Wallpaper-O-Rama
This post is from February – I’ve tweaked it a bit and added new pictures. Enjoy!
Like a pretty woman dressed in ugly clothes, our home’s elegant features are overshadowed by garish wallpaper. As many home remodelers know, where there is one layer of wallpaper, there are many, many more hidden underneath it. We’ve uncovered so many different styles of wallpaper our home is practically a wallpaper museum. So, let’s take a tour, shall we? It’s free!
We’ll start with the sitting room and dining room.
You’ll first notice the deep forest green color of the sitting room’s wallpaper, which is accented with odd, psychedelic mauve and baby blue-colored shapes. It’s like sitting in the paisley-print tie you got your dad in 1978.
Right next door, you’ll see the sultry red paper of the dining room, which is softened with a large swath of light pink wallpaper just below it. Here’s a designer’s secret: This room is actually wallpapered in just the soft pink paper. The upper portion of the paper is painted red. It’s very clever and ugly all at the same time!
P.S. That door is a steel door to the garage. I mean, who doesn’t have a steel garage door in their dining room? It’s the epitome of elegance. Moving that door was the very first project we took on.
Here’s what we found underneath that first layer of dining room wallpaper…
It’s the 1970s! Do you see that light fixture? When I look at this room, I feel like Greg Brady will coming running around the corner at any minute.
Here I am getting rid of it…
What fun! Look at that big smile – I had no idea what ‘real’ home remodeling was yet.
Now, let’s move on to the front hall, which must have been wallpapered the same day as the dining room…
Hey look! It’s the 1970s again! Let’s take a closer look
Stunning, isn’t it? Try finding artwork to hang on those walls.
We’ll head to the kitchen next, which is home to our most historic sample of wallpaper. Circa 1940 perhaps?
It was underneath the 80s.
C’mon, don’t be shy. Get right up in there so you can see its loveliness.
Do you know what’s ironic about this wallpaper? It makes it look like I splattered paint all over the walls, which actually would’ve been easier than spending hours hanging wallpaper that looks like paint splattered on the wall.
Before we head upstairs, does anyone have any questions or need a bathroom break? No? Okay, let’s continue.
Here we have another display of vintage wall covering. This was once a bedroom that three boys shared and grew up in. It’s now half of the new master suite.
And now for the last stop on the Wallpaper-O-Rama Tour…The Ugly Bathroom (R.I.P), which captures a look I like to call “Old Lady.”
I just recently peeled a section of this off to see what was beneath it.
Looks like tile, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not. That’s actually plaster that’s been scored to mimic the look of tile. It’s poor man’s tile, but I still think it’s pretty neat. Despite that, we’ll be knocking these walls down soon.
So, there you have it. A walk through the eras of wallpapering via my house. Which from now on will remain wallpaper free. Hope you enjoyed the tour!
- You are Cordially Invited to a Memorial Service for The Ugly Bathroom
- Who is this “Joey” character, anyways?
Argh! Wallpaper! So evil. At least you haven’t found any on the ceilings yet.
I hear ya on the steel door in the dining room. I wanted a door to my garage and the dining room was the only place I could add it. So I spent the extra bucks on a TruStile wood door in a profile matching the originals. I think it makes mine a little less tacky than everyone else in the neighborhood. Some people just don’t think about these things.
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