Flat Vernacular’s Payton Turner Approaches Wallpaper Designs Like a Narrative

"My love affair with wallpaper has been pretty much lifelong, starting back to when I was a child in my grandparents’ summer home in West Hampton Beach," says Payton Turner, cofounder of the wallpaper and fabric brand Flat Vernacular. The "kooky print of a huge science lab with all these beakers bubbling" in the kids’ bathroom, as Turner remembers it, might have felt like a scene from a children’s book unfolding right from the walls. "Wallpaper does a beautiful job of really setting the scene so easily," she says.

Wallpaper eventually became an integral part of Turner’s thesis at MICA, where she studied fine art and painting. In 2010, she launched Flat Vernacular with her husband, Brian Kaspr, a fellow art school graduate whom she met in Baltimore, after they noticed a gap in the market for artistic wall coverings. Now, 14 years later, "wallpaper feels very much back in style," she says of the interest surrounding DIY home improvement projects. The duo initially started the company by silk-screening each wallpaper by hand but quickly realized it was too time-consuming and ultimately, an unrealistic process. (All of their designs are now digitally printed.)

"It’s a beautiful, artisanal process and it requires a ton of human touch and finesse, even when using machines," she says of collaborating with Kaspr. Their designs can come from any number of art explorations, whether it’s from a painting, collage, sculpture, or photograph. "We try our best to make thoughtful decisions and make things that don't already exist in the market," she says, adding that the process for installing wallpaper hasn’t changed much over the years but that the actual materials, including the science behind primers, have significantly advanced. "It’s a much better product than it used to be in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s," she says, mentioning that removing and switching out wallpaper isn’t as an arduous process as long as it’s been primed correctly. (Turner tends to redo her walls whenever the mood strikes since, as she declares, "I don’t ever want to paint a room again, honestly.")

As suspected, Turner and Kaspr’s home in Norwalk, CT where they live with their four-year-old son is covered in wallpaper, in "as many places as possible, although it’s really hard to choose when you make your own products," she says. Their midcentury modern house, built in 1954, already comes with a storied past—it once served as a guest house to the film and Broadway star Mary Martin, who played the titular role of Peter Pan in the 1960 film—but the swathes of wallpaper within have further made their home feel more "well lived-in," she says. "Each room definitely has a personality." It’s fitting that Turner’s penchant for wallpaper designs that tell a story goes hand-in-hand with her love of books—she’s also cofounder of the literary-minded site and community Girls at Library, with Eliza Wexelman, that will soon be relaunched. "Books take up the majority of the space in my house and I have bookshelves in almost every room except for the bathrooms," she says. "I think of wallpaper as a form of narrative."

Check out Taylor’s picks:

Old Holland Oil Color

"Vermilion is my favorite red hue. I’ve been working on a series of figurative oil paintings for about a year and a half after taking a long break, and this is a handy color to have on my palette. It makes for an interesting underpainting tone and works well within different shades of skin colors. It feels modern but not exactly contemporary, at least not in the context of how I’m currently setting up my palette. Which is exactly what I want!"

Fabriano Studio Watercolor Pads

"Though I’m mostly working with oil paint now, this paper is still my favorite for all my design work for Flat Vernacular and other freelance projects. It holds watercolor, gouache, and ink very well and it scans beautifully. The smaller sizes are nice to tote around, whether to and from my studio to home or to bring with me on trips."

Zecchi 12 Watercolour Travel Set

Votary Night Star Serum

"I think this is the most magical overnight cream I have ever experienced. My skin seems to love it. If my combination skin has no complaints, my brain has no complaints. I look less exhausted, my skin tone is more even, and I feel properly moisturized even in the driest months of Connecticut winters."

In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper

"My friend Roxanne gave me this book for my birthday as I'm an avid fan of Edward Hopper's paintings. Are you interested in the internal landscapes of American loneliness? Me too. Read this book."

Sophie Lou Jacobsen Fazzo Table Lamp

"I adore this lamp for its shape, gesture, and presence."

Flat Vernacular Bea - Regent’s Park Wallpaper

"This is one of my all time favorite Flat Vernacular patterns and colorways. I love this palette in particular. The color combination makes this microfloral pattern feel austere, subtle, and moody. I put distinct and often uncommon (not necessarily ‘bold’ per se) color combinations in my own home, and I highly recommend this pattern and colorway for dining rooms, libraries, and bedrooms."

Meals Blueberry Work Shirt

"Between the durable and breathable fabric as well as the generous cut of this shirt, you can’t go wrong if you want something easy to wear and easy to move around in. My daily life requires significant physical movement and I prefer loose, comfortable cuts. This shirt is now part of my daily uniform."

Room & Board Woodwind Console Bookcase

"This is my basic bookshelf but I really love it. I think it suits a lot of different decor and schemes since I like to rearrange and change things around a lot."

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