Design Files: Mind-Bending Wallpaper

I went to my city's Design Center with the interior designer who is helping us pull together our San Francisco home today, and my head is spinning.  There are so many colors, fabrics, paint samples, furniture styles that it can easily overwhelm an uninitiated consumer.

But I also saw so many cool things.  Some of my favorites were in the wallpaper samples.  It quickly became clear to me that wallpaper can now be made of any material- not just paper.  Most may have a paper backing, but I saw wallpapers in suede, cork, wood, metal, and-- are you ready for this-- movie posters, newspapers...

Here are two made of recycled newspaper.  Cool, right?  I think they'd be fun in an office or on a kids' playroom.  

The photos were both taken at an angle, so you can see more of the effect of the design, but the first wallpaper has a striped effect, while the second is more of a loose collage.  The colors from the different newspapers come through in such an interesting way.

And then the wallpaper that truly blew my mind was covered in words written in... get this-- ground tea.  

From a little bit of a distance, you see the words (all related to tea)...

but up close you can actually see the little bits of ground up tea leaves forming the words!!  I'm not really a tea person, but it made me wish there were one with coffee beans or grounds...

Both the newspaper wall coverings and the tea wallpaper were designed by Lori Weitzner of Weizner Limited for her Sojourn Collection.  What a genius is she?  Her wallcoverings are not only beautiful and interesting, they make you look at common objects (and the possibility of usable materials in design) in a mind-bending way.

I may not have made any decisions today, but I got plenty of creative inspiration!

(And tomorrow I'll be back with more fashion!)