Three Powder Bathroom Reveals!

it just so happened that i worked on three bathrooms recently and they all wrapped up right around the same time. also they're all blue and white which you know i'm not complaining about! over the last three weeks, i've been sharing each of them on instagram and today is the final reveal - at my parents' house!

we all like a good before and after, amiright??, so let's take a look at the BEFORE shots. (all sources listed at the end of each section - please contact me if you'd like to order the wallpaper in the first or second bathrooms)

the green paint, too small mirror, and cheesy (sorry dad) artwork had to go! we also improved the lighting and faucet while we were at it. here are the AFTER shots!

obviously the big game changer was the beautiful wallpaper by nina campbell for osborne & little. the pattern is bold but classic with just enough of a traditional feeling for my parents. i actually had to shoot this bathroom through the window since it's long and narrow so we popped off the screen, open up the window and i stood on the front porch!

the art was a last minute add but funnily enough, i think it works perfectly. these charcoal drawings were done by my great (maybe great great?) grandmother and were hanging in my parents' dining room. i snagged them off the wall and held them up in here and they fit so well. even the frames were spot on!

it took some time to convince my mom about the shape of this mirror but i'm so glad she went for it in the end. the shape worked well not only because i liked the style but the space between the sconces was tight (and we wanted to avoid moving the electrical boxes in the wall). this particular mirror was tall and narrow and doesn't look squished which is key. one tip - i like to make sure that the top of the mirror is higher than the top of the sconces when they are flanking either side like in this case.

the sconces were an easy update luckily but the faucet was not! my mom didn't want to switch out the faucet or the tp holder for that matter. my argument is always the same - do the whole job and go all the way, not just part of the way. and guess what? she said loves the new faucet and is so glad we made the change!

mixing metals can be a tough sell as well but it always looks so great in the end. the brass provides that touch of warmth that the space needed.

SOURCES

wallpaper | mirror | sconces | faucet | soap | hand towel | hook | tp holder | trashcan

the first bathroom i revealed was also a great before and after. here is a BEFORE.

basically builder blah. nothing interesting going on at all and another mirror that was too small. but again it's so easy to fix with some fun wallpaper. here's the AFTER.

in addition to the wallpaper, we swapped out the sconces and the mirror. everything else is the same but the difference is night and day!

SOURCES

wallpaper | sconces | mirror | faucet | fern

and lastly, the final bathroom i worked on where we went bold and it really paid off! i stupidly don't have a before shot here but imagine white walls, a glued-on white framed mirror, and an ugly faucet. now the AFTER!

the wallpaper in this bathroom was provided by graham & brown. they reached out to see if i wanted to work with them and it was a pretty easy and quick yes! this particular client had wanted to paper this bathroom for a while so i had her in mind when i started looking at all of the patterns. we both fell in love with their indian ink stripe in royal blue. it has this cool ikat feel to it while still being a stripe.

while we were at it, we changed the mirror (a homegoods find!), tp  holder, knobs, and faucet. all of the changes brought the space together while keeping it fun and unexpected.

SOURCES

wallpaper | mirror (similar) | faucet | faucet handles | knob | tp holder | penny tile (floor)

Wallpaper Dreaming

i had a dream the other night that i put schumacher's deconstructed stripe wallpaper on our upstairs hall walls. not a bad dream right? in my dream i was excited and freaking out about it at the same time. seems pretty close to real life!

someone else did it and it wasn't a dream! via the painted house

looks awesome in this bathroom.

meg braff

it reminds me a little bit of the discontinued squiggle pattern from cole and son.

via lonny

pencil and paper co.

pencil and paper co.

what wallpaper have you dreamt about lately?! ;)

Seascape Wallpaper

y'all it snowed yesterday and today. it's APRIL!!! this maryland girl will always have trouble wrapping her head around snow in spring. just hoping it melts as fast as it appeared. so let's think happy thoughts and today for me that's this wallpaper i keep seeing - seascape by abigail edwards. it comes in two colorways and i think it would be amazing in a beach house or kids room or even bathroom.

some fab examples of what i'm talking about...

lexi westergard design

via apartment therapy

via cup of jo

cuff home

unknown

cute right?!

Wallpaper Woes.

aka i can't make up my mind. aka i need to win the lottery. i have this fear of committing to something because what if the next week someone somewhere releases some amaaaazing design that gives me remorse and i'm all like ooo that's perfect! argh.

and if i found the money tree maybe i'd pick this from quadrille.

or this by anna spiro.

i've had this weird day of being attracted to wallpapers that i can't for the life of me figure out why i like. kind of like that guy you liked back in college but all of your friends were like huh? i've been into this one from ballard designs. the swatches they send are SO crappy though. however in person the pattern is whiter and lighter which is a plus.

also otomi. mostly (almost always) done in nurseries but i did see it in this space designed by jenny komenda.

a couple of contenders. does it scream baby?? i think the fact that i'm asking that probably rules it out for me.

also i have 10 rolls (embarrassed face!) of this hanging out in my house.

there are also still a couple from this post. i'm struggling so much with deciding on something that will have some longevity. i don't want to do anything too weird that i'll want to change it in a few years. because, you know, that's not allowed! ;)

Wallpaper On The Brain

happy monday y'all. do you ever feel like you need a vacation after a vacation? i feel that way today - we had a whirlwind of a long weekend. thursday of last week we surprised the boys with a trip on the polar express in new hampshire which was a lot of fun (and for anyone local who may be interested - i'd say it's a one and done kind of trip but worth it!). then got home, put up our tree (finally!) and tidied the house up for a few friends who came over for a wine and design night where we essentially drank wine and talked about all things design (fairly self-explanatory there). my dream! :) then on saturday we surprised the kids again with a bruins game which we decided was waaaay too much money for this age. i think we were about 15 minutes in before we heard the first "when is it over?" :| sunday we baked cookies with my in laws and had a birthday party to go to. it was all good but i need a nap.

so anyway today i have wallpaper on the brain. specifically wallpaper for a dining room. mine to be precise. however we have just completed a series of projects at our home, which i may have mentioned a time or two ;), so this whole wallpaper idea is completely out of the question. but a girl can dream and this girl loves to come up with ideas for when the time comes (which, yes mr. r, is a long time from now!).

i'm a little bit all over the map but one idea that i love is something really large scale. and i'm thinking in the blue and white family. we have wainscoting on the lower part of the wall so i think that would help break it up some.

there's thibaut's thai ikat which i've always liked and in fact i have a sample of it in a different colorway when i was considering wallpapering our entry way back.

i recently saw it on pencil and paper co's instagram and fell hard again.

i love the idea of a medallion pattern and one that's been catching my eye lately is from sanderson. it's huge which i think is really cool but i wonder if it's too creamy. obviously would need a sample (which i am not ordering).

there's actually some green in the close up.

one unaffordable but amazing-to-look-at option is galbraith & paul's lotus. perfection.

sadly that one would always be out of the question unless we won the lottery. p.s. speaking of wallpaper...who wants to have a baby OR redecorate a kids room so we can use this fox wallpaper? i mean how adorable?! pleeeease!!! :)

Weekend Happenings

and just like that it's already getting toward the end of april. how did that happen?! happy patriot's day new englanders! our super historic town as a parade every year but i'm bummed because this year it looks like a wash out :(

so it seems that i have been on an unlucky streak lately - after the coffee table fail, i met with our contractor on friday who said our shutters had come in. i was so excited! buuut then when he brought them to the house, we saw that they were not the style that we had ordered. fail #2. we can have them re-made but the lead time is like 4 weeks which is just annoying. and last but not least, i woke up early and went with my mom to target for the lilly pulitzer collection release. we walked in the door at 8:02am and everything was GONE. empty racks, crazy lines, i even saw a little tiff! the store supposedly opens at 8 but they had to have opened early - guess we missed the memo. clearly not the end of the world but just my luck as of late. oh! but if you have to have something - check out ebay where things are going for triple the prices and more!

we did make some progress outside though - special thanks to mimi and pop pop for coming up and being great babysitters (of the human and canine variety) and the very best gardener (mimi). hydrangeas dead headed and grasses cut back!

mr. r and i also put up new house numbers which were just a teensy weensy bit hard to make even and straight but in the end they really look good. huge improvement over what was slapped up there before!

and lastly, i finally opened up a roll of that serena & lily wallpaper that i feel like i practically stole and held it up in various places in the entry and stairs. i really love the pattern and color but i'm still not convinced that it works with the runner. trying to decide if there is another spot for it. :)

and that's that for today!

Confession

it's friyay! we have a fun weekend coming up and warm weather in the forecast. i'll believe it when i see it (feel it?) but i'm excited! sooo i have a little confession to make. i may or may not have bought 10 rolls of wallpaper during that recent ridiculous serena & lily sale. he he. the thing is, it was 60% off. six. zero. so each roll (double rolls!) was $35 and really, how could i not get it? most importantly it's returnable as long as it's unopened so i jumped on it.

origami in bone. i love the pattern as i think it's evident by now that i love a good geometric! it feels fresh and different and i really love how it would bring some interest to the space without taking over.  (just realized that when i wrote this last night i never said WHERE i'm thinking of putting this!! you might have guessed by the pic of the runner but it's our entry! it's been a long and documented process of trying to finding wallpaper for this space: here is black and white florals nixed by the hubby and also here dating back to september 2012!)  this s&l one would be such a great backdrop of artwork too. the only teeny tiny issue that i'm contemplating is whether it works with our new runner or fights it.

good news is that the hubby said he likes the pattern. this is major progress in itself. what do you think?? i might need to eat $35 and just open up a roll and see how it looks.

Black And White Florals 2

hi there! so this is my last week at work. it's a totally surreal feeling still but i'm ready. i'm going to miss it though, there's no doubt. but more on that and other deep thoughts on thursday!

a while back a did a short post on some black and white florals and, well, i'm still hooked!! today i'm focusing on wallpaper. i'd love to do my entry in something like this. it would be traditional but modern and i think the perfect contrast to some of the other elements i've got going on! before i focused on schumacher's pyne hollyhock but here are some others that have a similar feel!

how pretty is this bathroom?

this image was my initial source of inspiration. i love everything about it.

i imagine this room to be at an inn somewhere in like vermont.

another bathroom and how cool is that bone inlay mirror with it?

in reverse here with black as the background color. so pretty with the pine beds.

a kitchen - not sure i could live with it in my main living space but it's pretty!

and one more pretty bath.

if you're on the bandwagon with me, here are a couple of sources...starting with a splurge from anthropologie.

this one's from the home depot if you can believe it!

and from a random source but it sure it purdy :)

what do you think? have i gone granny on you? :)