We’ve really been scattered in a million directions when it comes to projects, but one of the absolute most exciting ones happened a few weeks ago: wallpaper!
We had carefully selected wallpapers last year, and placed our orders on Black Friday to save a few bucks—and then we waited. Turns out, wallpaper installers are super busy right now and finding someone who would even schedule us was a challenge! But now, all the way in April, we finally have wallpaper on the walls.
Wallpaper is such a great way to add some whimsy, color, and personality to a space—and that’s exactly how we used it in our home. These wallpaper selections are so fun and personal and add something really special to these spaces. Ready to see?? Let’s do it!
Wallpapered Powder Room
It was no secret from the beginning that I was going to wallpaper our powder room. But I’m so glad I didn’t commit initially, because I ended up going a completely different direction than I initially would have considered. I think as we’ve lived here, I’ve settled into my style more and more, and it’s led to me wanting some infusions of deep color—even in the small space of our powder room.
We ultimately chose this absolute beauty by Marlene Barnett. I remember getting a Lulu and Georgia catalog last year, flipping it open to the page with this wallpaper, and just thinking “well, that’s going in our house.” It was love at first sight!
Dustin also loved it right away—he said it looked like a topographical map, which is true!
It actually ended up being the perfect choice in this room because there is a small soffit that I wanted papered as well—but that would mean the pattern would never line up perfectly. I didn’t intentionally pick it for this reason, but this pattern is a bit busier, meaning that you don’t even notice where it’s imperfect. Love that quality! (And, if you’re DIYing, probably something to consider.)
I’m going to speak more about going dark in the powder room in a forthcoming post, but I really love the richness of this deep color in a small space. I think going a little lighter on the trim and ceiling helped bring some lift in, but I really love dark spaces—and, let’s face it, a small windowless room is going to be dark even if you paint it white. Let’s just let rooms be what they are, please?
See more of our powder room plans in this mood board.
Wallpapered Laundry Room Ceiling
This was a bit of a left field choice, but I’ve just had this feeling for a while that the ceiling in the laundry room needed wallpaper. I remember thinking about green in this space, and then seeing this image from Hygge & West:
For a while, it was going to be this paper. But as I started considering the color story for our home as a whole, it started to become clear to me that orange didn’t really fit with what I was going for. Plus, a paper like this requires choosing an orientation—an up and down—which I wasn’t sure how to handle.
Ultimately, I dialed down the color slightly, and opted for white walls in here. Honestly, I was having some decision fatigue and choosing a green that still felt clean and bright enough for a laundry room sounded exhausting. So, we went white (BM Swiss Coffee) because we already had it.
And, as I considered the feeling I’d ideally have while doing laundry (wow, where is this sentence coming from?) I thought about cleanliness, relaxation—maybe even a bit of vacation vibe.
We landed on lemons, which sort of make me feel like I’m on vacation in Italy or something (limoncello on the brain?). This wallpaper from Serena and Lily is perhaps a little preppier than we’re going in the rest of the house, but I think it feels like a breath. of. fresh. in the laundry room. So, we put it on the ceiling!
Rather than abandoning the green entirely, the paper actually has a lot of green in the leaves. Plus, I think we’ll do green cabinets in here. And the yellow feels more comfortable with the whole house color scheme than the orange did.
Also hunting for a spot for shelves so I can cover them in the leftover paper à la The Makerista:
See more of our laundry room plans in this mood board.
Wallpaper on the Stairs
This peekaboo pattern play is currently my favorite view in the whole house. I am in love!
When I was reading the Hygge & West book (if you like wallpaper you NEED to read this one), I remember seeing a little peekaboo of wallpaper behind a pocket door in a water closet, of all places. We didn’t have the space to create a water closet in our bathroom, but I sort of carried around the idea of peekaboo pattern.
Until I finally found the perfect place: on the stairs, right behind this door from our dining room. This is such an ideal place for a peekaboo moment. It’s not necessarily somewhere every guest will see (okay, they will now because I will show them) but it’s somewhere I will go every day—my office is upstairs.
When we decided on plaid carpet, instead of getting pattern shy, I doubled down, painting one riser and the left wall black in anticipation of this beautiful Hygge & West metallic paper. The organic movement of this paper plays SO nice with the geometric plaid carpet, and the black riser in between just frames everything perfectly. With the door framing it, it’s like the entrance to a magical land.
Why Didn’t We DIY?
I can feel this question hanging in the air: after doing so much ourselves, why didn’t we DIY the wallpaper install? For a while, we considered it!
But, ultimately, it felt really good to just hire this out: It got done in a day instead of waiting who knows how long. Knowing the installer was coming pushed us to finish painting in these spaces. And, in the end, we can just enjoy the beauty instead of being distracted by mistakes we made.
Wallpaper is really expensive, and, after making an investment in a bunch of beautiful paper, it just felt risky to potentially mess it up on the install. Sure, it probably doubled our investment in the paper, but hiring out install still just felt like the right move to protect that initial spend.
We don’t need to do everything, and at some point, even if you love DIYing, it’s okay to say no and just find a subcontractor who can handle it.
If you’re local to the Twin Cities, we used The Wallpaper Guy—but I will warn you, we booked him months out, so if you’re thinking of doing wallpaper, reach out early. It’s a huge trend right now so the installers are really busy!
Wallpaper Love
Wow, I guess I have a lot to say about wallpaper—this post ended up much longer than I ever anticipated, but I loved sharing my inspiration, the source of my ideas, and the in-progress results! I can’t wait to finish each of these rooms and show them off again.
Ultimately, this is just the first round of wallpaper for this house—we have 2 or 3 spots in mind for even more pattern. We’re spacing it out slightly just due to install timelines, and it’s certainly helpful for some budget breathing room as well. We can’t wait to show more when the time comes!
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