I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and is looking upon the upcoming New Year with joy and hope.
If you follow us on Facebook (which I sure hope you do! like our page here), you may have already seen our excited post about discovering vintage wallpaper in the movie While You Were Sleeping. I've seen this movie what feels like hundreds of times. It's my favorite romantic holiday movie! But this time, I realized something I hadn't before.
"I recognize that wallpaper!" I shouted, pointing at the TV screen and simultaneously spilling popcorn all over my husband. (Believe it or not, this very scenario happens more often than you'd think). Sure enough though, that very same wallpaper is one that we currently have in our Hannah's Treasures collection. Neat!
In the early 90s when this movie was being filmed, Hannah's Treasures was only just getting started as a business (and we were still crafting with wallpaper at that point, not selling it), so the actual wallpaper in the movie did not come from us. Even still, it is so fun to see patterns on "the big screen" that are tucked away on our very own shelves.
This paper is actually a Thomas Strahan designer wallpaper. Thomas Strahan papers were often modeled after antique designs. He would take very old 19th century motifs, re-work them, and print them with a fresher perspective. The rolls of wallpaper that we have were printed in the 70s, but the design itself finds its origins much earlier than that. But that's not the only Christmas movie favorite with interesting wallpaper!
Whether you like to watch this movie once all-the-way-through or if you like to have the 24-hour marathon as a backdrop to all your holiday festivities, A Christmas Story is a holiday tradition for many families. But in all the times you've seen it, have you ever noticed all the wallpaper in the background? Specifically, there's a wallpaper at the beginning of the movie that really caught our eye this year--a very rosy pattern. You'll find it in the scene where Ralphie hides the BB gun ad in his mother's magazine.
This pattern actually has a name. It's called the "Roosevelt Rose," named after Eleanor Roosevelt. She selected this rose pattern for her own bedroom and inspired many to copy her. The pattern became a trend that lasted many years and many iterations. Many wallpaper manufacturers produced their own version of the "Roosevelt Rose," and while we have encountered many over the years, we currently just have one "Roosevelt Rose" pattern in our collection. If you compare our paper with the one from A Christmas Story, you will see the obvious matching pattern, but you may also observe subtle differences in color and shading, which would have been the distinguishing features between each new remake of this treasured design.
What is especially beautiful about our "Roosevelt Rose" pattern is that the paper actually has a quilted texture, making it a stand-out among other variations.
Both of these papers are available on our website: the Thomas Strahan Scenic spotted in 'While You Were Sleeping' and the "Roosevelt Rose" pattern like the one used in 'A Christmas Story'.
It's so much fun to spot familiar wallpaper patterns in movies, both new and old! What a special treat it was for us to find two different patterns this Christmas in such cherished holiday classics.
Happy Holidays! Wishing you the best for 2018!
-Hannah
