I had such a nice exchange with Victoria Cramsie at PaperBoy recently, I have to share some of her wallpaper designs for boys. These papers are made by Robert Hamlin-Wright at his small factory in Norfolk, England and they’re made to order, so after you place your order it will take 4-6 weeks for it to arrive. This hand screen printed wallpaper is FSC accredited sustainable forest paper, in a nutshell this means, “Your paper has come from a forest that is managed to the highest standards to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations“.

Victoria’s wallpaper is geared towards boys, as you can tell, but I still liked it enough to share it here on decor8 despite how little I show kid’s design. These photos feature Victoria and her two boys, Rory and Archie, another sweet thing about homegrown companies is when family members are photographed in some of the product shots, don’t you think?

Here is what inspired Victoria’s line: “Her boys outgrew their nursery style room and needed a place that they (and their mother) could be proud of. So she thought about what made a beautiful house. A place with a few lovely, classic things. A place with designs and materials that sing. That’s filled with colors and shapes that have a sense of harmony and intrigue. That makes you feel somehow calmer, more comfortable. As if the world is really rather fine. Somewhere that might even make you smile. And she thought wouldn’t it be great if you could find designs that did this for the boys? But she couldn’t find any. She was looking for boys’ wallpaper that felt handmade, but wasn’t folksy or whimsical or twee. Something more pleasing than tacky, standard licensed wares. But affordable, too. Something classic, even iconic, but with an edge. Modern, but with room for nostalgia. Enough fun for little kids yet cool enough for bigger ones. And lovely enough to fit in with a beautiful, grown-up design scheme. Well made, slightly subversive. And funny. So she gave up looking and started to create. She liked the handmade look so she drew images by hand. The boys she asked liked ‘edgy’ images, from graffiti to slightly scary skeletons. And more classic images like pets, puppets and dinosaurs. And they responded in a surprisingly sophisticated way to color, simplicity and texture. She came up with designs that would appeal to boys from preschool to teens. Something for after the fluffy bunny stage that would see them through until they painted their bedrooms black.”

Bravo, Victoria! So many successful business are born out of frustration — you can’t find what you want out there so you create it yourself. Then you learn that so many others were in fact looking for the same thing. I guess the moral of this story is to spend less time complaining and more time doing, right? If something is lacking out there, and you are passionate and talented enough to fill it, then by golly – do it!

Congrats on your new line!

(images: paperboy)

Is this Penguin wallpaper from Isak not the cutest in the world? I don’t show lots of kids stuff on decor8, I do that over at Cookie instead, but I couldn’t resist sharing this because c’mon — is it not smile inducing?

If you don’t have babies, you’ll want to run off and start making them after seeing this. :) Yeah I know, not the right reasons for having children. But still.

And by the way, if you are curious as to where these wooden animals are from, they are from Germany and made by a company called Holztiger. You can find them at lots of privately owned kids shops in the U.S. (not big box stores though) or online if you do a search under Holztiger. I have a few myself, they are perfect for kids and adults alike. I have some wooden animals made by Ostheimer, another great company specializing in wooden toys – here’s my unicorn. Told you that they’re not just for kids. ;)

(images: isak uk)

While we’re talking about colorful posters and dreams, who doesn’t love London and Paris? I mean, hellll-o! I think all of us want to spend time in these two destinations, I’d take a month in each thank you. Bodie and Fou wrote to me (thanks, Justine!) recently sharing their new posters designed by French company Famille Summerbelle (please visit their website while you’re at it, darling!) and I thought they were just too cute to not post.

Side note: Bodie & Fou also stocks this family tree print from Famille Summerbelle, too.

These beauties are £45 each, so what’s that like $60 USD?, and available exclusively through Bodie & Fou here and here. All will be ready to ship out June 22nd, by the way…

(images: bodie & fou)