Wednesday Giveaway: Florence Broadhurst

Update (Friday, 2pm): Thank you to everyone who commented. The Giveaway is now closed. We'll announce the winner on Monday.

In honor of "Adornment" month at AT, for the next four weeks, we will be giving away goods that are in some way related to wall decor. We're kicking things off with a copy of Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives by Helen O'Neill — courtesy of Chronicle Books.

In exchange for having this volume bestowed upon you, we ask that you submit a review later. If you would like a copy of Florence Broadhurst, please comment below — describing the best use of wallpaper that you've ever seen (in person or just in a magazine).

Here's a description of the book from the Chronicle Books website:

"The story of Florence Broadhurst has recently been introduced to the United States. An eccentric woman known in her home country of Australia as much for the myriad of personae she created — starlet, couturier, painter, design icon — as for her brutal and still unsolved murder. To this day, mystery shrouds her; one thing, however, is certain: Broadhurst's place in the history of interior décor.

"Recognized worldwide for her groundbreaking wallpaper patterns, this enigmatic Australian left behind a trove of exquisite work, brilliantly displayed here in the first-ever authorized biography. Out of circulation for nearly 20 years, her wallpaper patterns and fabric prints are being restored by Signature Prints and are being sold throughout the United States to much fanfare."

We'll run this post for 48 hours, and then choose our favorite comment. The recipient will be announced Monday morning. (We'll follow up via email in order to send out the book as soon as possible.)

Comments (14)

One use that completely boggled my brain was a floral patterned textured wall paper that they (the designers) put up and then painted over it with a soft color. It was brilliant. The wall looked like it had been hand plastered with flowers and then painted over with this soft blue hue.

3 books of wallpaper samples picked up from S.C.R.A.P.
5 silk screen printmakers
one color of ink
one computer generated pattern =
a really amazing "wall quilt"

Although it might be challenging to consider, I love the look of wallpaper applied to furniture as in the following link. A photographic wallpaper mural from a custom image has been applied to an Ikea closet as well as on canvas pillows in this 'wild' bedroom:
http://fototiller.com/blog/2006/11/15/where-the-wild-things-are-photomural-closet-and-photo-pillows

Or, switch out the photographic image for a Florence Broadhurst wallpaper to make an equally surprising statement with the closet. Broadhurst fabrics are available to complete the transformation with mix-and-match pillows for the bed:
http://www.borderlinefabrics.com

i've seen it inset into a coffered ceiling and loved it, but my favorite use of it that i've ever seen is used as a mat of a framed photo or artwork. carefully chosen to either compliment or pop against, it added a whole additional layer to the visual.

oh, and set behind a really old mirror. you know the kind where the silver is going and you can partially see through it, like a misty window into another realm? i saw a high contrast jacquard pattern framed behind one of these. it was otherworldly.

>From AT to SSBS to O Home to fototiller and back to AT. Six >degrees of separation! Wild.

I'm a new reader here on AT. With this revelation, I'm guessing I've come to the right place!

if you like the aesthetic of vintage wallpaper but are a poor student or entry level operative, set a vintage wallpaper image as your computer desktop. you will get more enjoyment out of it, and see it more often, than the walls in your tiny apartment.

When I was younger my parents had friends who owned an upholstery store. They had all these books of wallpaper samples and they would give the out-of-date books to us. We made mini book covers, wallpapered our doll houses, made outfits for our paper dolls, paper sculptures, collages, you name it, we were creative with it. In high school, I wallpapered the inside of my locker using removable adhesive.

Now if only we would have had digital cameras back then, alas, it only lives on in memory.

Hands down....Nick Olson's wallpapered refrigerator in Domino's Nov '06 issue.

I once did a set for the English Theatre in Hamburg where I took rolls and rolls of anaglypta wallpaper, staurated them in multiple shades of gold/ochre/yellow paint, then tore them up in great chunks- I plastered the walls and floor with layers and layers of the pieces then glazed over the entire surface
It was this amazing textural decayed yet elegant ( because of the delicate relief of the anaglypta) surface that felt like it had been there 100 years or more and the colors glowed like they were lit from inside....

my mom was quite the DIY goddess when i was a child, and had lots of wallpaper left over from her constant re-fashionings. She took the paper one step further by wrapping birthday presents, wedding gifts and the like in her overstock papers. I thought it was odd at first but was soon won over and looked forward to her decision making, as to what present deserved what paper. I'm taking a wallpaper-making class at MAKE next week and I don't imagine I'll be so generous with my overflow.

As kids we used to write (and draw) our "thank yous" on wallpaper sample scraps we found hanging out in the house.

My good artist friend uses bits of wallpaper for her mixed media paintings. They always come out beautifully because she knows how to integrate the paper into the piece, works great for landscapes or collage effects. It's how she makes her living.