Tag: Wallpaper

Grisaille Wallpaper

I know what I want to do in the dining room. Problem is, I probably can’t.

Barnaba Fornasetti, Elle Decor

Sasha Bikoff, Domaine Home

The first design above is Fornasetti’s Nuvole mural, from Cole & Sons. The second features a hand-painted wallpaper design by de Gournay. There’s a reason you tend to see this style in high-end shelter magazines, and not, say, in the homes of bloggers. Grisaille wallpaper tends to be ridiculously, prohibitively expensive. The only relatively affordable version I’m aware of is the Etched Arcadia mural from Anthropologie, which I’ve wanted for a good two years now.

Anthropologie

Kristin Perers, House & Garden

I’ve thought a lot about the flow from room to room downstairs and determining where I’d like to go bold with color, where I want to be more restrained, and where I want to add pattern. I love the black walls in the second parlor, and an amazing wallpaper to play off of that in the dining room would be perfect.

I’d go for the Etched Arcadia Mural, but it’s only 9’x12′ and the ends don’t match up to form a repeating pattern. The design’s 9′ height would work in the dining room because the baseboards and ceiling beams shorten the 10′ vertical wall space by just enough, but the problem comes in from the 12′ length. Even the two shortest walls are a couple of inches too long, and the longer walls would definitely have a visible seam somewhere. I like the look of a framed out mural, but the room is chopped up with doorways and windows, so there isn’t a good blank wall for it.

I’ve been looking around the house, wondering if there’s an alternative spot that would work. Maybe the bathroom design goes in this direction instead of floral? That’s still a bit up in the air. As for the dining room though, I think it’s back to looking at more wallpaper options.

May 27, 2014
A Guess at the Plan for the Bathroom
A guess, because the design is tentatively based on the only design we can see from the upcoming line of wallpaper by Rifle Paper Co. for Hygge & West. There are more patterns to come in May!

The bathroom on the second floor is nice, just not to my taste. There is fruit-themed wallpaper, hunter green on a mottled tan background, with a green and maroon border, and a yellow faux-finish on the claw foot tub. The bones of the room are good though, and I’ve been happy to not do much in there until inspiration came along. Inspiration came along. Last Friday, I immediately started scheming up a design plan featuring the new wallpaper line.
1. Dean Stockwell in ‘The Boy with Green Hair,’ Art.com
  I’ve not seen the movie, but I love this as a photograph.
2. Rifle Paper Co. Wallpaper, Hygge & West
  I could easily work with this yellow and green design, but the full line will be out May 19 with more options.
3. My Bathroom
  Brass and antique fixtures, ahoy!
4. Brass Bathroom Waste Basket, Target
  Yep, more brass. I picked this up a while ago, so it’s already in the room.
5. Fleur-de-Lys Juice Glass, Anthropologie
  I moved all of the toothbrushes to the inside of the medicine cabinet, so I’m on the lookout for tumblers small enough to fit into the holders on the sink. These may be too delicate, but they are adorable.
6. Large Hicks Pendant, Circa Lighting
  I’m dying to use one in this house, and the bathroom could be the perfect spot. I do still have the small oval and brass pendant from Eleanor’s room though, which could be a good (free) option.
7. Row Stripe Towel, West Elm
  Stripes are always welcome.
8. Martini Side Table in Antique Brass, West Elm
  I bought this originally for the vintage bathroom in our first house and then didn’t use it there because the room was too small. The bathroom’s a little larger in this house though, and it fits perfectly.
9. Schoolhouse Numbered Hooks, Pottery Barn
  These are up, and you’ve seen them already because I used ’em to announce baby number three!
10. Pharmacy Accessories in Amber Glass, Restoration Hardware
  The sink has a built-in (unfortunately shell-shaped) spot for the soap, but I like the look of these for the room.
11. Painted Claw Foot Tub
  I’ll choose a color for the tub from the wallpaper, like this lovely green.
Two more months! I’m so eager to get started!
March 24, 2014
Wallpaper in August’s Room (A Cautionary Tale)

August’s room was already wallpapered with pale blue and white stripes when we bought the house. August is an awesome little boy, but he’s not the kind of kid we’d trust to be gentle with the walls. I’d planned to work with the wallpaper until it got trashed (in a few years?), then redecorate. I had already picked up some bedding for him six months ago, before we had even thought about moving, but look how great it looks with the stripes!

I bought a plain wooden bed from IKEA over the weekend, and I’m planning to upholster it myself. I’ve already ordered a few fabric samples, and I was excited about how cute his room is going to look. It’s not much yet and the furniture placement may change, but can you imagine it with that bedding and the bed done up in a great navy blue? So much potential!

We already had a brown rug and a brown corduroy glider, so I brought those into the room too. I know some may say that brown and blue is so ten+ years ago, but you know, in a kid’s room? Working with what we’ve already got? It’s not bad. Plus we were continuing the transition from crib to bed that we’d started with August up at the lake house, and I thought it might be comforting for him to have the familiar glider in his room.

Except my boy decided to speed along the wallpaper removal. Yesterday, I noticed a little hole about the size of a quarter, right in the middle of the wall. I didn’t think it was there before, but then I thought that maybe I had scraped it with the bed while I was assembling it? It was possible. I hoped August wouldn’t notice and that it wouldn’t get much worse.

It got much worse.

He called me in last night, about twenty minutes after I left his room and said good night. His blanket was messed up. I guess he didn’t think I’d take notice of the giant portion of peeled wallpaper?

I had to stifle my laughter. “August, no! You’re not supposed to do that.” “No, it’s OK,” he told me. “See?” He pointed to the space between the bed and the wall. He had been peeling the wallpaper and dropping it down there. Like, ‘hey mom, it’s OK. I’m being neat about it.’

Looks like we don’t have to work around the wallpaper anymore.

September 12, 2013
Eleanor Tenenbaum

E was with me a few days ago at the Chicago Kate Spade store, where they have Scalamandré zebra wallpaper in the bathroom. She loved it, and said that we should have it in our new house, so I asked if I could take her picture in front of it.

Nice pose, kid. Where have I seen… wait a minute.

Huh.

But she may be onto something. I mean, this is some seriously fantastic wallpaper, right? I put together a collection of my favorite bathrooms and powder rooms using the pattern (in red, and in other colorways too). Something to think about for the new house.

June 20, 2013
New Marais Chairs in the Dining Room

New chairs provided in part by Industry West.

I recently wrote elsewhere about the evolution of my dining room. Everything is always changing a little around here, and the latest big difference is that the dining room has new chairs. Woot! I switched out some of the pieces in my built-in hutch too. So long, all white; hello, pink and coral.

I still have the other chairs down in the basement because it feels wrong to break up the set. I love my vintage dining table, with its beautiful wood grain and modern trestle base, but the chairs weren’t working well for us. The kids were getting food all over the upholstery, and the wood was getting dinged up from too many run-ins with a toy stroller, a toy shopping cart, and too many toy cars. The cats were equally to blame for the chairs’ downfall too. The seats were constantly furry because they slept on them, and breaking out the vacuum every time you’d like to sit isn’t terribly practical.

I’d been considering new chairs for a long time, but hesitated because I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I like Eames chairs in a dining room, but I think my house has reached its Eames quota. I figured it was time for either plastic, bare wood (like these spindle/stick-back chairs), or metal.

I had contacted Industry West ages ago, with a proposal to work together on my basement studio. They provided four of their Marais A Side Chairs, which I’d intended to use as seating around my faux-Saarinen tulip table. I brought them up to the dining room on a whim one day though, and I really liked them around the wood dining table.

The chairs are narrower than the wooden ones we had, so I was able to add some additional seating around the dining table. I bought two more side chairs for the sides, and two arm chairs for the ends.

Yep, we like ’em. The chairs are good for crawling around between too, and for putting on puppet shows. You know, the important stuff.

November 28, 2012
Mini Terrarium and Fern Centerpiece

I made a terrarium last week that I will share with you soon, but this isn’t it. This is a little premade guy that I picked up at Sprout Home while I was gathering supplies to make my own. The fern was supposed to go inside the one I made too, but it was too big for the container so I’m trying it in the dining room. Apparently it’s a high maintenance plant, a lover of humidity that will require a daily mist. It is also particularly appealing to the cats, so I don’t think it’s going to last long. I’ve had that tree stump planter forever though, tucked away behind the computer on my desk, and it’s nice to give it center stage with a new plant in it.

And how many trends can I gather in one setting? If you were playing a decorating drinking game, you’d be pretty smashed! Birds, a terrarium, a tree stump (painted silver for a bonus!), an agate geode, a big hunk of rose quartz…

April 16, 2012