apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Cool. Like very much. I'm getting some.

That really is a great idea, although I think it would be pretty defeating to sit looking at a wall that said "All work and no play . . ."
Why not "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"?
Any thoughts on what kinds of surfaces the letters would/would not stick to? Our walls are not the smoothest . . .

These could also be used for some really great painted effects, using these as stencils or as the "resist" (where you'd place letters on wall, wood or glass, apply paint, stain or etching cream, so that when the letters are removed, they reveal the color/finish of the original surface...)

You could just make these on your own, if you're handy with Illustrator and visit one of those plastic sheeting places on Canal. I don't know how easily they'd come off walls afterwards...

If these are anything like Blik wall graphics they'll come off quite easily. This is one of those ideas a lot of people are suddenly coming up with but has been around for quite awhile. They're very cool.

Reminds me of art galleries. A neat idea, now just to come up with things to say...

Amber,
the 'Wonderful G...' site has a window that houses a slew of quotes for various areas of the home (or business).

This is an old idea I've seen in the (oh so) many home mags I purchase, but somehow this seems so fresh and new. Very cool in deed!

I like. Very Jenny Holzer/Barbara Kruger - and it would be great to change the words seasonally or so...

Just do not - do NOT - quote anything from Jewel's book of "poetry."

Blik copycat anyone? Brainchild? This has been done before by Blik for the last few years.

Blik only does graphics, not words, which is a huge difference. Who cares anyway? If Blik has a problem, which I doubt, because the only similarity is that both stick to walls, they'll do something about it.

I've used these in my kitchen ("May the future's happy hours bring you beans and rice and flowers" Elizabeth Bishop) They went up easily and come off easily (I know this because I had an errant comma that I had to remove.) They're nice and not expensive. I think the quote I used cost about $20. a few years ago. They remind me of the kid's toy colorforms.

Interesting way to repackage/ reposition commercial signage graphics for indiviauals and their homes. I hope she does well with it.

However, there is something about this that feels very wrong- can't put my finger on it. If feels incredibly forced, as if you have scripted what your living space should say to you every morning.

"However, there is something about this that feels very wrong- can't put my finger on it. If feels incredibly forced, as if you have scripted what your living space should say to you every morning."

I agree - but that's where chosing the words extremely carefully, chosing words that have multiple meanings, nuance of meaning, comes into play - just like we choose our colors and our "visual art" in our spaces, so that they are can "speak" to different moods, etc.

Words need not be any more "literal," can be as polysemic, as colors, I think.

"so that they can speak"

"...colors and our "visual art" in our spaces, so that they are can "speak" to different moods, etc."

I understand where you are coming from and I do like the concept. I may just be reacting to the physicality of vinyl graphics and that I cannot see the nuances that you talk about in the photos.

this would be so cool for a kid's room. too bad i dont have one.

i just wish that the site was easier to navigate. i don't like having to click on every one to see what it says.

"Blik only does graphics, not words, which is a huge difference. Who cares anyway? If Blik has a problem, which I doubt, because the only similarity is that both stick to walls, they'll do something about it."

not that it matters, but i just had to say that blik actually does have words, and they have for a while.

I think it's an interesting idea. If people want to buy Blik, they'll buy Blik, and if they want to buy this one, they buy this one. (Maybe the difference is that these are quotes?)That's the way the market works unless you patent something.

I rarely chime in if I don't have anything nice to say (if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all), but I don't like these very much at all. Starbucks and nursery schools have writing on the walls.

I can't figure out the word for it but it seems TOOO . . . I don't know. I love literature, poetry, I was an English major, but there's no line I'd want to stare at on my walls. Too forced.

I especially can't take that kountry klassic look of saying "coats" over the coat rack and "bed" above the bed. Even Pottery Barn gets into that routine from time to time.

These are great for commercial spaces, libraries public spaces, retails locations...but it seems a bit put on. There is a company here in Sydney doing something similar with organic shapes etc. But my thoughts is that these will date just like disco metallic wallpaper from the 70's. Same old ideas revisited again and again it's just gotten cheaper.

I think with the widespread use of many new digital printing techniques, this kind of thing is easy for anyone to take up as a business as the overhead is getting smaller. Hence the plethora of things like photos printed on glass, canvas, or even silk pillows.

ME LIKEY!! I have a long hallway that extends from my front door about 12 feet to the stairs, up the stairs, making a 180 turn at the top and going down another 12ish feet to the master bedroom. I'm thinking about putting a long quote along the top of the entire hallway much like a border.

Ages too late, but hey, sometimes a Year's Best link will jog some memories.

I just wanted to note that there has been a very similar site around for years, wallwords.com.

The problem with it is that many of the quotes they offer are kind of mawkish. But you can have them do custom quotes, and there's a decent choice of typefaces. I'm really not sure how they compare to Wonderful Graffiti, but at least it's another choice of this kind of business, for people who are interested.

I have my own business doing the exact same thing as wall words. I provide very affordable viny lettering. Check out my web site if you want to pay $5 for a quote you would pay $30 at wall words or wonderful graffitti. Shipping is inexpensive, too. Check me out at danielledecor.com

FYI: If you want this lettering in your house make sure the vinyl you are getting is a matte vinyl. Otherwise you get this really cheesy tacky looking sticker on your wall. Matte vinyl will look like it has been painted on the wall and it looks designer. After one failed attempt I found a site that sells all matte vinyl. You pay a little more but as they say . . . you get what you pay for. Check it out at www.vinylinspirations.com

The surrealist in me would get far too carried away if only I could find a Magritte font...

I love the idea of a Repo-Man inspired kitchen-- generic labels everywhere-- but it'd get old pretty quick.

I'd also love a wall of text, maybe an excerpt from a particularly beloved book, but in a small enough font to be more of a pattern than a series of words that demand to be read. Which is more appropriate for wallpaper than individual letters.

I guess that's part of what bugs me about large font phrases-- they pull me in. You can't *not* read them. Sometimes that distracts you from other elements, like when you catch yourself spending more time reading the blurbs on the gallery wall than looking at the paintings described.

It'd be a pretty cool "in-joke" to take a favorite quote and make abstract wall art using the letters it provides.

I'd also like to add www.wallwords.com to the lisst.

Hey, for wall letters check out www.vinylattraction.com. They are less expensive and have great ideas! Plus, they use the matte vinyl, have theme room, letters, wall designs and more.I had a custom piece made from my comforter that matches perfectly!
www.vinylattraction.com

Wonderful Graffiti is the only one feature in Oprah's magazine and is actually hanging in the lobby of Harpo Studios.

Also check out javasigns.com - they have the same kind of vinyl letters - and they have a really cool design applet that lets you design and preview online. They make all kinds of other things and carry matte vinyl, so its another option for people looking to decorate their walls.

Wow! www.javasigns.com is a cool site. Thanks for posting it. I designed some wall decals and lettering for my place. It was really easy to design and order.

I found a very user friendly site with lower prices than any other site I have seen. They carry matte colors also and have a live preview on the site.
www.vinylwords.com

I think this is pretty cool and have thought about putting a phrase up somewhere...but Im too indecisive to pick one :)

As for the people who say this is ripping blik off...WG is not a brand new company. I saw their website several years ago, before Blik was quite as well known. Not sure which came first but I don't think they serve the same market anyway. Either way, this is not a new idea so both companys are doing something that has been around a long time - they are just distributing to a broader audience better.

I used to deal with the vinyl wall decals when I worked at a museum. Be careful what color you get - for example, the red ones were a lot more difficult to remove than the blues or grays. They look really great (very minimal) as long as you put them up perfectly level the first time - no second chances.

Is it just me or there's spam for Javasigns from Tilly and June?

Why are we getting so many rerun posts?

I remember Debbie Travis actually did an episode where she used this technique and it didn't end up tacky. She had a really great client, his name was Andreas, and he ended up with a pretty nice place. No over the top paint effects or anything like that.
MP

Never mind the words - look at the stairs in that first photo - I'm hoping its not jsut the light - it seems like the wood gets lighter as it goes up the stairs - this is awesome!

What the heck? Where can we order these, this sight is definitely not 'user friendly'!

I have just bought two long phrases to go around my tray ceiling in the dining room. Brown walls white words. It looks (in my opinion) amazing. I am hooked and already planning for a height chart in the wash room and cities to go under clocks so my kids no what time it is where their grandparents are (UK and SA).

I found a site that will let you create anything you want. They use matte vinyl also. Easy to navigate. http://www.quotethewalls.com

Seems so affected.

i love this idea in theory, but i think in reality i would grow tired of reading the same quote over and over. though, if they're affordable enough (i didn't check pricing) maybe you could swap 'em out on a regular basis.

When I first saw this I was intrigued, but something was rubbing me the wrong way. Then I decided that quotes belong on coffee cups and fridge magnets, if that.

The WG people were very helpful when I wanted to design something for my entrance hallway - I have a simpel "Bienvenue" in script with a scroll-y thing underneath, and am very happy with it.

Wonderful Graffiti quoted outrageous prices for a simple foot tall request of iine of two characters in white. And that wasn't even including the shipping....

$30 for two characters is insane.....

First off. I'm in the vinyl letter trade.
i have made this stuff up for some decorator clients.
Frosted vinyl text in bathrooms is the most popular.
Personally, I agree with the comment that it makes a space look forced or scripted.
Thanks for verbalising my thoughts about this.

If you really want to do it.
make it as innocuous as you can with the text you choose and the font.
In the end it's easier and cheaper to get a sign shop to make up the text, exactly the way you want it.

...price guidelines: $1.oo/letter, based on 1 inch letters. Increase, or decrease the price depending on the size you want.
Go smaller than you think you want.
The shop deserves to charge a minimum.

reminds me of those cheesy motivational posters you seen hanging in the human resources dept. or advertised in sky mall.

I think that if I were to have writing on my walls, I would want it to be something at least as complex as a Shakespeare sonnet.

Ahhhh vinyl graphics vinyl graphics... they are on every blog, for every age, for every room!

Truth of the matter is, all you have to do is take a design made in a vector program to a store with a vinyl plotter and have them make it.
Any car detailing place or sign making place should have them now.

A picture paints a thousand words; but if you caption it with 21 words, all of a sudden it only paints 21 words.

I think the wall words are extremely cheesy.

As both a writer and a designer, this is a perfect marriage of my two great loves. Brava!

Cute now, silly in about 6 months.

Jim and Chris,

Agree with you that something is "off" about having these in a private home (agree with others that it's perfectly cool for libraries and other public places).

In the first photo, that room, and wall color, and little wooden bench are warm and welcoming, and the Emerson quote offers a great message, but I don't think it's necessary to beat your guests over the head with "The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it" by displaying the message in big letters on the wall. Why not just concentrate on providing the type of hospitality that would make your guests FEEL that message.

Then there's the expletive with double exclamation marks on the staircase. Why in the world would anyone want to see that day in and day out? Just seeing it in the photo gets me in a negative mood.

Josh, your idea of running a long quote, (or a favorite passage from a novel, may I suggest) along all 24 feet from your front door, up the stairs, and down to the MBR sounds like a creative and intriguing idea. I'd just like to suggest that you keep the lettering (a nice script font would be good) small enough so that at a distance, the quote on the wall simply looks likes a decorative border. That way visitors will be pleasantly surprised when they walk up to the decorative border and realize there's a message waiting for them. (please do not make the font size too big so that the words and lettering overpower the room, as in photos #1 and #2 above.)

Chris, I think the word is "twee."

The Mary Englebreit magazine, Home Companion, had a spread on McPhail's home. She loves words and uses them in multiple ways from different sizes and materials throughout her home. It is charming, eclectic and very self-expressive. Her home, as a form of self-expression, made me wish I knew her.

Some of us have words woven throughout our daily lives. Spoken, the world is a constant, potential canvas. Written, it transports us to other worlds. To take words into the expression of self in our home is a natural that she just made easier.

For those of you who are snobs regarding country, shabby chic, flea market style etc... Home Companion is showcasing an increasing number of spaces that are an interesting mix of modern with other eras and places. There is some really fun stuff in there for those of us who like things mixed.

I have never particularly liked the concept of paint/stenciling/etc quotes on a wall in one's home. But I think the ideas captured in the other photos are interesting. The one of the stairs made me laugh, I would do that if I could.

Violetsrose, it's just the light. Beautiful stairs, though.

I was also familiar with wallwords.com for years before I ever heard of Wonderful Graffiti. And the reason I've never done it is that I could never settle on one quote. It's one thing to write stuff on walls in pencil as a teenager, or offer paint brushes to friends when they come over when you're that age, but I don't know that I'd commit to any of this as an adult. Except maybe something not in English. (Somehow a Latin quote seems like it would be OK, but I'm pretentious like that.)

What I remember about the article in Home Companion was that much was made of McPhail's move to a "small house" in Bexley when she left the advertising industry. Bexley is actually one of the most upscale suburbs in Columbus, near the Franklin Park Conservatory and several of our snootiest private schools. The OH Governor's Mansion is in Bexley. It's not really very "downscale" - in contrast to the way the article made it seem - a downscaler from Bexley would normally move to Clintonville (mostly Craftsman bungalows) or something like that! But maybe they wanted to stay in the neighborhood. Nothing wrong with living in Bexley per se, but the tone of the magazine article - that the move had been a big step down - irritated me.

... also, before the photos loaded, I was going to say that anyone interested in having words on the wall but worried that they'd get tired of the same quotes every day could use chalkboard paint in some area and change the quote every so often.

Then I looked at the photos... and, well, there's chalkboard paint. But the way it's used here looks too static and installed to me. You might as well just use regular paint and a paint marker to fill in or circle the letters.

I see nothing cheesy about the vinyl wall words. I love them! I found a place (Right On The Walls) that uses matte vinyl and does a wonderful job for a reasonable rate. Their designs are nice and they add new ones all the time. Not all of their designs are phrases either. If you get tired of your lettering, take it off and put a new one up. That's what I do!



I bought mine from www.RightOnTheWalls.com

I found another great website, you can design your own canvas vinyl banners and vinyl decals at www.esigns.com right from your computer. They ship next day and their Window Vinyl Decals can be applied on any wall or window inside or out. Hope it helps!

mmmmm ... vinyl graphics vinyl graphics.

http://www.wall-print.com