A Story in Print: Custom Wallpaper From One Faded Photo
Some people bring in paint chips. She brought in history.
A client walked into Talking Walls with an old photograph of her grandmother’s kitchen. The image was faded, but you could still make out the loose, hand-drawn brick wash, copper kettles, notes scribbled on a paper square, and some baskets of fruit.
It felt humble and hopeful at the same time. Her ask was simple: “I want this exact wallpaper in my kitchen.”
That’s the part we love.
How we rebuilt the wallpaper
We scanned the photo, isolated the motifs, and had every element redrawn so it would read clean on a modern wall. The brick strokes kept their painterly edges. The copper kept its patina. The strawberries kept their imperfect, very human shape. Then we engineered a seamless repeat and tuned the palette so it felt fresh in modern lighting without losing its vintage warmth.
Then we built out a full spec for her:
Multiple repeat sizes, so we could see how the pattern would sit in her kitchen
Substrate options that would actually survive a working kitchen
Printed strike-offs she could touch, not just proofs on a screen
The result: rolls of completely custom wallpaper that looked like they’d been passed down, not produced.
Installed and living
She hung it in her kitchen. Same pattern. New life. The best part for us wasn’t the reveal moment. It was the text after install: a photo of her new kitchen with the caption, “It feels like being back at my grandma’s, but it’s mine.”
That’s why custom matters.
What custom wallpaper means here
Custom wallpaper at Talking Walls is not limited to changing the background color for a fee. It’s:
Rebuilding an heirloom print from a photo, swatch, napkin, whatever you have
Adjusting the scale so the pattern makes sense with your architecture instead of fighting it
Tuning color so it works with your counters, your fixtures, your lighting
Choosing a substrate that fits how you live, not how a catalog kitchen looks
Can we do this for anyone?
Yes! Bring us the thing you love. The family print. The wallpaper from the house you grew up in. The tile pattern from a Paris apartment you still think about. We’ll translate it, clean it, spec it, print it, and get it on your walls.
This project wasn’t about following a trend. It was about keeping a piece of someone’s story in the room where everyone still gathers.
That’s the part you just can’t buy online.
Do you have a custom wallpaper project in mind? We’d be happy to help! Reach out to the Talking Walls team to learn more.
