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A moody floral bathroom
There are areas in your home you just aren’t super proud of and neglect. For me, that was my own bathroom in the hallway. Guests are directed to use the guest bathroom in the garden room which is guest ready and pretty! I would be mortified when I found out any guest (even my own best friends) would use my bathroom because it was just so boring and didn’t reflect me or create any ambiance, something I wasn’t proud of. I believe we should be proud of our spaces.
It’s been nearly 12 years and I finally knew what I wanted to do with my bathroom!
A big thanks to my friends at DecoratorsBest.com for supplying the pretty vinyl wallpaper from Brewster Home. The wallpaper I chose is called Brewster Home Fashions Asa Whimsical Trail Blue Wallpaper.
It also comes in an ivory background, but you know I like a mood. This is my third dark wallpaper in our home! See the mudroom and the guest bathroom. Last week I spent 12 hours in one day on my feet going up and down a step ladder hanging this gorgeous vinyl wallpaper! The second day I began hanging and nailing artwork on the walls which was made me nervous but I did it!
This vinyl wallpaper is VERY affordable, and the most affordable one yet. I showed it to a woman at an antique store and she said, “Is that a Schumacher wallpaper?” which is a very high compliment when it comes to designer wallpaper.
I told her, “No! It’s actually incredibly affordable and it’s vinyl!” I was happy it could fool someone who knows antiques into thinking it was a designer. I used 3 rolls total for this space, but had 4 — always order more especially since dye lots vary so if you ever need to repair you have the right color match.
This was my first time installing vinyl wallpaper and I will say this – it can bubble when you install but calm down, if you see it and can’t smooth it, give it a day. The air will probably escape (or it’s really just the glue that will dry out) and then flatten out. I hang wallpaper myself because I know someone is going to mess it up somewhere along the line and it may as well be me. It also teaches me to let things go, makes me aware I am not very good at being a perfectionist and how my laziness will show in the end result. Needless to say hanging wallpaper repeatedly teaches me a lot about myself.
^^ I found this little stool at Brass Armadillo for $16! The metallic top is a peel and stick wallpaper I had leftover from my master closet dressing room. I save everything for random projects like these. It gave it a cleaner look and made me feel like it was clean. I had scrubbed it in the sink and I put rubber foot grips on the bottom so it won’t slide off. This might make people nervous but we don’t have kids and I promise it’s pretty bump proof.
I found the wood brackets recently at Antique Gatherings for $39 for the pair (similar here)! Then I moved over the metal flower wall art (also comes in a black background) from Ballard Designs (use this link to get $50 off over $200) from my office to the bathroom. It never really looked right in my office anyway.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put porcelain birds on the shelves or what else I could put there, but when I saw these metal Bunny Williams Floral Specimens I thought this was it! The theme would be florals. Plus, if something fell off the wall it would have a good durability rate to not smash into a million pieces. You can’t really see it that well which makes me wonder…but Benjamin says you can definitely see it once you get in. I didn’t want anything too distracting but we will see what I decide to do. Perhaps I spray paint the bases so they stand out or spray the entire flower. I have learned live with it for a while until you decide what to do next. I just hope it won’t be another 12 years. Just kidding.
Now if we’re being honest, you start with one thing like a new wallpaper which then leads you to swap out the light fixtures! But I’m thankful I just moved things around and the only things that were new were the wall brackets and metal flowers. I was giving this space a facelift, not a renovation, so I kept everything else, nothing was wrong with my tile or vanity and mirrors from The Home Depot over a decade ago. The brown also looked so great with the wallpaper, so many colors tying everything together. Also though, have you seen the price of mirrors?? Oh my! I have two in my storage shed/photo studio but not a pair, so I kept these old ones.
I knew I needed new light fixtures because I wasn’t crazy about what I had in the chrome. I would pick polished nickel over chrome for its warmth if I were to pick today. Now the dark wallpaper does make the bathroom much darker and so do the lampshades I got, but I don’t mind. Sometimes less lighting is better haha, but also I’m not performing surgery in my bathroom.
Oh yeah, I also bought these floral frames…but I didn’t buy it for the bathroom I just woke up one morning and thought, hey I want to buy those botanical prints I saw a few weeks ago so let’s go back and see if they are there. It was $115 for the pair! I think that’s a great deal!
I have a similar set in the guest bathroom too, but they are just a wee bit smaller. I also got them for much cheaper, like $20 each I think at a cute little trailer estate sale. Before inflation. Those were the days. Anyway…
This is the Peyton 1-Light Wood Sconce which comes in three finishes: painted white, a painted blue and a natural light oak. There are also a ton of different shade options too! If you are going to buy a few, use this link to save $50. I ordered three but one came in the wrong color, but thankfully customer service was great and they sent another one right away expedited shipping.
This bathroom, my bathroom in the hallway, has been neglected for so long. It hadn’t been touched since the remodel I did before I moved into the house, it hasn’t been touched other than changing the walls from a dark gray to white. It’s been waiting for something to happen and I was finally ready.
I had asked my girl gang in Vegas which they liked of the wallpaper samples I showed them and all agreed this blue floral bird print was very me. A concern was it would make my bathroom darker or look smaller.
Here’s the thing – I never worry about spaces looking smaller. We have to kill the idea of making rooms look bigger because bigger doesn’t mean anything, at least not to me. The way you arrange furniture can make a room feel bigger but leaving a room plain for the sake of it looking bigger is boring to me. So, I tend to gravitate toward character and I believe your room size is your room size. Nothing you do is really going to make it feel bigger, I mean at least not more than a few square feet anyway, so don’t be shy to just do what you want!
Here’s the before of my bathroom (when everything is clean and put away for a photo which is not the daily reality):
Such a difference, right? I hope it encourages you to look at your blank walls and give them a makeover with wallpaper. I hope I didn’t scare you with the 12 hour wallpaper day I had but it was worth it! My rooms don’t boast any unique architectural details so they are just little white boxes and so since it lacks detail, wallpaper is a great way to bring personality to the spaces.
YouTube videos will share with you how to wallpaper just remember to add a wallpaper primer (and tint it if possible to hide seams) and a paste the wall is the easiest method, and lots of new fresh razor blades! If you want to read my post about hanging wallpaper, click here.
Product links:
- Wallpaper: Brewster Home Fashions Asa Whimsical Trail Blue Wallpaper c/o DecoratorsBest.com
- Peyton 1-Light Wood Sconce – from Ballard Designs (use this link to get $50 off over $200)
- Wall sconces: Antique Gatherings (similar brackets here)
- Metal flower wall art in frames (also comes in a black background) from Ballard Designs (use this link to get $50 off over $200)
- Bunny Williams Floral Specimens – from Ballard Designs (use this link to get $50 off over $200)
- Vanity and mirrors, The Home Depot, old
- Drawer knobs, CB2
- Tile, The Home Depot
- Vintage framed botanical prints: Antique Gatherings
And because I took images of it at night with the lights on I wanted to share those — they don’t show up too well in a photo even with my amazing camera skills (wink) but they give a mood and I wanted to share anyway! I feel like I am in a swanky hotel or restaurant bathroom! It’s now one of my favorite rooms to be in at night and unwinding to get ready for bed feels like such a treat.
Conclusion
Wallpaper is labor intensive but the reward is so great and worth it. I look at it like a large mural. How often are we repainting our rooms anyway? And sometimes paint is just…well paint. Wallpaper is divine, just make sure you absolutely LOVE it with all the labor that goes into it and cost.
Find your new wallpaper project at DecoratorsBest.com – Use code DIANAELIZABETH_ for 10% off your entire order!
I have to more wallpaper projects, but they won’t be done for a while but summer is long so I’ll get to it all eventually since I’ll be indoors. Let me know what you think!
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WOW! This is REALLY selling me on that paper! Your styling is killer , I especially love the floral samples. What a gorgeous reveal. Again, thanks for the 10% off.