Hello you vintage wallpaper lovers out there!
I tried to make some kind of business cards today. The background is vintage wallpaper I received from the vintage button swap. Printing these cards was a bit of a disappointment because the cards turned out more brownish.

We all love that beautiful paper with roses, or flocks in candy colors, we love the crispy edges. Did you know that before there was wallPAPER there was wall linen, like the linen of paintings? In dutch we use the word: behang, it is related to the english to hang, like hanging on the wall. So in our language you cannot hear whether this is paper or not. The word used for the older type of 'behang' is 'behangsel'.
Last week I went to see some antique behangsels/wallhangings.

Dudok, Houttuinen Dordrecht

I didn't want to use a flashlight, because of the fragility of the 'behangsels'. You can see the 'craquelé', if you click the photos. These 'behangsels' are from around 1800, painted by Abraham van Strij, one of the famous Van Strij brothers from Dordrecht. The Dordrecht museum has recently bought five panels of 'behangsels', but unfortunately it was forbidden to take photos there. Here, at Dudok's the 'behangsels' are 'in situ' , which means at the place where they were meant to be originally. 95% of these paintings are vanished, either destroyed or exported out of the Netherlands. So these wallcoverings are quite unique.



Let's take a closer look. Though you could see in the previous photo that the light was bad, the colors are amazing. The panels which are hanging in the Dudok building at the Houttuinen in Dordrecht, where we were guests, thank you, are restored recently.





A detail. The gold is new goldleaf and in my opinion it is more beautiful when it will tarnish. New and young is not always more beautiful, hehehe!

And now a contemporary artist:



I won the month prize at Linnea Maria's blog 'Linnea på Landet'.
Linnea Maria's work is truly amazing. Look what she did with a simple piece of broken glass. The insect is a drawing of her hand, no reproduction!
I'm so happy with this piece of art. I'm making a wall of fame. This piece certainly belongs there! My husband was thrilled with this too!



Look what other lovelies she sent me too.
Thanks a million Linnea Maria!

The Pip room isn't finished yet and the wall of fame is still under construction but....



I wanted to show you this. I'm not always the last to decorate! I bought this cute guy this week. I think he will survive Easter!
Have a great Sunday, happy Carnaval (yes, the dutch word CarnAval!) or Mardi Gras!
Thanks for your visit, all your lovely comments and I hope to see you soon.
xoxo LiLi M.