This dining room takes all of my blues away!
I love taking a small unassuming space in a home, like this dining room niche, and adding some pizazz by covering the walls in a bold wallpaper.
My client lives in a typical builder grade condominium. We've all seen them.....a basic beige box. Someone once told me, "beige isn't a color, it's a lifestyle" and trust me when I say that my client is so over living the beige lifestyle! She's classy, professional and loves timeless design elements with a bold streak. I wanted to create a space that mirrored that spirit.
This is how the space looked when I arrived on scene. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't memorable.
The millwork had just been installed on the lower half of the wall. The work was impeccable but the space as a whole needed some color and pattern to perk it up! We decided that this Stanbury Trellis Wallpaper by Thibaut would do the trick.
In my designs, navy blue is a 'new neutral'. You can combine it with with nearly every color and it looks great. Use it in small doses if you want a space to feel airy, coastal or preppy. If you want bold and dramatic, use navy blue as a feature, it is very eye catching without being distasteful.
PREPARING YOUR WALLS FOR WALLPAPER
The most important part of the wallpaper job is to make sure the wall surface is properly prepared.
Clean the wall surface.
Use a stain killer or primer to remove and seal ball-point ink, grease, lipstick or crayon to prevent it from bleeding through the wallpaper.
Clean and treat and areas with mildew.
Remove loose paint from the wall.
Repair any wall irregularities.
Remove switch plates
I also like to have my installers paint the wall where the seams will be the same color as the wallpaper background, in this case navy blue, so that seams disappear.
If the wall surface is not properly prepped, the adhesive will not work properly. Below are progress photos of this project. My installers masterfully maneuver around this tricky wall mounted air conditioner.
LET YOUR WALLS TAKE CENTER STAGE
This is a small condominium, so we let the walls be the star of the show! We kept the my clients' quality existing dining room table and chairs. I like to work the clients' existing pieces into the design it makes sense - I will never come into your home and tell you that we have to start from scratch (unless your still living with your college furniture of course). The trellis pattern detail on the chair backs blend so well with the pattern of the wallpaper. What a transformation!
A reminder of what it looked like before...
And how it looks now. It's hard to believe that this is the same space!
