Swedish Tile Wallpaper

This is an update for an earlier post where I was mentioning an idea I had to hand paint my front entry armoire to look like a Swedish blue & white tiled stove.

I have been gearing up since to begin that project.  I dug out my acrylics in various shades of blue, downloaded resource photos and perused my copyright free art books for a suitable floral pattern to copy in blue paint.

THEN, I get this email yesterday from Spoonflower and jumped for joy.  They now offer custom wallpaper!

This was the answer to my time-crunch nightmare.  I will design my Swedish tiles in Photoshop and upload to Spoonflower and have wallpaper made with which I will apply to the sides and front door panels on the armoire....so easy!  And saves me hours of work too.

Not that I don't like painting, but I have so little time lately.

So I got busy right away and came up with this:  (minus the logo which is there for copyright protection on this digital image only)

I ordered my first roll yesterday and am eagerly awaiting its delivery.  This custom wallpaper thing has opened up a myriad of ideas for me.  I will be filling my ETSY shop with new stuff this winter/spring, all made from custom wallpaper - now made a reality by Spoonflower.

As soon as my order is marked "shipped" I will be able to assign "sell to public" status on the pattern so you, too, can order it for those Swedish-inspired projects.

Line cupboards or hutches, apply to the back of a kitchen back splash or cover an old armoire as I am doing, for your very own Swedish tile stove look. Its pre-pasted and removable so renters and students can use on their apartment or dorm room walls.

(can you tell how excited I am!?)

Swedish Stove Mania

There seems to be renewed interest in Swedish tiled stoves these days.

I have been in love with them since I was turned on to their very existence in the early 90's while in interior design school.  I fell head over heels with Swedish Gustavian style with the light, bright colors, the painted furniture and down to earth fabrics.

I have longed for a Swedish tiled stove for almost as long - and now that they are getting more attention, why doesn't a company start up that sells to the American public?  I guess demand might be low, after all, its a very specific, narrow niche!  LOL

I will have to live with my old-fashioned black wood stove for now (which I might paint either red or oxford blue next year...we'll see) but I still long for a slender, rounded stove in the corner adorned with lovely blue and white floral tiles.

Then the other day I thought to myself "I don't have a Swedish tiled stove, but I do have a large armoire I am painting white, which is screaming out for some decorative paint work".

Now, I ran my own decorative painting business in the early to mid 90's called "a Gilded Vine".

I have painted a few pieces since then, but only for myself.  My hutch (still in progress) and my bedside table (finished) and now this large, squared armoire which I needed to house coats and such near the front door to Elinor Cottage, given we have no coat closet!

I have decided to paint the armoire to look like a blue and white tiled Swedish stove!

I am going to get to work on it tonight, designing the layout, what each tile will look like (probably all florals) and drawing up my prototypes on transfer tissue.  I am very good at trompe l'oeil painting.  That's what I used to do with "a Gilded Vine".  I will make the tiles really look like old tiles with weathered grout...just wait and see.

Stay tuned for future photos as I work my way around this monstrous piece of furniture, transforming it into a trompe l'oeil Swedish stove.

After all, the Gustavians did it too - if they wanted to balance a room using the symmetry of Neo-Classical design, they'd put a large cabinet on the opposite wall or corner from the stove, and paint it to match!  I have seen and read about this in the many Swedish Gustavian books I've collected in these 25 years or so!

Enjoy these blue tiled beauties while I go get to work on my own!