MOLI VIEW™

Wallpaper seems like such a thing of the past, of Grandma's house and old movies on TMC, episodes of I Love Lucy, Golden Girls, and such. We just don't see much of it anymore. Why? A lot of reasons I imagine: times changing, not enough time or energy to hang it, or maybe we just don't know where to get the best kind?

When I was in high school, in my family's apartment, we had the sickest wallpaper with giant yellow flowers in our kitchen. It wrapped around the whole room, even the ceiling, in an almost dizzying way. If you were nauseous, forget it. Yet it was there when we moved in and there it stayed. My grandmother still has hers up from the '70s. It's comforting to see it and makes me glad I don't have any vertigo problems.

Where did wallpaper come from? Maybe you think France or England? Well, it's originally from China. The Chinese invented paper in 200 BC and brought it to Egypt. The Chinese also invented wallpaper, by gluing rice paper to the walls of their homes way back then. It actually didn't make it to Europe until the 12th century and later was made all the rage by the English and French, who became the leaders in manufacturing it in the 1500s. Some of the earliest styles were ornamental prints. After that it was almost always designed to look like something else: tapestry, velvet, silk drapery, linen, wood, masonry, murals. For a lot of its history, wallpaper has appeared at first glance to be something other than printed paper. It affects the mood and style of a room, and even today may influence a room's furnishing as well as status and sometimes gender.

Today, you can find amazing vintage wallpaper from the ‘50s, '60s, and ‘70s, including classic Mylar paper from $70 and up to original Frank Lloyd Wright wallpaper for a mere $1,200 a roll.

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