‘It is at least 75 years old and still going strong. “The rhubarb grows in what was my grandmother’s little garden,” Elaine wrote. However, Elaine vindicated me by sending me this photo – showing the rhubarb at her family farm. But I wasn’t entirely sure this could have happened. In my novel Wildwood, my character Molly discovers rhubarb still growing wild in the old garden after many decades.
Isn’t it lovely? Now I’m thinking I might find a room in my own house that needs cheering up!Įlaine sent me another photo as well, one which made me breathe a small sigh of relief. You may have noticed - wallpaper is making a comeback! Dainty florals are no longer popular, but my daughter Janine in Calgary papered a couple of walls with this dramatic damask paper. But a few years later, for a family reunion, I carefully cut out and framed small samples and gave them to each of the family members as a gift, as shown in this photo. Using a sharp knife, I also cut and peeled off some samples of wallpaper from the various rooms without really knowing what the heck for. You can see photos by clicking here: Ten Ways to Make a New House Look Old. When my grandfather’s farmhouse near Richard, Saskatchewan, was demolished, my husband and I salvaged the flooring and baseboards. Don’t you love the combination of orange flowers on the walls with the green and orange linoleum on the stairs? People didn’t just adorn their walls with patterns, but their floors as well! Linoleum was cheap, and wonderfully durable. There was a craze for Oriental-inspired decor at one time, hence this pattern with the pagoda.
Elaine hung it herself and even covered the slanted ceiling with it. This vintage wallpaper with its delicate pattern of blue flowers and ribbons were found in Elaine’s upstairs bedroom, under the eaves.
This is a beautiful floral print, one that I would be happy to use in my own home. The vintage wallpaper in Elaine’s childhood home has stood the test of time, and served as a backdrop for visits of five generations of her family! How fortunate that they retained ownership of this delightful farmhouse. Elaine mentioned that the trees framing the home are Balm of Gilead poplars that her parents planted in 1948. Last summer, she visited her childhood home armed with a camera, searching for some overlooked memories. I first met Elaine online through our mutual interest in preserving the stories of wartime veterans. This song resonated with me when I was a teenager and bemoaning my fate about being stuck on a farm thirteen kilometres from town (then known as eight miles.) I’m sure at some point I resorted to counting the flowers on the wall! Vintage Wallpaper Tourįellow author and farm girl Elaine Thomas grew up on a farm in the foothills south of Calgary, Alberta, although she now lives in Fayette County, Texas. Remember the words to the old song “Flowers on the Wall,” by the Statler Brothers? The lyrics go: “Counting flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all Playing solitaire till dawn, with a deck of 51 Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo Now don’t tell me I’ve nothing to do.” Click here to hear the song: Flowers on the Wall. When I was twelve, I was allowed to choose my own wallpaper from the Simpsons-Sears catalogue for my bedroom at my farmhouse home near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and it is still there!įor a brief history of my farm, a former air force training base, click here: Growing Up With Air Force Ghosts.įor a tour of the old kitchen, click here: Farmhouse Kitchen. Wallpaper was relatively inexpensive and my own grandmother papered her farmhouse in Richard, Saskatchewan so many times the rooms practically shrunk under the multiple layers! At one time patterned wallpaper was the latest word in farmhouse chic! Take a look at these photos for a trip down memory lane.īack in the early half of the twentieth century, when people didn’t have a lot of money to spend on home decor, they used wallpaper to brighten things up. Dear Friends: Many of you will remember growing up in a house with vintage wallpaper.
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