Four score and six years ago… we created a fun and creative space for our new little baby boy. Three years later, we added a baby girl, but because Ryan had just graduated with his Masters, we didn’t have the money to give her a whole new room. So… We took down the small shelves, changed the curtains, added a cute rug and called it good for the time being. There was no rhyme or reason to any of the decor choices, but I really loved those yellow curtains and knew that would be my starting point when I figured out a design for this room one day.
Using the curtains as my color inspiration, I found a wallpaper company I loved and after looking through pages and pages of designs, I narrowed it down to a couple favorites. But for obvious reasons, those triangles just called to me. (I have a triangle tattoo on my arm).
I posted an instagram story saying I wish I could do a collaboration with them, and someone actually messaged me back telling me to send them an email! I could NOT believe it! And from there we sent emails back and forth and locked in on a design.
I found other inspiration in the Crate & Kids catalog, but knew the only thing I could afford was the adorable clothes hamper. But then we got to work.
When we removed the shelves & the trim on the chalkboard, the dry wall was damaged so we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us before we could start installing the wallpaper.
We received the wallpaper the week before all the stay at home orders went into affect. Ryan was super sick that week (negative for covid-19) and then that sickness spread like wildfire through our house. So not only were we dealing with Ryan working from home, no school and not being able to really leave our house… we also had so many projects in our house hanging over us. We finally started our girls room project at the beginning of April.
We had to patch the holes, as well as skim coat the stripes on the old wall to make sure that you couldn’t see the texture from the paint. This was a tedious process, because my sweet husband is a perfectionist and we kept having weird issues with the plaster not adhering to the wall and fine bubbles. Not to mention, something we would normally get someone to watch the kids so we could focus on the project without interruptions, we didn’t want to risk exposure, so everything we did was either during nap time, in between work days and weekends.
Finally by June, we were ready to hang the wallpaper! And I could not be MORE excited about this. One word of advice: Make sure the entire wall is fully painted white before installation. Regardless of the color on the wallpaper, it isn’t 100% opaque, and that dark shadow from the previous paint color at the ceiling is faintly visible through the paper.
On the ColoRay Decor website, our pattern shows the triangles with the points going down (like bunting), but I really loved the idea of them going the opposite direction, so at the last second we decided to flip it.
This is ABSOLUTELY a two person job. Go slow. Don’t rush. We started by giving a little extra at the top. Peeled back the backing and slowly worked from the inside of the sheet to the edges, squishing out all the air bubbles and making sure we didn’t have any creases. Ryan was on the ladder, and I was behind the wallpaper on the floor, slowly pulling the backing down evenly.
Did I mention, GO SSSLLOOOWWWWW. Match up the seams. And if you need to pull it off and reposition it, you absolutely can!!
When we were all done, using a straight edge and a very sharp Xacto-knife, we trimmed off the excess on the top & bottom and the sides.
We had been planning the room remodel for a couple years, and knew we would need to transition Verona into a big girl bed (Which we had already purchased from Ikea December 2019). I managed to take a chance on a bed spread that I ordered as a Target Drive up, praying it would be the right color, and asked for a new white rug for the girls room for Christmas 2019 in preparation for this upcoming remodel.
All the pieces were falling into place, and I had also dreamed of creating two big canvases as art for the wall to complement the wallpaper. I scored these 24x36 canvases from Michaels for 50% off, and was able to create something custom using my Tombow Dual Brush pens! (After planning it out on a smaller canvas just to make sure I liked the way it looked first). I love these lyrics from JJ Heller, and knew they would be perfect for my little girls room.
Our house is small. Our resources are limited. And money was definitely something we DIDN’T have to throw at this. But I knew creating a fun space for my little girls to grow up in was what was important to me, and here we are!
It turned out better than I could have ever dreamed, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to work with ColoRay Decor on this bedroom. Every time I walk in this room it fills me with so much joy, and these two little ladies LOVE it!
List of links:
Wallpaper -ColoRay Designs
Bedframe -Ikea
Twin Quilt -Target
Shag Rug -Rugs.com
Clothes Hamper- Crate & Kids
Curtains -Target
Floral prints -Lulu Ink Designs
Other Print -Handwritten Hope