Dan Nelson grew up on a ranch in Alliance, watching his parents struggle to keep their land while others around them folded. Dan attended Kearney State College (now University of Nebraska-Kearney) to pursue a business degree, but they lost the family ranch. Like so many other sons and daughters of Nebraska farms, Nelson had a decision to make: without ranch work, how would he pay his bills, make his mark?

Nelson tried restaurant management but found his sweet spot in creating custom wallpaper designs installed on the walls of upscale Lincoln and Omaha homes. Beyond Nebraska, his work appears in Saks Fifth Avenue, Paris apartments, Moscow mansions, Christian Dior stores and in the homes of celebrities like LeBron James and Steve Harvey.

Nelson’s path from an Alliance ranch to upscale homes started in his sister’s garage in Lincoln and next a small studio he built in the backyard of Nelson’s home that he later shared with his wife, Jodi, and two small children, Janssen and Aden.

That journey began when his parents moved to the Lake of the Ozarks and bought an older house in need of a makeover. Nelson’s trip to Missouri would prove life changing.

With the house gutted, creating a blank slate, the Nelsons discussed ideas for a new look. His older brother suggested a wallpaper technique he saw in Dallas, Texas. Painting and distressing rolls of brown craft paper and then gluing it to the wall. Nelson had no idea yet that he had just entered his life’s calling.

Nelson’s wallpaper company is now named Vahallan, which Nelson founded in 1997. Turning to his Nordic ancestry, the Swede from Alliance based the name on Valhalla, the place of Nordic lore, dropping the first l and adding an n. Nelson wanted his company name to convey strength; Valhalla is where Viking warriors killed in battle would gather in the afterlife.

Vahallan operates in a nondescript building on 6th Street in south Lincoln, surrounded by grain elevators, industrial buildings and railroads on one side and houses on the other. Artists create custom wallpaper that will eventually become the focal point of rooms around the globe.

The company’s corrugated aluminum exterior is as humble as Nelson’s first wallpaper design efforts, back in the Lincoln home where he first created his first samples to show architects and homeowners.

Unrolling smooth brown paper, Nelson ripped it into uneven pieces. Pouring a variety of paint colors into a previously pristine metal tray, he took a clean roller and dipped it into the paint, coating the bumps and crevices as it moved deeper into the wallpaper. Spreading paint over the ripped pieces, he created a work of art that even Paris designers would be proud to show.

Once dried, Nelson balled up each sheet and smoothed it again, creating a distressed appearance. Reassembling them on the wall as if putting together a jigsaw puzzle, Nelson covered the apartment wall with his artistic decor. Once finished, he stepped back, admiring his handiwork. Gone were the staid designs of the past and before him a magnificent modern look that his roommates complemented.

“You know, in California, you could make a living doing this,” quipped his neighbor, a transplant from the Golden State. Encouraged, Nelson created 10 samples of his wallpapers painted with blues, reds, greens – any color that would attract the eye of a customer.

Armed with his samples, he met with interior designers around Lincoln. Don’t leave your day job, one of the designers told him. Another designer, it turns out possibly the only forward-thinker of the lot, told Nelson he may be on to something.

Nelson was then invited by an Omaha interior designer to decorate a couple of walls in a home as part of the annual Street of Dreams tour in Omaha. The  tour attracted thousands of people where they would see his hand-painted work as they toured bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms of some of the most-attractive homes in west Omaha. Nelson ended up handing out over 500 business cards.

Vahallan’s designs are unique because Nelson encourages the artists to use their imagination in creating the wallpapers. From the early days of ripped brown paper to today’s style of mixing textures, lines, colors and patterns, the company’s website now features over 50 collections.

One artist who applied to work at Vahallan right out of high school was Matt Monks. Working alongside one another, the duo traded new ideas and styles. Monks has moved up from being the first true full-time employee to the Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the daily routine of the business.

“I walked in and told him ‘My friend said you were looking for help,’” Monks said. “Dan said, ‘Great, you start tomorrow.’ It’s a cool place, creative and different. No two days were the same. There was no air conditioning, no heat. We’d run our hands under hot water to warm up. It wasn’t that bad, but it was rough.”

The excitement of not knowing what to expect day-to-day keeps Monks at Vahallan.

“There’s always a new obstacle or a new problem to solve. It’s going to dry too fast, or the paint’s not quite the right color,” he said. “It keeps you energized, knowing you’re gonna have something new to deal with every day.”

While his customers may primarily be located around the world, Nelson’s Husker State roots run deep when it comes to his team, with several artists and other employees being Nebraska natives.

Jared Schulze dips his hand into a bucket of paint, his mind flashing back to kindergarten as he runs his fingers across a blank canvas. The self-described “Hick from Hordville” spreads his fingers across a ten-foot-long blank canvas, creating custom-designed wallpaper. He’ll add paint to another four panels, eventually creating a 100-square-foot work of art that will hang on the wall of someone’s home.

The lead artist at Vahallan, Schulze sometimes pinches himself. He never thought of himself as a true artist. With no formal art training beyond high school, Schulze relied on his natural talent to succeed with Vahallan.

“I was just kind of always the creative one, the artistic one, in my class and my little town,” he said. “I had art class every year, even taking advanced art. There came a point where it’s like, ‘I don’t know if I’m really into this. What am I going to do with it?’”

In October 2007, that question was answered, and Schulze followed the road to Lincoln, leaving his family’s farm.

“It was early fall, I was picking up irrigation pipe with my dad and, you know, probably complaining about how badly the Huskers were doing, and a month-and-a-half later, I’m starting a 17-
year career. Professional finger painter,” Schulze said.

He found his niche with Vahallan, working alongside extremely talented artists. Today the company hires many of its artists from the University of Nebraska art school.

“It’s physical work; you’re working with your hands a lot,” Schulze said. “For me, it’s more about being detail oriented and creative than being a great artist.”

That sense of organization led to Schulze eventually becoming the Vahallan production manager, leading a team of eight artists. Schulze and his team have created tools to help them, such as a new finger-painting device that allows them to dip it into paint and apply it to the canvas, keeping their hands much cleaner. Just about anything becomes a tool for creating designs, from broom brushes to scrapers.

The team creates amazing pieces of wallpaper, each hand-painted with designs with the goal of matching one sheet to another.

Initially partnering with both interior designers and wallpaper hangers, Vahallan today works exclusively with interior designers. The designers will order one of the creations offered on Vahallan’s website. Artists paint the design, and the company sends it off to the customer, where the interior designer will have it applied to the wall. Sometimes, Vahallan will create specifically requested designs, Nelson said.

Reflecting on his career and the company he built, Nelson thinks back to the entrepreneurial class he took at Kearney State College his senior year. The class sparked his interest in owning his own business and he never looked back.