Wallpaper, I'm so glad you grew out of your awkward stage.

Wallpaper and I, we have a history. When I was a little girl, we had wallpaper in our house -- a lot of wallpaper. During my pre-school years, circa 1987, my mom created a Precious Moments bedroom for me. I thought it was extremely glamorous. Like any good DIY mom, we worked on the wallpapering project together and I picked up on the technique. (I'm sure I was incredibly helpful). In fact, I felt so helpful that later on when I was alone in my room, I took the initiative to line the shelves of my closet with the wallpaper border. I've always been such a go-getter. My mom was thrilled, as you can imagine. That experiment helped me to begin to grasp the relative persistence of wallpaper. It's a lot of work to install so you'd better make sure you love it now and will definitely love it later.

I hate to disappoint, but I do not have a picture of that room! Instead, I found a shot from my second wallpapered, themed bedroom. Introducing ... unicorns!



A third room featuring Native Americans and galloping horses may also exist ... but that will have to wait for another day.

As fun as it was to have (creepy) dolls with big eyes, unicorns with pink hair, and galloping mustangs on my walls back then, I couldn't be more pleased that new, wonderfully modern papers are now readily available. So for the first time since 1994, I am planning a wallpaper project!

The plan is to put beadboard in our powder room with a fun wallpaper on the top half of the wall. Most of our house is the golden-yellowy color of Compatible Cream from Sherwin Williams.


The dining room is Uncertain Gray but looks very blue compared to the online shade.

I've been considering a few patterns for a while but I'm incredibly indecisive. Maybe it's because I'm a Gemini. Or maybe I could blame my being a middle child. I'm just not sure ...

So enough of that. What papers are your favorite for adding drama and style to a small space?

Chenonceau in Bisque


Xanadu in Glacier


Graphic Panel Stripe in Spring


Daydream in Yellow


Traviata in Beige from Graham & Brown


Vivid in Cream



And for old time's sake...

Pink Donkey


Do you have any beautiful suggestions for me or papers that have you ready to commit?