Wallpaper Wonderland

A 1932 Virginia home gets a new lease on life with vintage color and pattern.

- VICTORIA VAN VLEAR

FEATURE WALL.

A bookshelf wallpaper hangs along one wall in Amy's office as an accent wall.

"It's a trompe l'oeil, meant to look like built-in bookcases," Amy says. She surrounded it with vintage furniture, which she prefers to buy in person and use as is. "I like it when I find pieces that are preloved because I live with my furniture; there's nothing precious," Amy says. "I have three big dogs, and I like living in my home and having things comfortable. All the better if I don't have to worry about breaking it in."

MERRY MUDROOM.

What looks like a screened-in porch is actually the mudroom and laundry room. "The whole space is interior; that's the quirk of an old home," Amy says. "It has exterior siding on the walls, so maybe at one point it was a breezeway." Now, Amy can use it to do laundry and get ready for snowy weather during the winter months.

People talk about seeing a house with "good bones," but what does that really mean? "When I found the house, it had been abandoned for 10 years," says homeowner and designer Amy Whyte of her Virginia home. "There were holes in the roof. It was infested with a colony of snakes. But when I walked in, I could see the bones, the original mantel and French doors and the original footprint with a symmetrical layout I love."

LAURA ASHLEY INSPIRATION.

When Amy went to decorate this guest bedroom, she started with a focal point of a vintage 1980s wallpaper. "I'm an '80s girl, so that spoke to me, reminded me of vintage Laura Ashley," she says.