One of our inspirations for our January Jumpstart Contest is Curtis, whose amazing work in his own UWS apartment (here's his full house tour) trumps anything we've ever done. In this post we wanted to take a close-up look at the kitchen wallpaper that Curtis had to make by hand, copying a tiny scrap of vintage that he found in a book...
While this project took a lot longer than two weekends, it will make you feel that ANYTHING can be done.
Curtis found inspiration for his kitchen in an old Montgomery Ward wallpaper sample book and - extracting the pattern - copied it by hand, covering the entire kitchen.
This is from his house tour:
"When he wanted patterns for his bathroom and kitchen, he picked them out of an old Montgomery Ward sample wallpaper book. And he didn't just pick them, he used different inputs to create the perfect amalgam of the perfect pattern of 40's era wallpaper. He made sure to match the colors perfectly, and then he went well out of his way to replicate the patterns on his wall."
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Gasp! Now that is what I call labor intensive! What a nice result though. He must be so pleased!
Going to look at the house tour now and see if the exact paint colors are listed.
whaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt?!?!?!?! craziness! but lovely result.
I don't have the patience for painting solid colors as it is. But this? Is. Insane! But incredibly wonderful.
I give credit to beauty and wit... this isn't beautiful or witty and looks more like crappy late 1980s "mod" paper. Blah blah, who cares.
I always like seeing what Curtis has done.
Wow! Incredible!
Thanks for devoting a post to this--I love seeing it in more detail.
eh..But at least this person did some elbow work. I give credit for that alone.
Too confusing...
WOW! You did this in your apartment? It is beautiful and photographs great.
Either you are crazy or a scenic painter?
This is the type of crazy thing a scenic designer or director would ask to have done *hand paint wallpaper*
Curtis is my favorite AT feature of all the times I've read it. A real inspiration. Yay for Curtis!
Wow! I was just looking for the good question that I had answered last night, and I see this! Thanks!
My folks never owned the homes we lived in growing up, so we never could put our own stamp on those places, so I really like making my home my own in a pretty complete way, and yet I wanted to see how far I could go toward making my apartment "period-friendly".
Since it was built in 1941, I sought inspiration from a wallpaper sample book from that year, but the sample wasn't big enough, so I found a Canadian one from a couple of years later (1945), which had a knock-off of that pattern, and combined them.
I guess djluckyonline is talking about the Memphis stuff that happened in the 1980's, and I can sort of see his point on that score. I know the pattern isn't everyone's cup of meat, but most of the other kitchen patterns in it literally had flowers or ivies, or other things that just weren't me. I kind of like how it reminds me a circuit board. The verbage on the back of the sample professes to get its inspiration from Mexican tile, and the colors are definitely those that were popular in Fiestaware of that era, so I chose some Fiestaware colors myself that went with it. Anyway, it's not 1980's, it's 1941.
The only "automating" I did on this project was to replicate the size of the small checker-board bits on the computer and then blow them up on a photocopier, and then have rubber stamps made of those parts. Then I made a makeshift rubber stamp pad with paper towels and paint for applying those bits of pattern.
And dewi, yes, you're right on both counts -- I really am kind of crazy and although I haven't done all that much literally theatrical scenic painting, much of my mural work and wall treatments have had that kind of flavor.
Bravo, Curtis! I admire your dedication. I love improving my home, but I'm not sure I have the patience or commitment to tackle large-scale projects like these. It's really admirable. And your place looks even more fabulous for it! :)
I am just speechless. What a great paint job. And now I'm inspired to put MY Kromex spice rack on the kitchen wall!
Impressed me the first time, impresses me now...awesome!
Curtis hand painted two ROOMS in my house - and they are SPECTACULAR!!! He both created the design and chose the colors. He actually transformed a nightmare into something truly magnificent - I am sooooo glad it is in MY house! :) They are rather large rooms, too! I wonder what he will aspire to next? I certainly wouldn't want to miss it - he's truly amazing.
Bravo, Curtis!
Gale
That paint by numbers wall is inspired. It makes me want to head for ebay and buy some kits and do something like that...even though I know if I ever wanted to sell my home the Philistine real estate agents would insist that I paint over it. But my philosophy is, "Don't wait until you sell to make your house wonderful--do it NOW and live in it!"
Gale -
Thank you! Your place has been an absolute joy and you're a doll to work with! The thing to wish for me is that I should have more clients who are as game as you've been for taking some fun risks.
kuroneko -
If you're in NYC, I'll be glad to help turn your wall into a "kit" for you to complete, with your friends. Contact me at generalaesthetic@yahoo.com if you'd like to discuss some possibilities, and figure out how much of it you want to have done, and how much you're want to do yourself and/or suggestions about what to look for when you're selecting the scene.
Oh, and when I went to sell my old apartment, I had done a pretty extreme wall treatment in the bathroom (made it look like subway tile), but it didn't stop it from selling, and I re-customized it for the guy who bought the apartment, so there's all kinds of ways to deal with real estate.
What a great idea - using ta grid to upscale the paint by numbers into a wall mural! I might have to steal your idea someday!
I love the effect. Such patience to do this.
bravo Curtis!
thanks for the close-up. i appreciate that in really involved intensive work like this. i want to come up to it and inspect every centimeter and follow the pattern and imagine how it was done and be awed. makes me feel not so crazy ;)
Anything Curtis puts his personal imprint on is soulful. Nicely done!
olga -
I've enjoyed seeing your work, too. Perhaps we're fairly similar flavors of crazy, which I'm quite comfortable with.
This is wonderful. I also stenciled my 1941 kitchen with elements of a Montgomery Wards wallpaper found in a pattern book, but didn't have the courage to duplicate the entire pattern. Have you ever considered designing fabric through Spoonflower.com? They have some vintage style designs but nothing like this.