When I was growing up in the ’80s, in the first house I lived in, my room was full of primary colors. Two walls were painted yellow, and two were blue—and not soft, pastel yellows and blues, but vibrant, eye-catching hues. The carpet, on the other hand, was a deep, brick red. And my bedding had a tulip pattern where the heads of all the different flowers brought all the colors together.
Even though I only lived in that house until I was in kindergarten, I remember loving the feeling of being surrounded by colors. I thought it made me unique, like I wasn’t just another girl in another pale pink bedroom.
So imagine my surprise when, four decades later, I saw my tulips on the wall of Holly Wheeler’s bedroom in the final season of Stranger Things. (They show at the end of the first episode, “The Crawl,” to be exact.) Her wallpaper wasn’t just similar to my childhood bedsheets; it was literally the exact same pattern. Perhaps, I thought to myself, I wasn’t as unique as I thought.
I had no idea how run-of-the-mill I actually was. My college roommate actually helped me identify the designer and the pattern name: It’s “Seven Flowers” by Marimekko. She knew it because—of course—she had the same ones growing up in her childhood bedroom. What are the chances that two kids, raised in two different states, would be matched as college roommates—and also have matching bedding?
I put the coincidence aside until later this year, when I headed out to see The End of Oak Street. In that film, a family’s whole neighborhood is sent through a wormhole that sends them from 1982 back to prehistoric times. When the phenomenon happens, a bright light envelops the sky—and shines into the bedroom of teenager Audrey, illuminating her bedsheets: They are Marimekko’s Seven Flowers. (For those who want to investigate for themselves, The End of Oak Street is available now on digital and will be on 4K UHD on November 3.)
What gives? I tracked down Maya Shimoguchi, the production designer for The End of Oak Street, to ask about the Seven Flowers resurgence. Why did they choose it for the film? “The overall color story for Audrey’s room was a moody rose color and brighter smaller hits of yellow,” she says. “This linen pattern played into that theme.”
And, she added, “This particular pattern was also one that the set decorator had had in her room when she was growing up.” OK, so I was not a beautiful and unique flower growing up. I was part of a very specific—and wide-ranging—club of ’80s kids.
Minna Kemell-Kutvonen, Marimekko’s design director for home and print design, gave me some background on the pattern. “The Seven Flowers print was created by Fujiwo Ishimoto in 1979,” she said. “It was inspired by a Finnish Midsummer tradition: It is believed that if a person picks seven different flowers and places them under their pillow on Midsummer night, their future spouse will appear to them in a dream. I think its joyful expression is something that people find appealing.” I can’t say that me, my roommate, Audrey, or Holly Wheeler ever dreamed about our future spouses while sleeping on the sheets, but even after all these years I do find the pattern appealing.
Sadly, Seven Flowers is out of print, and the only place to find it now is on eBay. Did I buy myself some used items after I saw The End of Oak Street? Of course I did—it felt like the universe was telling me I had to. Now my 11-year-old is a member of the Seven Flowers club too. And who knows? Maybe its sudden turn in the spotlight will convince Marimekko to bring it back. “I think [the sheets] are timeless and, like all great design, have a life far beyond the era that were designed in,” Shimoguchi says. “It’s always a great idea for a Seven Flowers comeback!”
Not Quite “Seven Flowers,” but Close
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
