A short time ago I wrote about my love for tiles and the vast choice there is out there, at the end of that post I added a little image of some vintage postcards behind a sheet of perspex as an alternative to a tiled splashback.
Well that picture has planted a seed firmly in my head and now I am leaning strongly toward this idea of wallpaper in the kitchen.
I’m sure if you are a regular reader You’ll be aware of my love for wallpaper (as well as tiles- heck I just love colour), so I’ve had the best excuse to browse.
The thing is, because of where it would be going and the size of space it’d be going onto, for example one section is only 13cm high, I’m having to look at the proportion of the design a lot more carefully than perhaps I normally would. Of course I like to keep costs down too, and I *might* have found a way to do this. Wrapping paper- yes wrapping paper! You can get some brilliant designs of wrapping paper, some of which can be pieces of art in their own right.
Below are some ideas I’ve been playing around with;
From bottom middle, this Vintage Transport wrapping paper comes in packs of five sheets and each one is 50cm x 70cm and is priced at £6.95- much cheaper than a roll of wallpaper, and would easily do a splash back area covered with perspex.
The fishes wallpaper is traditional wallpaper but the smallish scale pattern could work in my kitchen space- I like the illustrative design.
The vintage camera image is actually a wrapping paper, I think the small scale pattern and interesting readable details would make for a absorbing splashback- great for when you are washing the pots!
Next up is the Ladybird books alphabet. Again another wrapping paper, I’m currently falling back in love with Ladybird books so this one is pinging at my heartstrings. I’d incorporate the letter plates with postcards from my own collection of vintage ones and newer ones that have sentimental value.
Here’s a shot of a little experiment I did with a Dry Stone Wall effect wallpaper sample from B&Q. I was just playing around at this point, not really thinking I’d prefer a different look over traditional tiles.
This pink and red apple pattern wrap is probably perfect in scale but perhaps a bit too graphic for my needs in this case, I think I need something with more depth and variation of colour to disguise the inevitable splashes that will occur.
So far from my wrapping paper research my favorite is this Cavallini one of Italian postcards, I love vintage travel posters and Italy holds some of my best memories. What do you think? Would you use a perspex splashback?
susan earlam ~ horror author 
I would love your input