From Staid to Wild and Adventurous

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

This powder room is in one of the traditional Georgian style homes that were popular with builders in the West University Place area in the 1990’s. The original tufted-wall wallpaper went perfectly with that era and style home. But the new owners are a young couple with school age children, and the mom wanted some “Wow!” factor. She fell in love with this bold stripe. What makes it unique are the child-like swaths of color in between the black stripes.

The original dark red paper was on all walls, the sloped ceiling under the stairs, and even the ceiling itself. To me, it seemed dark and crowded. The homeowner agreed with me to not repaper the small flat ceiling area. But there was a lot of debate over whether or not to paper the sloped section. Once all the walls were papered, I tacked some strips to the ceiling, so she could get a feel for how the room would look and feel with paper overhead. The decision was to go ahead!

I don’t usually like wallpaper on overhead areas, but this time I have to say that I think she made the right choice.

This McKenzie Childs wallpaper pattern is a bold choice for this small room, and will take some accessorizing to really make it work. There is a huge rectangular mirror that almost totally covers the wall behind the sink. The medium-brown vanity will be painted a soft smoky blue, to coordinate with the blue in the paper. And the wall that faces you when you walk into the room will get a large piece of abstract art, with reds, yellows, greens, blues, and, of course, black, which will really stand out against the paper.

And that’s just what the homeowner wanted … opening the door to the powder room and stepping into a wild and unexpected experience.

Tags: 1990's, ceiling, georgian, mckenzie childs, pattern, powder room, stripe, wallpaper, west university place