As I’ve mentioned before, our first priority for the farmhouse was getting the upstairs updated as much as possible so the kids feel at home. I mean, we moved from private bathrooms for each kid and Randy and my primary bathroom (with heated floors):
To literally all four of us sharing this:
The lone upstairs bathroom – that both kids will share but they pinky-promised they were okay with it – is being worked on now, and I’ll have an update soon (you will LOVE the floor tile and the story behind it).
In the meantime, we painted Eli’s room and put a cool chair rail around it, while Kate’s room…..sits. We’re painting her antique spindle bed a black gloss so her mattress in on the floor, and we know we’re adding shelves on her wall for books. Still, it currently looks like this:
Kate had indicated she was interested in wallpapering part of her room, so I was on the lookout for something cute we could both agree on. Cut to this post, from the wonderful Style by Emily Henderson:
Kate and I both loved this Thibaut grasscloth, and decided we would put it on 2/3 of the wall, with a chair rail and blue paint on the bottom.
The plan was agreed upon and made everyone happy, which, if you have a 14 year-old daughter, you celebrate WILDLY.
Then I went to purchase it.
For the amount we needed (and the room isn’t that big), it was more than $2,000.
JUST FOR THE WALLPAPER.
Not the primer, not the installation, not the chair rail, not the paint for below, CAN YOU TELL I’M NOT OVER IT??!?!?!
Holy moly, when did wallpaper become so expensive???
We’re back to square one, so if you have any ideas, please send them my way. In the meantime, Kate will have to settle for blank walls. #collegetuitioncomesfirst
Chuck Burke
I don’t know if you have them in your area, but there are outlet stores for home improvement product where you can save a lot on these products. Our house has doors, cabinets, plumbing fixtures and more that came from Grossman’s Bargain Outlet, which has since been renamed to Home Outlet.
Another possibility is a Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. They are dependent on donations and special deals from suppliers for items like wallpaper, but you’d be amazed what shows up there.
Alternatively, you might look into stenciling the walls, and create your own design.
molly@iotlavalleyfarm.com
These are great ideas, Chuck – thanks! We do have a Habitat store. Our outlets are mostly in Asheville (about 1 1/2 hours away), but it’s good to check it out.
Kelly
Kate has such amazing taste ~ I am absolutely loving grasscloth at the moment, myself! I don’t have any great advice, but make sure to stop by our Sherwin-Williams, they have a lot of wallpaper books to browse. I bought some of that removable wallpaper from Lowe’s, which is very inexpensive, but the local ‘wallpaper hanger’ will not work with removable papers. So – pray for me as I attempt to put it up myself!
molly@iotlavalleyfarm.com
You can do it! If I put up wallpaper in our toilet room at Jacobs Branch, I have no doubt you can attach it! It’s so much easier than it used to be. Good luck!
Dennis Desmond
You should talk with my Mary–she paints all kinds of things, including walls.