Dining Room

Hoping for a Productive Weekend

We have rolls and rolls of wallpaper for the dining room just sitting on a closet shelf. The dining room needs to be primed with wallpaper sizing first – not sure if I should be doing that. We have all of the supplies though… I’ve been tempted to just start the project already.

Fabric & Wallpaper

Have any of you hung wallpaper? I’m trying to convince Brandon that we should do it this weekend, but he wants to wait until his mom is in for Thanksgiving because she’s done it before. Sounds good, except we have a photo shoot coming up (yay!). I’m not sure when it will be exactly, but I know it will be soon and I would like the dining room to be finished in time.

Plus I’m sick of looking at the dining room with its one little section of green wall. It’s been that way since, oh, March.

ZigZag Chair Fabric

I think I’ll get the pink fabric on the chairs at least. We have five chairs with green fabric and one with the green zigzags in the photo. Again, since March. Awesome.

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  • tm
    November 19, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    if you are feeling up to it, i would get as much done while you can. eventually you will be too big to do things. and then when the baby comes. everything changes. :) i have never hung wallpaper, but if the primer has a strong odor, i would steer clear of it. or where a respirator and keep it well ventilated. good luck, its going to be cute!

  • Shannon
    November 19, 2008 at 3:33 pm

    Wallpaper isn’t too tough. I haven’t helped with it in a long time, but my mom used to re-wallpaper at least one room of our house each year while I was growing up… back in the 90s when people put different papers on the top and bottom halves of the walls and a border in the middle! Lol. But really, it’s not difficult at all. Just dive in.

    I don’t even remember the fumes being bad, but of course you want to be far more cautious with your bun in the oven. The paste had a smell, but it wasn’t a harsh or chemical smell really. Just distinctive.

  • Amber
    November 19, 2008 at 3:36 pm

    I hate wall papering. My mom made my dad and I wallpaper several rooms in their home (she couldn’t because she had cancer at the time). I hate putting wallpaper up, I hate taking wallpaper down.

    It sucks!!!!!!

  • Kathleen
    November 19, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    Love the bird wallpaper! I’ve never wallpapered before and am a little afraid of it. I would love to see your pics when it’s done.

  • Casamacho
    November 19, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    That wallpaper is great. I’ve never put up wallpaper so I’m not help but I can’t wait to see it up on your walls so I say get started this weekend!

  • Never teh Bride
    November 19, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    I actually LOVE the zigzag fabric on that chair!

  • Cindy
    November 19, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    I helped my mom with wallpaper before. Mind you, I think we used the pre-glued kind that you just had to get wet… but I know I used the TSP (removal stuff) and don’t remember it being too bad or toxicy.

    Love the wallpaper and fabric choices – too cute!!

  • Benita
    November 19, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    It’s not too difficult. You being so creative and hands on can do it! Keep the pattern repeat in mind and you’ll be fine!

  • Erin
    November 19, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    If you are putting up wallpaper I would say just go on and do it. The best advice I could give is put the adhesive on the wall not the paper. Good luck on the photo shoot.

  • Tatyana
    November 19, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    It’s going to look awesome! I’m not big on wallpaper – probably because I think of the 80’s and 90’s ones or the over-countrified dinning rooms with flowerily motifs… But, your choices of wallpaper are making me start liking it.
    On another note – I am so envious of the great DR chairs you have. You said thrift store? Where I live, in CA, anything at a thrift store or craigslist looks like crap… and if it’s anything decent it sells for big bucks. Maybe I should move to IL… :)

  • Nicole Balch
    November 19, 2008 at 7:38 pm

    Oh, most of the good stuff here sells for big bucks too. I got very lucky with the dining room set… the table and six chairs for $350!

  • Sam
    November 19, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    um, not to disagree with anyone else, but it is actually helpful to have someone who’s hung wallpaper before to help you…matching patterns, getting the bubbles out, etc…it really does take two people and you’re a better woman than I if you decide to tackle it while expecting :)
    Good luck if you decide to go for it..I actually had a whole dining room of wallpaper fall off the walls once!

  • Laura
    November 19, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Have to agree with Sam. Not an easy job alone, especially nearly five months’ pregnant. I’ve hung wallapaper several times, and the best time I ever had with it was when I had a a friend to work with me, and a “wallpaper bench” someone lent me (yes, they actually had one). It was just a big, flat surface, one you wouldn’t mind getting water or glue on, to make cutting and rolling out the paper easier, but it was definitely an asset.

  • Kirsten
    November 19, 2008 at 11:26 pm

    Not only have I wallpapered before, I used to work in a wallpaper store, and I do have to agree with Sam and Laura – wait until you have some help, especially since you’re a first-timer and preggers.

    Good luck, and I can’t wait to see pics when it’s done!

  • alivicwil
    November 20, 2008 at 1:58 am

    hey! you’re ‘real people’ after all :)
    I’m amazed at how many thing you’ve been able to do to your home since you moved in – It’s nice to know that you haven’t finished everything :D

  • Anna @ D16
    November 20, 2008 at 10:36 am

    I’ve done my fair share of wallpapering, and while it’s not open heart surgery, I would NEVER attempt to do it alone.

    Also, the wallpaper paste is fine (read the label to be sure, depending on the brand), but NO priming while pregnant! Good wallpaper primer is stinky stuff, and it’s not a step you should skip if you (or anyone) ever want to be able to easily remove the wallpaper at some point in the future.

    By the way, unless the wallpaper is of the newer “non-woven” variety (and labeled as such), you can’t put the paste on the wall. You really do have to brush it onto the paper itself and let it sit for few minutes so the paper can absorb some of the glue. Otherwise, you’ll be looking at peeling corners in a few months’ time!

  • leslie
    November 20, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    The bird wallpaper is gorgeous. I’ve always wanted to wallpaper but we’re renting now so I must wait… Please post photos when it’s finished!

  • Marybeth
    November 20, 2008 at 1:17 pm

    Give yourself a break, you’re pregnant! I think you’ve accomplished a fantastic amount of things since you moved into your house. It’s hard to not get everything done, but you should rest and put your feet up so you keep feeling healthy!

  • Marybeth
    November 20, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Give yourself a break, you’re pregnant! I think you’ve accomplished a fantastic amount of things since you moved into your house. It’s hard to not get everything done, but you should rest and put your feet up so you keep feeling healthy!

  • Rebekah at EAD Living
    November 20, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    Any great online resources for wallpaper?

  • cassie
    November 20, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    yeah, good question, where did you buy that wallpaper, I love it!!

  • Nicole Balch
    November 20, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    Walnut Wallpaper is an excellent source for wallpaper, though I bought mine from Velocity Art and Design when they put it on clearance a while back.

  • Michelle Hinckley
    November 20, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    I’m in the process of ordering my first rolls of wallpaper ever. It’s totally vogue now to wallpaper but I’m terribly intimidated by it. I even went so far as to imitate wallpaper by taping my whole wall up with a really cool modern patter but when I pulled the tape off it was disaster city! So I bagged it and am going to wallpaper over the whole thing. I love your wallpaper choice. It is so you! Where did you get it? Good luck to both of us! -Michelle (www.windhula.blogspot.com)

  • Sherry
    November 20, 2008 at 6:11 pm

    Impending photoshoot?! Yay. Can’t wait to see it. We pored over your spread in Home so we can only imagine how swanky this one will be. Fingers crossed that they bring in lots of flowers and leave you lots of free stuff.

    xoxo,

    Sherry (& John)
    http://www.thisyounghouse.com

  • i suwannee
    November 21, 2008 at 10:49 am

    i just paid a dude to do our basement – only $150! and he was in and out in 2 hours.

    well worth it.