This week was all about the small things. Since we are at a standstill until the cabinets come, I wanted to get all my ducks in a row and plan how I was going to style the room. You know, in hopes of not being a wild woman the last week or so of the challenge.

There are three main walls that need to be addressed. My approach was to make an elevation of each wall with the appropriate accessories. This will allow me to (hopefully) quickly put the room together when it’s time. I’m starting to feel the squeeze of the challenge and question whether everything will be done in time.

As a reminder, here is the floor plan of the room with labeled walls. I styled walls A, B and C.

Wall A

Wall A is where the chair, table, and swing arm sconce will be hung. Sadly, the chair won’t arrive until October, so for the reveal, I’ll use the white chair that was there before. The Studio McGee Threshold table will be next to it. The elevation shows the swing arm light, but we’re not going to install it until the new chair arrives.

The main feature on this wall is a large DIY rope art that I made months ago. I was inspired by the art that I saw in Coastal Blues (see below). Quick side note – Coastal Blues is an interior design book by Phoebe Howard. The book has so many inspiring interiors, but the art and wall decor really shine!

I wanted to create something that was a little more defined, so I thought of a snail. It would have that same center spiral that I like about the original art but be unique to me. You’ll have to wait for the full reveal to see the art. The mock-up has the original art that I was inspired by.

I already planned on styling the chair with the pillow I sewed last week and a throw that I already have. In everyday life, the tabletop will be empty, but I’ll add some books and flowers to create a feeling of life for the photos.

The table’s bottom shelf will be styled with a catch all basket.

Wall B

I was originally intimidated by this wall. It’s large and very empty. This will be the main wall I look at while working, so of course, I want it to be pretty. The computer monitor will go here and this area will be the primary workspace. For some reason, I felt a lot of pressure to do something big with this blank wall. However, after thinking about the options, I decided to keep it simple. I’ll add a pencil cup and desktop organizer to the desk and keep the wall blank. Of course, we’ll see if the walls need anything once the room is put together, but I’m happy to let the beautiful wallpaper take center stage here.

Wall C

The main area to design here was the open shelving. It’s a combination of storage (magazine files and document boxes) and decorative items (pretty bookends and picture frames). I doodled a rough sketch of the design in my notebook then I went shopping. I had a general idea of what I was looking for (pretty storage boxes, a vessel, picture frames, etc), but I was pretty open to what the actual aesthetic of the item would be. I just knew that it had to go with the color scheme and be something I liked.

Another important part of this wall is the art. I decided to lean the art against the wall for now. It feels casual and I like that I can slowly add more in the future. I only got one piece matted and framed. I’m hoping to squeeze the second one in this week.

As always, check out the other guest participants and the featured designers to see updates on their projects!

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I spent 10 hours wallpapering on Saturday with only a few essential breaks (lunch and to get more wallpaper paste). The result, so far, is really good.

The wallpaper pattern has a slight sheen to it. You can’t really tell in the picture above, but when light hits those parts it looks shiny. In the picture below, the light creates little ripples or waves on the wallpaper. The wallpaper is perfectly flat (no bubbling, folding, or waving). This is purely due to the light and the sheen of the wallpaper.

Sadly, I ran out of wallpaper after we completed 3/4 of the room. I’m bummed this happened…I used the wallpaper calculator and everything! The wallpaper budget is starting to really add up. It may become the second most expensive thing in the room (cabinets are the first). We had a couple of pieces of wallpaper that were discarded because, well, I screwed up. We (my husband and I) cut a corner piece on the wrong edge (doh) and another corner piece looked pretty wrinkled, so I threw it away. Hindsight, I probably could have saved it.

The rest of the wallpaper is due to arrive Monday. The plan is to tackle it sometime during the week, so our weekly schedule doesn’t get off course. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

More Wallpaper Youtube Videos

Last post, I shared a couple of the Youtube videos I watched to prepare for wallpapering. I found a couple more that would be helpful.

Trade Professional’s Guide to Wallpaper Decorating: One of the most informative videos I’ve found. You’ll feel really wallpaper smart after watching it. While they talk about installation, I found the background information and common issues segment the most interesting and helpful.

How to wallpaper corners: I usually try to keep things PG, but wallpapering around corners sucks. My number one takeaway from this experience is f*ck the corners. This video gives you the general process of how to wallpaper the corner of the room. I have my own tips for this below and a silly cartoon about the experience. Please enjoy.

Tips & Tricks for Paste-The-Wall Wallpapering

1. Have an excellent laser level. Jer and I bought this laser lever, and we couldn’t be happier. We used it multiple times when wallpapering (to start each wall, basically).
2. Corners, Oye. We followed the directions on how to wallpaper corners. You should really watch the video or look at the cartoon for the general process. Here’s the thing that you need to know – nothing is ever perfectly straight. The walls and the corners are not straight. Lining up BOTH the pattern in the corner and having a straight piece of paper was not working no matter how much we tried (and we messed with the first corner for three hours). We finally decided the most important thing was to have a straight edge to start the new wall. So, basically, the corner would look how it looked, and I was not having any feelings about it. We used the laser level to set the straight line (we had to adjust it once or twice to ensure there weren’t any gaps in the corner). After we prioritized the straight line, it worked out well. The corners look fine for the most part. Since there is distortion from the corner, it can hide some of the imperfections. If you look at the first photo in the post, you can see the corner looks just fine. Bottom Line: Prioritize having a straight edge on the new wall.
3. Keep a wet towel and dry towel with you at all times. Every video I watched said it’s better to use MORE adhesive than not enough. This leads to a ton of glue accumulating on your wallpaper smoother. If you don’t clean this off, you’ll be spreading the glue all over your paper. Yes, you’ll wipe the paper down with a wet sponge, but it’s better not to make a huge mess in the first place. If my smoother got glue on it, I would quickly wipe it off with my wet towel and then dry it before using it again. I cleaned the wet towel whenever I changed my water (see below).
4. Change your bucket of water frequently. After watching the trade professionals video (linked above), I learned leaving any glue on your paper will create shiny spots. Likewise, if you don’t keep your water/sponge free of glue, you could create a big mess (you’ll basically be spreading the glue all over the wallpaper when you are trying to clean it). I changed the water every 3-4 sheets of wallpaper. That may have been excessive, but I don’t see any shiny spots so far, so I think it worked.
5. Have a Buddy: Paste-the-wall wallpaper is pretty easy, and I think one person can do it alone. However, having my husband there to help was super nice. If I became frustrated or needed a minute to step away, Jer could jump in (and vice versa). I’ve found that wallpapering requires patience and attention to detail. By having another person present, you guarantee someone will have the bandwidth to maintain the needed attention. It’s also nice when you have to cut the paper and generally makes it more fun.
6. Add a little water to the adhesive if it gets too thick: I noticed that the adhesive was getting thick after a couple of hours. This made it difficult to spread on the walls. If I added a small amount of water, it made it liquid enough to apply easily.
7. New at this? Order 25% more than you need. Wallpaper is expensive and that motivated me to order just what I needed, but I should have accounted for the novice factor and assumed I would make mistakes.

Final Thoughts On Wallpaper

One of the things that I saw over and over again when reading about wallpaper is most manufacturers recommend a professional installer. I get it because some papers are much more difficult to work with and the paper is so expensive. My opinion is with non-woven, paste-the-wall types it’s totally DIYable. I’ve already purchased wallpaper for the laundry room and it’s prepasted. We’ll see if I remain as optimistic with this type. 🙂

As always, check out the other guest participants and the featured designers to see updates on their projects!

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8

Last weekend we demoed the office and prepped it for all the new stuff (floors! wallpaper!). It now looks like this:

An almost blank canvas. You can check out week 1 and the full design plan here.

Painting Wood Trim

I also painted the trim/casing. My advice for anyone painting wood trim is to sand it with a sanding block. I know other DIYers recommend a liquid de-glosser instead of sanding, but in my experience, the sanding block does a much better job of roughing up the wood and the paint adheres better. It gives a much more durable finish and you’ll be happy you don’t have to touch up your baseboards once a year. We painted the trim with Behr Ultra White Enamel gloss. It’s a bright white and provides good contrast with most paint colors, especially if you paint the room white or off-white. As a reminder, here is what the room and trim looked like when we purchased the house.

I spent the rest of my weekend researching how to hang wallpaper. I picked the Alma by Cole & Son (buff & gold) wallpaper. You may remember a while ago; I posted several wallpaper samples as I tried to finalize the office design.

As you can see, all the papers have floral/nature-inspired prints. I particularly liked the ones with geometric patterns mixed in. Honestly, once I looked at them all, I knew right away that Alma was the right pick. If you are considering using wallpaper for any room, you should definitely order samples. The experience of seeing it in person and holding it in your hand will make your decision-making faster and easier. You’ll get a better idea of the texture, colors, and print clarity when you have a sample.

Prepping for Wallpapering

I’ve only ever wallpapered one wall in my life (my son’s mural), and I didn’t use a standard method. I used liquid starch (a la this tutorial), so I could easily remove it when he got older. However, I am going to actually, FOR REAL, wallpaper the whole room for this job. So I did a deep dive into how to prep the walls. I thought I would share my non-official guide to prepping for wallpaper. I’ll be sure to update everyone once the wallpaper is completed (hopefully this weekend). (Quick disclaimer: I’m NOT an expert. This is just how I approached it and what I’ve learned. I write this as “you should” because it’s easier for me to write about something like I’m explaining it to someone. If you did it differently, I bet it’s totally great.)

1. Read Your Wallpaper Instructions: I don’t know what wallpaper was like 20 years ago, but it seems there are more options today than back then. The first goal is to determine what type of wallpaper you have by reading the instructions. This will tell you how to hang it and what supplies you need. There is the classic paste-the-paper wallpaper where you need to brush adhesive onto the back of the paper and let it soak in and then hang it up. There is peel and stick wallpaper, which I guess is like a big sticker. I’ve never used this, but it’s widely used on the internet. There is prepasted wallpaper. The glue is already on the back of the paper and you either have to soak it in water or spray with water to activate the adhesive. The last type is paste-the-wall wallpaper. For this type of paper, you roll or brush adhesive onto the wall and hang the wallpaper without soaking it in any water. I ordered my wallpaper from Wallpaperdirect.com. They have a few videos that explain this in more detail (paste-the-wall, paste-the-paper). My wallpaper is paste-the-wall.
2. Evaluate Your Walls: I hope that before you purchased any wallpaper, you evaluated your walls. Some walls, like those that are heavily textured, are typically not recommended for wallpapering. There may be some exceptions with certain types of paper, but if you have textured walls, you should do a ton of research on what paper could be used and how to do it. If your walls are smooth and already painted, you only need to fill holes and make sure it’s clean and dust-free (luckily, that’s me). If you have a slight texture or damaged walls, you may want to consider putting up wallpaper liner. This is like a slip for your wallpaper. It will smooth out any imperfections.
3. Purchase Supplies: Now that you’ve read the instructions and evaluated your walls, you can go to the store and purchase what you need. For most people, you’ll need some adhesive and wallpapering tools. If your walls are textured, you may need the wallpaper liner, and if you are using prepasted wallpaper, you’ll need something to wet or soak the paper with. I took a quick shot of what I purchased for wallpapering below.
4. Prep Your Walls: For us, all I had to do was wipe down the walls and make sure they were clean and dust-free. We have a smooth finish on our drywall, so there wasn’t anything else we needed to do. Again, if you have slightly textured or damaged walls, you may want to hang wallpaper liner.
5. Re-Watch All the Youtube Videos: Get jazzed up and informed before you start the install. The ones I’ve watched over and over and over again are these three: How to Hang Wallpaper!, How to hang wallpaper – paste the wall, Hanging wallpaper – paste the wall.

I’m hoping this time next week I’ll have a beautifully wallpapered room and the pictures to prove it. Fingers crossed!

Again, check out the other guest participants and the featured designers to see updates on their projects!

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8

Well, the day has come! I am participating in my first One Room Challenge, and I am so excited. For those who don’t know, the One Room Challenge is a biannual event that encourages bloggers/designers/Instagrammers to transform a space in a relatively short time frame (the current ORC is eight weeks long). I have been a big fan of the ORC for years. To say I’m nervous is an understatement. My first project includes multiple parts, and some are things I’ve never done before. There’s nothing like a deadline to keep you on your toes. Am I right?

For the ORC, I’ll be re-doing one of the hardest working rooms in our house – the home office! It’s a small room right off the entry and, as you can imagine, I spend a lot of time there. This is where I do all my design work, blogging, creative stuff, bill pay, my husband does all his volunteer work and where I have video chats with friends. Not only does it get used a ton, but it’s a major spot for storage. We store files, photography equipment, craft supplies, old memories, office supplies, old textbooks, picture frames, electronics, and more.

The Office & The Problems

The office is oddly shaped and measures about ~8.5′ x 9′ (the walls are a little wonky, no perfectly square room here). It hasn’t changed much since we first moved into the house. At move in, the room had green carpet, beige walls with a world map border, a boob light, and orange-toned wood trim. From the beginning, I knew I wanted to add cabinetry for storage. Until now (eek!), the room had a mish-mash of old office furniture to make it work…barely.

I got ambitious about a year or so ago, removed the border, and hung a new light (it’s staying, guys!). But, as you can see below, the room is cluttered! As I said, it’s a room that needs storage. It also happens to be the dumping ground for DIY projects (or test ideas). It does have some special features, like the self-opening filing cabinet, an old relic from my husband’s parent’s office. The back corner is, well…too embarrassing to show. It has picture frames, stacks of textbooks, and random computer parts (never know when you’ll need a hard drive!).

When looking at the wall closest to the door, you’ll see even more stuff. Most of these are random things that don’t belong. So the office is also serving as a weird waiting room for my stuff. Each piece hoping that I will soon get to it and determine its future. Despite all this stuff, I still really like the office. It gets great light and is a perfect size.

Design Plan

Now that everyone sees the mess, we can get to the fun stuff – the design! For the most part, the office’s floor plan is not changing; it’s just going to be upgraded with cabinetry, a built-in desk, and new furnishings! Some of the current items are staying, like the round rattan table from Target, the beaded light, and organizational pieces (magazine holders, etc.). Still, the majority of the room will be replaced.

The floor plan below shows the general setup (the colors are not accurate). A chair and side table will remain on the left wall. The wall across from the window will have one cabinet and be the main “work area.” The computer monitor will be here, the same as the current setup. The wall across from the chair hosts the majority of cabinetry and will be the main storage source in the room. Hallelujah.

Here is a detailed elevation of the cabinetry. This is from the supplier’s website, so it’s pretty basic but gives you a good idea of the setup. The wall will have an open shelf unit in the center flanked by two large cabinets. For the base cabinets, I ordered mostly single-door units. I included one two-drawer cabinet to serve as the filing cabinet. The three drawer cabinet that goes on the adjacent wall (the other part to form the desk) is not shown. The cabinets are white with inset doors.

I’ve played around with Homestyler, a great web-based floor planner program, and made a rendering of the room, so it’s easier to understand. Most of the details are different, but it communicates the general setup and feel of the room. Homestyler has been updating their program over the last year, and I’m still getting used to the new features. I honestly miss many of the old options, but I think I need more time to learn how to use the program.

The design board of the room below gives you the visual direction of the room. Over the course of the 8 weeks, I’ll talk more about the different components. A couple of things are still not ordered (blinds and a few accessories), so things may change slightly. The general vibe is a warm, comfortable pallet with blues and greens mixed in for good measure.

The To-Do List

Alright, here is where my anxiety starts ratching up as I write down all the things that we need to do in a short period of time.

• Replace carpet with hardwood floors
• Paint window trim and door casing white
• Replace baseboards (they’ll be thicker and white)
• Wallpaper the entire room (I’ve only wallpapered 1 wall my entire life and used a completely different method. Please keep me in your thoughts)
• Obtain cabinets (delivery date is early June) and assemble cabinets
• Install cabinets (never did this before) & add needed trim
• Install butcher block countertops
• Replace light switches, outlets, and plates
• Replace blinds
• Sew a pillow cover
• DIY a frame for some DIY art, maybe buy a frame?
• Put the room together and pray the chair arrives before the end of the challenge.

Definitely check out the other guest participants and the featured designers. Hope to see you next week!!

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