Its been a while since I have had the time and or the inclination to do art. Covid did a # on my regular Salad Girl Organics work load, and family became my “free-time” priority, so creativity has taken the back seat for the last few years. But this Fall an exploding ketchup container splattering organic ketchup all over my kitchen walls and ceiling prompted me to get creative and to clean up & re-design my 20 year old hand painted kitchen walls! As an artist I love to learn new skills to create purposeful pieces of art, and learning to create repeat patterns for wallpaper and fabric has been on my creative “to do” list. Life is full of learning curves and this 67 year old Nonna has decided to take on a new learning curve to learn how to design some *wall paper for my old cottage walls!

When relating my exciting news about making creative changes to my kitchen, my teen Grandchildren looked shocked. I have to admit, I was kind of surprised that my news generated such alarm, as well as some whistful whining about “how we are destroying all of their childhood memories”. I quelled their noisy protest by including them in the design process, and asked them to make a list of all of their favorite memories at our house. They actually got excited about the project, and together they sat down and made me a list of all the “flora and fauna” that they have enjoyed when visiting Nonna & Poppie’s little “Lake Haus” in Mahtomedi Mn. Just listening to them giggling as they recalled all of their memories was so heartening for Poppie and I, thankyou exploding ketchup bottle…

The list has been made and we are still deciding on color? We will post the finished before and after pics when we get this design printed and hung!

The List:

• Hoot Hoot, our local Great Horned Owl both that both haunted us as well as lulled us to sleep chanting its “low, sonorous, far-carrying hoots from the birch trees in our woods.
• Our little white squirell Snow Ball who has kept us company at meal time for 3 Summers now, patiently waiting for scraps after meals on the porch.
• The bunnies living under our deck, so many of them, no name ever stuck!
• Knock Knock, the Pileated Woodpecker who performs for us all year round with a glorious cackle followed by a marvelous drum solo.
• Momma doe and fawns
• Birds, birds, birds…
• The woods, the lake, the beach & sailboats racing…
• Fire fly fairy’s lighting up the woods on a warm Summer night
• Butter Flies
• Nonna’s favorite cone flowers
• Mushrooms in the woods
• The Bee Hive
• Poppie’s Bird Houses

The Lake Haus Repeat shown below in a little powder room:

Wandering in Wallpaper:

*Wallpaper has come a long way in 2023! If memory serves me correctly, wallpaper was really hot in the 60’s, 70’s, I do vaguely remember the nightmarish experience of helping my Mom remove the old pasted wallpaper, and it was a bit like removing a price-sticker where the the sticky paper backing actually rips and stays stuck while only the glossy top layer is removed. Then you’re having to find a way to scrape off the rest. In the early 1990’s, the faux finishing revolution was underway, and wallpaper began to fall out of fashion. Faux painting became popular in homes, with high-end homes leading the trend. With these new trends came new designer product lines, and painting and decorating stores began to fill all of their shelves with Venecian plaster, Ralph Lauren suede finishes, metallic and silica glazes, specialized brushes for trompe l’oeil & mural art. A new industry is born! I was so fortunate as a young artist at that time, and I rode that wave, and mural painted my little tail off, until the great recession.

The last five years has brought a sea change. You won’t see young interior designers having the same revulsion to wallpaper as I did. In fact, everything I see is hailing wallpaper like a hot new trend. And oddly enough, I’m not seeing complaints about the removal from anyone that has installed paper in the last few years either. So let’s see where wallpaper has changed when it comes to design, purpose, application and removal.

What to Look for in an Eco-Friendly Wallpaper:
Water-Based Ink Printed Wallpaper
Generally, water-based ink is preferable to solvent-based ink. Solvent-based ink is likely to be higher in VOCs.

Low & Zero-VOC Wallpaper
Wallpapers labeled with the Greenguard certification mean they have low levels of VOCs. But I would be surprised if any water-based ink wallpaper couldn’t meet that level. Look for low or zero-VOC water-based inks or paint. Get a sample if you are chemically sensitive.

PVC-Free Wallpaper
The vast majority of wallpaper is coated in PVC/vinyl which contains harmful plasticizers that are not counted as VOCs or measured in certifications like Greenguard Gold. In 2010, The Ecology Center tested 2,300 types of wallpaper (from 11 different brands), 96% of them had PVC as a coating.

Flame-Retardant-Free Wallpaper
Fifteen percent of wallpapers tested by the Ecology Center contained Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR) in 2010. This flame retardant is not likely used very much anymore, but others will have taken its place. Some brands contained tin, which is another flame retardant. Silver and titanium dioxide can also be added to the mixes. Newer chemicals include intumescent flame retardant, which is supposed to be safer.

Toxic-Metal-Free Wallpaper
The Ecology Center report also revealed that wallpaper commonly contains arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, and tin. With 1/5th of all samples containing cadmium.

I have chosen some organic, non PVC , water based ink printed & easily removeable paper to print our design on:-) and I look forward to sharing my wallpaper designing journey with you!

Thanks, Pam Powell