I love it. It’s exactly what I’ve wanted since we first decided to buy this house, and I even chose one of the wallpapers I was originally considering.
Here’s a completely empty ‘before’ shot:
And a nice ‘after’ to compare it to:
Wallpapering a house that’s almost 100 years old (while being five months pregnant) wasn’t exactly the easiest project we’ve done. I wouldn’t say that it was hard, just very time-consuming. It probably took us about 15 hours, but we’re so proud of the job we’ve done.
I had ordered 4 yards of pink upholstery fabric on eBay for $10, so I used that on the chairs and along the back of the built-in hutch.
I love the way the living and dining rooms work together.
So happy!
88 comments
Becca
I just discovered your blog and was amazed to see the print in your dining room of the woman sitting at a cake-covered table with an eager-looking seal gazing up at her. There is a small French bakery in my town that has the same print on their wall. I have loved it for years and hoped (without) success to find out who the artist is, or where I could find a print. If you had any information on it, I would be thrilled to know! Thanks!
Making it Lovely
The print is by I’m Smitten!
Becca
Thank you so much!
Meredith
Where did youu get that wallpaper??
Amie Hartman
Oh so gorgeous! I wish my DH would give me such creative license and allow more pink in our home! Great job!
Adriana
I love your place, love the paper in your DR
Jems by Judye
Wall paper looks fabulous! Lovely dining room.
Holly
I’m in love with the chair in your living room! I’ll have to read a few more posts to see where it came from….
lori
oh my, where did you get that gorgeous chair in your living room? If you upholstered it yourself, do you still have the info on the fabric?
it’s **lovely**
melody yesterday
i know about wonky walls from having fixed-up “the unfixable” 1870’s nightmare house.But my mom (r.i.p.) was no stranger to hanging wallpaper & did several of my walls “for fun!” (UG! if you can imagine!)
These were SO BAD,rough plaster,holes left from years worth of “wall art”
but she did 1 wall a day before lunch.She told me she LOVED hanging wallpaper because when she was a kid each house they lived in (& there were many) 1 of the 1rst things her mom did was wallpaper!
hmmm
well MY old walls were lopsided due to someone doing a BAD BAD job of jacking up the floor from the basement throwing it off a LOT – it really messed everything up : doors were off kilter- HUGE mess.
But as I recall she she told me once about decorating
“don’t be stingy with paper paint or fabric”
meaning too often to conserve a little curtains were wrong or pinching back in another way it looked “cheap”
So those 3 things were things to definatly not be stingy about.
She cut 3 strips of paper at a time measuring out the length of the longest of the wonkiness & after it was cut rolled out the next & cut it from the first (not using the measuring tape after the first one)
& the 3rd one the same.
so the next 2 strips were longer than the 1rst due to the wonkiness (great word by the way THANKS)
but easily trimmed & tucked.
SHE WAS FAST
I miss mom
I have almost 1/4th of my kitchen at a new place papered realizing I never WAS & never will be MOM (this time unfortunatly)
bungalowbliss
I’m not usually a fan of wallpaper, but this is gorgeous! What a fun pattern! You guys did a wonderful job.
I love that you have picture rails in your living room, too. It’s a nice little visual extra.
NANCY
I love to see creative re-dos of old places without completely ripping them out! Nice use of wallpaper.
Jana May
Ack! It looks totally amazing!
Nice job!
rachel
that pillow on your couch is just what i have been looking for. it is the exact palette of my living room. wherever did you get it?
Sallie
I totally covet that chair from Anthropologie!
Caitlin
It looks so great!! I love how the chandelier looks with everything else.
Katy
Where did you get the fabric in the living room? I love it.
Michelle
LOVE your whole house! I recently moved into my first apartment, and found your blog looking for decorating ideas. I love your style. WHERE did you get the really cool green *things” in the vase on your tv stand. MUST HAVE! :)
Jenny
oh! it’s just beautiful! you did a wonderful job. do you find that the “nesting” is kicking in even more now that you are expecting? i am big into decorating and when i was pregnant with (our now 6 year old) son, i felt like it kicked in even more, awesome! maybe it never went away after that too… :)
Diane
Oh my! Now that’s what I call Making it Lovely! Absolutely beautiful. I love how the wallpaper plays off of the pink paint in the living room.
terry
Hi Nicole,
I think your taste is usually fantastic, but I have to say that I don’t like the wallpaper and thought it looked better before.
Your website is great though!
coral
this turned out just perfect. With all the swoops and whorls it reminds of the old-fashioned grandma style wallpaper you find in older homes, only brought way up in scale and modernized with less detail, new colors.
Looks great!
Sade
I just love the wallpaper’s print!
JLC
Love!
Collette
Your dining room looks fantastic! I absolutely love it!
teresa
So pretty!!! I just love how your home has so much personality and individuality.
Cheryl
this is absolutely GORGEOUS. let me know when you start designing other peoples homes!!
Flyleaf Books
I love it, too! Nicely done!
kay*
what a fantastic job – everything is lined up so nicely – a total professional job!
Nadine
Making it Lovely, indeed!
I love your dining room. So much. That wallpaper is just pure joy plastered on the walls.
Lynne
I love that red chair – what a great fabric.
joyce
It looks so pretty! I think the pink fabric really makes the whole thing sing.
Jessica
Hi! I just recently discovered your blog and awesome style! The wallpaper is gorgeous and I can’t wait to see the rest of your nursery!
calipdia
i cant resist… i have to comment and say its really really amazing.. so nice! so great! i envy :) love it love it love it… :)
emma
This is a dream! Love, love, love the wall paper and the pink! I have recently realized my true love for pink and now you have inspired me.
amy purple
It looks so nice! I love the wallpaper you picked out.
Sara
Oh, your wallpaper is gorgeous. It DOES flow perfectly into your other rooms. Great work!
Lisa
Wow I knew all your hard work would pay off. the place looks fantastic!
Great Job
Take care,
Lisa
Susan
It looks beautiful! The living room/dining room looks so cozy and inviting.
Making it Lovely
Kathryn, thanks! Love ya too.
(Kathryn’s my cousin!)
Kathryn Wohlfeil
Nicole, your house is beautiful and amazing, just like you! Can I come live there? Or can you come here and give me some design tips? My gosh, my house is like a blank slate…you have done wonders with your home.
Love ya.
Joanna
I LOVE this wallpaper! Great job!
Making it Lovely
Brandon’s fine with pink. :)
melissa
it’s adorable but your husband doesn’t mind all the pink?
Kylie
Oh gosh, now I desperately want that wallpaper even more than I did before! You guys have both done an amazing job, I love it all. And the flow from room to room works so well. :)
Costume Diva
Love it! I am so jealous of that built in hutch, too.
blair
This is my first visit to your blog and it is truly lovely. Your home is beautiful and that wallpaper is stunning!
georgia
Wow, it looks sooo beautiful! I particularly enjoy the coherence of styles from the living room to the dining room.
Hope your little amazon, inherits your talents :)
b.t.w. Your hair is VERY nice like that!
marlene
i just got back from a road trip with limited internet and your site is the first i wanted to catch up on now that i am back in the real world. congrats on having a girl and finishing the wallpaper. woohoo!!!
Brandi H.
Thank you… I looked at the instructions; however, my chairs have a curve, more than a straight corner. I think that is a little harder. I will try and find something by googling it. Thanks for your help however.
Making it Lovely
This is pretty much how I did my chairs (though I skipped the extra batting): The Lazy Upholsterer’s Guide.
Brandi H.
This room looks gorgeous! Congrats. It does coordinate with the living room great. Could I ask you a question…. I am in the process of recovering my dining room chairs. First time I have ever done it. I noticed that you did yours, and mine really look very similar. I have done two already, there are six. They just aren’t turning out smooth… like yours look. I tend to have “bunched up” fabric that I can’t get to look straight and smooth. Is there any tips or pointers you could throw my way to help?? Maybe the length of fabric I am leaving to staple, the way I am doing corners may be wrong. Not sure. Thank you.
Carol
Well done!
Making it Lovely
The cord that I use has wire in it, so it’s easy to loop it over the hook and then wrap it around itself a few times so it stays.
Elissa
Thanks! I’ll have to try it for my own picture rails. We’ve been in our house for over two months and still don’t have a single picture on the walls. Did you just tie the cord to the hook at the top?
Still loving that wallpaper…
Erin
This turned out SO AMAZING! I really like the paper on the wall and it works so well with the colors in your dining room. The recovered chairs look really nice as well.
Sarah
*swoooon*
Cindy
Congrats on finishing the wallpaper. I really love this paper. The whole finished project, looks great!!
Making it Lovely
Thanks, everyone!
Elissa, I just painted the picture rail to match the woodwork. It’s so thin and up so high, you just see it as matching the rest of the woodwork and assume it’s stained rather than painted – much easier. And I attached the cord for each of the pictures to the wire along the back of the pictures that stretches from end to end (kind of like an upside-down ‘T’ shape if you flip them over and look at the backs).
Elissa
It looks beautiful! I love the balance of pattern and solids. I have a couple of questions. did you strip the paint off of the picture rail, if so, how hard was it to do? Also, I love the way you have hung your art with just a single vertical wire instead of having a “triangle” where the wire goes from a corner of the frame over the hook to the other corner. How did you attach it to look this way?
Catherine
It looks awesome!! I can’t believe you did all that work and while 5 months pregnant! Congrats on the wonderful success of your efforts :) Do you still have the black and white rug that was in the dining room? I think it would look stellar with the new wallpaper. Or this one is awfully fun ;)
http://www.rugstudio.com/index.asp?pageaction=viewprod&ProdID=28266&dc=frg
megan
Oh my, I absolutely love your space! Those colors really do blend together flawlessly-and I love that armchair! I need you to come over and makeover my apartment!
luuve
super cute! and it doesn’t even look TOO girly…its just a really nice display of colors and accessories! really good…
congrats!
Sarah S
I love it! Question for you – how do you get your husband to go for so much pink in the house? I think mine would have issues…
lori
very, very cool. love it. wish i had the patience to wallpaper. i don’t know if i have it in me.
Kerri
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!! I adore it and you’ve made me fall in love with wallpaper – something I’ve always run from.
j
It looks great! I love how you use pink in your rooms…it works so well without being too overwhelmingly girly or juvenile.
Cait e A
gosh! golly! you’re house is just too beautiful! i love all the little touches you put to it. the dining room turned out just lovely. congrats!
koehmstedt
Wow! That is so beautiful. I love the dark divider you have along the walls up towards the ceilings, it makes the rooms look even taller.
molly
It’s beautiful Nicole! The wallpaper is the perfect choice!
jayne
I LOVE your house! The wallpaper is great, and the living room does go together with the dining room really nicely. At first, I wondered how you got the paint on the back of the hutch to exactly match the chair upholstery, then when I read further I learned your backed the hutch with the same fabric. What a good idea.
Julie Anne
You should be proud. The finished effect is fabulous!
Caroline
Just fabulous.
ruby
just adore these rooms! the pink is just… perfect. soft, dusky pinks are probably my favourite at the moment.
*sigh* oh to have a house to decorate :)
Swiss Miss
WOW! You have created every (creative) woman’s dream dining room!
I am personally a fan of white woodwork, but I’m really impressed that you have resisted painting the woodwork and are keeping everything original. You have such an amazing eye, but manage to preserve the integrity of your house. Are you available hire?! LOL.
Jenny
Wow! I agree with you. The flow from your living room to dining room is just beautiful!
I am crazy over your whole house. You have amazing taste and a great talent for pulling things together!
Thanks for sharing with us!
dana
drooling all down my chin, dear! and feeling inspired… thank you so much!
xo
dana in bc
Paula
It’s just lovely. You have such an eye for these things; the wallpaper is gorgeous and the pink is the perfect color with it. Congrats on finishing your dining room!
Caitlin
Nicole it looks gorgeous! You’re whole house is such an inspiration and I can’t wait to start decorating mine!
N.
It looks beautiful. You have wonderful taste.
Kealoha
Wow, that’s lovely- congratulations on a fantastic job finished in time to enjoy over the holidays! How I wish I weren’t renting….sigh.
Making it Lovely
Thanks, mom!
your mother
Oh, Nicole. It’s beautiful!
Comments are closed.