, now that I’ve decided I’m switching to wallpaper, which pattern and which material am I going to choose? Let the dilly-dallying begin!

1 – GOCHA

Whenever people tell me it is not actually that hard to put up wallpaper, I always throw my hands in the air and answer: Look, two left hands! I am notoriously bad at DIY projects. And so, if I do one day pluck up the courage, I am going start with a wallpaper project that would be hard to screw up even for me. This makes me the ideal customer for Le Monde Sauvage. You see, their wallpapers don’t come on an intimidating 10 meter roll, but on sheets that are relatively small and manageable. I particularly love this hand-printed Gocha pattern they released a while ago – it’s so not what you’d expect wallpaper to be.

Oh la la! Even Béatrice Laval, the woman behind Le Monde Sauvage, has the Gocha print at home. She combined it with a dark blue USM Haller cabinet, which is pure styling genius if you ask me. As Sarah Palin would have said, this is a true Gocha Moment!

The wallpaper sheets by Le Monde Sauvage are hand-printed, which makes their patterns slightly irregular. Béatrice Laval is now officially my new best friend even if she doesn’t know it yet.

2 – FLORINDA

I love ultramarine! I lurve it. I loave it. And yes, I can quote freely from Annie Hall. It the most intense shade of blue there is. Looking for ultramarine paint? Well good luck, because it can’t be mixed and it’s nearly impossible to find – which gives it an almost underground quality. This of course, makes me want it even more. I already have a giant ultramarine Roman head in my living room. How great would it be if I threw this ultramarine Florinda wallpaper into the mix?

Can someone please tell the kid to get out of the way while the grownups in the room take photos of this fabulous Florinda wallpaper?

3 – ELIAS

Of course, blue on blue can be a little too matchy-matchy. And if there’s anything I hate more than all the Uggs boots and fleece sweaters in the world, is for a room to be too color-coordinated. Contrast, people! A little contrast is what you need to make a room interesting.  Warm colors are hot at the moment, and so the copper version of the zigzaggy Elias wallpaper might do just the trick.

Let me close my eyes for a minute and imagine this particular copper colorway of the Elias wallpaper in my living room. I like it! I like it a LOT!

4 – MEGARA

Although I love being an extremely masculine and sexy beast of a man, I would like to go on record and say that I if I woke up as a woman someday, I would just run out and buy an orange Hermès silk scarf with a floral pattern. The odds of that happening are slim at best, and so I have to find another way to scratch this itch. Enter Megara, the fresh and upbeat print that I would gladly settle for.

It’s uncanny how ‘Hermèssy’ this Megara floral print looks with an orange background, don’t you think?

5 – MADITA

And now for something completely different. The last time tartan was a trend, was in 2012. The reason I can share this fun factoid with you off the top of my head is that 2012 was the year I worked as a visual merchandiser and ordered a two bespoke tartan rugs for a McGregor showroom that I was decorating at the time. They looked smashing and I’ve always wondered what would happen if I just sold everything I have and turn my living room into this very gentlemanly lounge complete with a tartan wallpaper – like Madita.

I don’t have the legs for a kilt – never had, never will. I guess I’d have to settle for this Madita tartan wallpaper instead. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

6 – CLARA

My current living room looks good because I painted out both the walls and the ceiling in pink. Ninety-nine point nine, nine, nine percent of people would not even dream of doing something with their ceiling. But guess what? The fifth wall is just begging to be painted or wallpapered. This Clara wallpaper (I bought it at Ver-sayce!) is serving ultra-glamour realness and would be P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

Who else but Versace could come up with a wallpaper this over the top? Clara is the one print I can definitely see all over my ceiling. The category is…FIERCE!

7 – MARBLE 8

Marble 8 by NLXL looks like a giant Rorschach test, if you ask me. So, what do I see? A wallpaper that I will run out buy the very instant I win the lottery next week, that’s what! I mean, you can’t go wrong with a marble print – especially if it’s yellow gold with red and hints of blue.

Granted, at over €300 a roll, Marble 8 is not the most affordable wallpaper there is. But as with many things in life, you do get what you pay for. And that is a truly stunning product.

8 – CRUSH CHARM

Well, well, well…what have we here! I dove into the Materials section of the Wallpaper from the 70s website and found an entire genre per that I frankly hadn’t heard of before. Crush wallpaper! It uses crinkles and creases that create a very tactile surface. This is wallpaper you don’t only want to look at but touch as well. And dare I say it? I developed a bit of a crush on Crush Charm 01. It’s interesting to look at but not so overwhelming that you couldn’t combine it with a few paintings.

This Crush Charm 01 wallpaper not only has creases, but also a very chic webbing pattern if you look closely.

9  – WARIS

I couldn’t write about Wallpaper from the 70s without actually including a wallpaper from the 70s, now could I? Few people realize nowadays that the Seventies were about so much more that platform boots and flared pants. It was a time with a lot of fantastic graphic design. Just do a Google Image search for Massimo Vignelli and you’ll know exactly what I mean. If you’re into that sort of thing, you could do worse than buy this particular Waris print. It’s bold, it’s graphic, it’s colorful and it might just find its way into my living room.

Waris has that Seventies vibe going on without looking outdated.

10 – MOBY DICK

I don’t like children. There, I’ve said it. Don’t get me wrong, though. I wouldn’t kick them. But I’d really prefer it if you keep them away from me if it is at all possible. Thank you. That being said, if on the odd chance you asked me to decorate a children’s room, I’d go for something along the lines of this Moby Dick print. It looks like it swam straight out of one of those beautifully illustrated children’s book you see nowadays. Not bad. Not bad at all.

So, there you have it. One of these prints (well except for the Moby Dick one) will probably end up in my living room some time next year. But then again, I might just change my mind again. And again. In any case, have fun exploring Wallpaper from the 70s. And if you do decide to order something, tell them I said ‘hi’, will you?