In my search for vintage children’s wallpapers I have come across some designs that I remember from my childhood.

This 1940’s-50’s blue wallpaper. Took my breath away when I first came across it. The same wallpaper was on my cousin’s bedroom walls, I was whisked back to a happy memory of she and I in her room, playing with paper dolls.

Just like music and certain smells, patterns and designs can jog our memories too. I wish that I could add a texture to the printables because I remember this particular wallpaper had a bumpy bubbly texture.

To the best of my knowledge the dates for the vintage children’s printable wallpaper are correct.

Codliver Oil

There was nothing my mother believed in more than cod-liver oil. It was the first thing that my brother and I tasted every single morning. Our bowls of porridge would be in front of us at the table, we each had a spoonful of porridge already hovering in front of our face, ready to shove it in as soon as we downed the huge spoonful of cod-liver oil. Yuck! It was vile, horrible stuff. I dreaded this morning ritual, and it went on for years.
When I was about 7 or 8, we got a reprieve; cod-liver oil became available in capsule form. That was much better. I was a curious kid, so it is not surprising that I wondered about the cod-liver oil capsules. I was very thankful for them, but I didn’t know if they were solidified cod-liver oil or if they were a jelly type substance with a drop of cod-liver oil inside.
One rainy afternoon I decided to investigate, it must have been a Tuesday, because my mum always did the washing on Mondays and the ironing on Tuesdays. On this day she was standing in front of the fire in the living room, doing the ironing. Our living room looked really nice, my mum had just finished putting up new wallpaper. It had been a big job, she had stripped off all the old wallpaper and put up the new wallpaper all by herself. The pre-glued wallpaper had not been invented yet so it was quite a production to get the job done in our crowded little living room. It was worth it though, my mum really proud of the great job she had done. The living looked so fresh with new wallpaper it had light beige background with white flowers.
On this particular Tuesday, while mum ironed, I sat on the floor rummaging through the sideboard. We kept all sorts of odds and ends in the sideboard, from sticky tape to, playing cards, to the bottle of brandy, that was kept for an emergency, which never happened. The cod-liver oil capsules were kept in there too. I decided to settle my curiosity about whether they were solidified oil or whether there was a drop of oil inside. I squeezed the capsule to find out. I found out.

There is oil inside! it went everywhere.

A blotch of oil appeared on the new wallpaper, just above my mum’s head. I watched in horror as it grew bigger and bigger. I looked at mum who was staring in astonishment at the sheet on the ironing board. Another oil spot had landed there and was spreading out right before her eyes. Mum looked at me, and then she followed my gaze to the wallpaper.

Oh boy! Who would ever believe that one little cod-liver oil capsule could do so much damage, the oil on the wall now looked about 4 inches in diameter. There were many times that my mum became angry with me, and I expected to be in really big trouble this time. I don’t know why she took it as calmly as she did, maybe it was an area that was easy to redo, or maybe she knew she had enough wallpaper to fix it. All I know is that I got away with it. She didn’t even yell at me! After a few days, to my relief, mum tore off the oil spotted wallpaper and put up some new paper. My crime was erased and our living room looked great again.

I still hate codliver-oil.

Thankyou for taking the time to read my little stories

Jennifer

© jennifer brooks
jennifer's printables.com

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Restoring old family photographs is a passion for me. Restoring old wallpaper in order to make dollhouse wallpaper is an extension of that hobby.

To clean up a wallpaper like the one above can be painstaking work.

The background is so discoloured that the only thing to do is to erase it. What a huge difference there is when it is all cleaned up click here to go to my photo restoration web nostalgiagraphics.com

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