If You Keep It Around Long Enough....

It was almost like this but in beige and brown tones

     I was lurking around on the internet, checking out a few design oriented blogs (casasugar.com) when I learned definitively that wallpaper is back. I am so glad to know this. It makes me positively shiver with delight. While Summer Thornton makes mention of the dreadful 80's borders (yes, I even put up some of those -- primarily in my children's rooms), she forgets the fact that wallpaper was de rigueur in bathrooms and kitchens pretty much throughout the seventies and eighties. I guess she had not yet been born in the seventies so she didn't know this fact, and her mom probably had a savvy designer who told her these things so Summer didn't have to grow up staring at tacky wallpaper. Twenty-three years ago I did get the country wallpaper out of my kitchen when we moved into our current home. Some of you might remember those teeny tiny Little House on the Prairie inspired calico coordinated wallpapers. I am not sure that country was ever really "in." The previous owner had even bought those curvy wooden light switch plates so that everything coordinated nicely with her predominantly oak wood tones. I pulled the wallpaper down immediately and pitched those switchplate covers  

these went to the trash!

 into the trash. However, thinking back I realize that what I put up in its place was nearly as bad. I sponge painted (this was before we called it faux painting) the walls 

in a nice turquoise with peach, yes you got that, PEACH accents. I actually thought it looked pretty good at the time. The cabinets were white and the entire effect almost had a pseudo beachy feel -- remember that I am originally from Florida. Never mind that I have lived in a land-locked state for thirty-eight years now. But I digress.

   The issue is that I am still looking at bathroom wallpaper in my master bath that I installed twenty-three years ago. I paid what I thought was a fortune for it then, and the wallpaper hanger cursed me because he said that it was THE most difficult paper of his lifetime to hang. But he did a good job. No, he did an awesome job. Despite heat, humidity and a lifetime of wear and tear crammed into twenty-three years, the stuff is still faithfully adhering to the wall. When I soak in my tub I gaze longingly at the wallpaper and dream of transforming my space into something much more "current." I just never dreamed that I might be shopping for wallpaper again. It seems bizarre. I just don't know if I can do it. My Monet Water Lily inspired wallpaper has survived a great deal. I shot my budget then and I don't want to shoot my budget now. I am always thinking about simplifying my life....especially when I read about former students of mine like Karris Hudson down in Haiti. I think Mr. Faux Monet might just have to hang around a bit longer, 

my background is more green than blue and is a different pattern, 
but this is close enough to give you the general idea!

which is okay since Summer tells me herself (see below) that "Wallpaper is back with a vengeance!" Sophisticated and chic. That's so me. Yeah. Right.     



Wallpaper is back with a vengeance! It's probably the most impactful way to make a statement in a room. We all remember those horrific ceiling borders from the '80s, but wallpapers have really evolved in the last few years. You can get modern prints, vintage prints, metallic prints, graphic prints, and in every color imaginable. You can even get hand painted silk wallpapers if you're so inclined.

One of the best things about wallpapers is that they can introduce a bold color but temper it with other mild colors. With wall paint you're usually forced into just one wall color, with wallpaper you can find unique color patterns that add depth and boldness without being overwhelming. For example, if you're wanting to introduce a bold blue through the walls it might look childish in paint, but with wallpaper it can look sophisticated and chic.

courtesy of casasugar.com