Vintage wallpapers from Iowa set the mood in films, TV shows and music videos

IOWA (KMTV) — Think about your favorite TV shows, movies or music videos. They might very well have something from Iowa in them. In this Positively the Heartland, we bring the background to the foreground.

• Three decades ago, Marilyn Krehbiel made boxes covered in vintage wallpaper, and then customers asked if they could buy just the wallpaper.
• Today, Marilyn and her daughter Hannah run Hannah's Treasures, whose main clients are set designers.
• More than paper: Starting with original, vintage-inspired designs, they now develop fabrics and more.

Read on to know the full story.
Marily Krehbiel, founder of Hannah's Treasures, reached for two rolls of vintage wallpaper.

“So they bought this really pretty wallpaper… and then they bought everything I had left of that wallpaper.”

She sent the two samples from Iowa to a studio in California – not knowing how the wallpapers would help set the scene for one of the most sung songs of 2022: “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift.

“We want to keep it cool, so we don't always ask. But sometimes we find out,” says Hannah Early, Krehbiel's daughter and business partner, explaining this element of surprise.

Early said that in the movie “The Help,” her wallpaper was so distinctive that she became a character herself. You've seen her wallpaper on shows like “Only Murders in the Building” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” as well as in Miranda Lambert's video for “The House That Built Me.” The list goes on.

They specialize in wallpapers from the 1920s to the 1970s.

“This collection includes approximately 14,000 (to 15,000) rolls of authentic vintage wallpaper,” confirmed Early.

It's sorted by pattern and origin – could be London, Philadelphia or Peoria. They've spent 30 years traveling the world to save wallpaper.

Krehbiel’s favorites are the rare finds.

“These are works of art,” she said – holding a scroll from the turn of the century in her hand.

Her business has evolved. When her daughter was young, Krehbiel made decorative accent boxes out of vintage wallpaper. Her pieces were featured in magazines and also sold nationally.

“And then people started to become interested in the wallpaper itself and asked, 'Can I just buy the wallpaper?'” Early said of the changing times.

Nowadays, homeowners and interior designers are no longer their usual clients.

Early explained it this way: “Movie sets and set designers. A lot of people put up things that look period – like something from the '40s, a movie set from the '50s. They want real wallpaper, not just something that's been manufactured to look like it. So they really like the authentic wallpapers that we've collected.”

The mainstream could be next, however, as they have created fabrics from their original designs – all inspired by vintage wallpaper.

This website is the starting point for everything – the wallpapers, the digital scans and the fabrics.