Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Drawn to Cities…part 1

Mr. Peacock found 2 rolls of contact paper (see below) in my grandmother LaViolette's basement, after she moved to a nursing home. She was “green” before green even became a term. She saved and recycled everything—never wasting anything.

I was immediately attracted to the quaintly stylized buildings all crammed together. It reminds me of a cross between a street in Brooklyn and lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan—which I find somewhat comforting. I’m not sure where she got this charming 1960’s cityscape contact paper, or why she never used it. The paper has “CB” drawn into the design, but I don't think it's a reference to Crate & Barrel—for all I know it could have come from Woolworth’s.

I first used it to line my medicine cabinet in my bathroom. Then I decided to make oversized Xeroxes of the leftover contact paper, and I used it to line all of my kitchen cabinets doors (above).

When I first spotted the contact paper it reminded me of Mr. Fornasetti's work—like this wood screen...

...or this Mediterranea wallpaper from the Cole and Sons Fornasetti Collection.

These charming cotton Piazza sheets have a similar vibe too.

Mr. Peacock likes the contrast of yellow added to the black lines of this cotton canvas cityscape shower curtain with soaring skyscrapers.

These tea towels, with line drawings of London landmarks, are striking with a modern punch of color.

Mr. Peacock is quite fond of line drawings. It doesn’t matter what the subject is, although, cities and buildings are quite appealing. I’ll share more of my line drawing favorites tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!

14 comments:

jason said...

how super cool!
I love them all, but the contact paper is my favorite...I'd take that almost over the Fornasetti :)

drew-o-rama.com said...

i love it! i think the original contact paper is much better than all that other jazz!

The Rural Modernist said...

Lucky you finding that in granny's cellar! Good taste obviously runs in the family.

tula said...

be still my heart...these are gorgeous. grandmother laviolette is quite the fabulous lady.

Unknown said...

great post, and great paper- lucky you that grandma laviolette saved it! (great name your gran had too!

ayeM8y said...

Wonder if that contact paper is copyrighted? Wait did you hear that? Sounds like opportunity knocking...

Christi said...

Mr Peacock, you inspire me. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

The design on the contact paper reminds me of this artist: http://swallowfield.typepad.com/

Yashila said...

Looks amazing!!!! /I look forward to your feedback /thanks for this man it was very helpful.
Kitchen Cabinets

Yogi said...

We had the contact paper in our bathroom to hide some "ugly" imperfections on the walls of our old house. It was the late 60s and the design was typical of the antique-y renaissance of the time(think in terms of Mary Tyler-Moore's apartment on her show). I could stare at those little row houses for hours and never get tired of it. There was, as noted, the little "CB" in the design but there were address numbers on a couple of the houses, too. Being from Southern California, the houses were so "East Coast" and very foreign to me. I would look for the "repeat" in the pattern. Sometimes, I would find a flaw in the print where it was not correct. It was quite entertaining for many folks visiting our little bathroom; they often commented on it. Recently, my mom and I were reminiscing about it and I thought I would look online to see if I could buy some and came across this posting. Wow. Who knew this old contact paper was being 'talked about' online. The pattern seems retro, though timeless in design and I know it would add a nostalgic touch to my home somewhere. Too bad I can't just run down the road to the old TG&Y store where we bought the original rolls 40 years ago and buy some more....

bob said...

Nice post

Model Kebaya Wisuda Modern 2015 said...

how super cool!
I love them all, but the contact paper is my favorite...I'd take that almost over the Fornasetti :)

Yogi said...

More From Yogi...
Well, here it is, nine years after i first found this page and posted a comment. I am still on the hunt for a roll of that Contact Paper. It still haunts me. I bought a couple of small, framed lithographs in earth/sepia tones from the era by an artist from San Francisco named David Reutter (also known as "Dave the Framer". The artwork is excitingly similar to that of my mom's bathroom walls; it's as close as anything I've found. Never give up hope. I'll keep you posted.

Yogi said...

And another 5 years flies by and I still haven't located any of this contact paper. I will keep looking for some at estate sales and online. Also, when I get a chance, I am going to post photos of the lithographs that remind me so much of this wonderful old contact paper. Cheers, everyone, and let me know if you come across any. JamesPilley1@gmail.com