Wall Stories co-founders Caron Reeder (top right) and Maria Carluccio (bottom left).

Here’s a novel twist on wall art – letting children create their own narratives with lovingly crafted, repositionable decals. Children’s book author and illustrator Maria Carluccio and partner Caron Reeder talk to us about how Wall Stories is pushing the boundaries of classic children’s décor.

How did you two meet? How did you form Wall Stories together?
Caron: I love Maria’s work, so when I was planning my wall decal company one of the very first things I did was pick up the phone and ask her if she wanted to do some art for us. We’d never even met! She lives in New York, which is far away from where I am in Portland, Oregon. As luck would have it she had considered starting her own wall sticker company years ago and had whole notebooks full of drawings and ideas. That one phone call led to another and another and here we are starting Wall Stories together! This summer she did hop on a plane with her darling daughter and we spent a fun relaxing week together before we officially launched in August 2011.

Wall Stories range of changeable fabric wall stickers and growth charts.

What was the inspiration for Wall Stories?
Maria: I have always loved exploring the potential of collage and I wanted to see how collage could translate to the wall. Now that I’ve begun, I see that creatively there are so many cool things I can do. I am constantly inspired by the possibilities, stuff I just don’t see in the marketplace.

Maria creates the Wall Stories collages using a mix of paint and beautiful papers.

There are a lot of companies out there who do wall decals for kids rooms. What makes Wall Stories different?
Caron: I think it’s our unique collage aesthetic. Maria creates the Wall Stories collages using a mix of paint and beautiful found papers and each piece is so rich with detail. Story Starters and crafting ideas are included to encourage kids to think and write about their murals, I don’t see a lot of wall sticker companies trying to encourage kids to do this. Plus, we make our wall decals and growth charts out of a wonderful repositionable fabric weave that is non-toxic, green and pvc-free.

A selection of children's book titles illustrated by Maria.

Maria, how does your other work, for example, writing children’s books, help with creating inspiring designs for Wall Stories?
Maria: I am constantly thinking about stories, and asking myself “What’s the story I want to tell?” That’s what inspired us to include Story Starters with our murals. I really want to encourage kids to let images and ideas just flow from them.

What have you learnt about what kids really like?
Maria: I usually ask myself, if I were a kid what would I like to see and why? I watch kids carefully. I observe my own daughter and I see how she reacts to what I choose. I just think it’s very intuitive in the end. I know certain themes that are popular but that’s mostly from having done so much work in the children’s gift industry over the years.

Caron: Trees! Parents and kids and retailers keep asking us for trees. Our new products launching this November reflect that. If anyone out there has more ideas about what kids really like please go to our Wall Stories facebook page and tell us! We thrive on feedback!

Are there any do’s and don’ts you can share about making a kids room look great?
Maria: I think you just have to try to make choices that fit who you are. When you can express your own personal vision in a room you are really achieving something special. I guess that’s why I love that our wall stickers help parents and kids do that together, so they can look at the space they’ve created and feel proud. Since our stickers need to combine well with all the other things in a kid’s room I like to pair it down, keep things simple and clean.

Take a look at the Wall Stories range at wallstories.com