Between January and March of 2019, we worked on giving our half bathroom a makeover. We painted the walls in Stonington Gray (mixed at 50%), swapped out the boring mirror with a vintage one, changed out the light fixture and faucet, and added a chair rail and picture frame molding. As a part of the foyer makeover, we also had the beautiful Montauk blue slate floors installed. (You can find details and the source on those in THIS POST.) I knew at the time, though, that I wanted to find a blue and white wallpaper that would take it over the top. I just didn’t want to rush the selection.
So, I stopped there. Having the bathroom done to this point allowed me to wait until I found just the right paper or wall treatment. I toyed with designing my own, with hand painting, and even block printing something, but I was never 100% excited about any of the ideas I came up with. I’ve learned that this is my process. I have to explore a bunch of ideas in my head, order samples, test things out, browse online a lot until I hit on something that excites me enough to act on it right away. If I put iit n a virtual shopping cart and leave it there, then that’s usually not it. If I sort of like the idea, but not enough to actually break out the supplies and hop to it, then I need to marinate on it just a little bit more.
A few weeks ago, I ordered a few wallpaper samples and fell in love with one of them right away…right out of the envelope. This was the one I’ve been looking for. It’s a pretty blue and white floral wallpaper – 51019 from the Blomstermala collection by Gallerie. I ordered it from Select Wallpaper.
I love that the pattern has a European feel and is even similar to the scrollwork and floral designs I often handpainted on dressers. It just feels like “me.”
I placed the order and it came in just a few days, which was surprising since it was coming all the way from the UK! I also ordered the paste and my mom and I installed it last week.
I can’t wait to show it to you, but it really transformed the space into something special.
I am also planning to make a sink skirt, perhaps out of this antique German duvet cover. I’ve been saving it in my stash for just the right project and I think it will look cute with the paper. I wish Galerie made a fabric that matched the blue and white wallpaper, but they don’t. (Not that I could find, anyway!)
The windowpane plaid is a pretty nice coordinating fabric, though. I’ll get the paper hung and then make the decision.
The paper is unpasted, which is actually my preference. I used to assume that would be hard to apply, but it’s actually easier and less messy. You can find my post comparing pasted to unpasted HERE and read the riveting post I wrote comparing wallpaper pastes HERE. Don’t read that one before bed or you might not be able to sleep, because it’s so exciting and suspenseful.
This week, we’re plowing ahead on more home projects. My blog posts will be a week or two behind what we’re doing in realtime, but you can see what I’m up to in my Instagram Stories…
