Wallpapering our Central Bathroom

It was my first experience with hanging wallpaper, and I (mostly) nailed it, adding a little cottage charm and whimsey to our most central bathroom in the house. If you've been thinking about adding wallpaper, do it!

10/19/20244 min read

There's a certain charm to a house that's been "lived in" and that seems to only come with time. The longer we live here, all the birthdays and holidays, silly or sad times lived out in this house all make more memories and give us a stronger sense of belonging. Just like the new sugar maple trees we planted across the yard, we all need time to grow into this space.

When I work on projects throughout the house, I build a personal connection to this home and property. I feel much more pride in my home if I've put the work into it, especially through hands-on projects where I'm climbing, reaching or crouching into every nook and cranny to get a job done.

My latest project has been wallpapering one of our bathrooms. This centrally located bathroom is probably the most commonly used in the house and it's the go-to bathroom for guests, so making it more comfortable was a priority and creating a relaxing little escape was my goal. I've been obsessed with wallpapers lately, but having no experience with actually working with them, I wasn't sure how difficult of a project it would be or if I had time to take it on. I found a pattern that I fell in love with and decided to go for it! This is Chesapeake Wildflower from US Wall Decor (uswalldecor.com). This is pre-pasted. You can spray and stick, but I found that submerging the rolled up panel into water and then getting it onto the wall made it easier to slide into place and adjust the positioning as I worked on smoothing out the air bubbles and paste. It was QUITE SLOPPY and time consuming, but easy to clean up and wipe dry. I must say, I'm pretty happy with how it came out and proud of myself for learning something new. :)

We added PVC panelling across the bottom of the walls, up to just under the counter level of the vanity. It was a breeze to paint, cap it with a molding and call it a day. When it comes to power tools, usually I'll enlist my mostly-willing husband, Jeffrey, to deal with that part. He only complains a little, but he likes to see my ideas come to fruition and enjoys the result, so we make a good team.

I love mixing old and new pieces throughout the house. Lucky for us, we live just a few miles away from Bouckville which annually hosts one of the largest antique fairs in the country. With lots of antique and consignment shops around the area, there are usually some interesting pieces out there to find. I wanted a shelf or cabinet for the bathroom that was either a low, shallow bookshelf, or a small hutch that could hold towels, toilet paper and bathroom supplies. I found a very cool stackable cabinet, with glass doors, so it looks like a little display case when it's closed. It came with two levels but one was chipping pretty badly on one side. So, I decided to only use one level and it's perfect!

I still have a lot of open space on the walls, but because I worked so hard on the wallpaper, I'm not ready to cover it up yet. I'll get there and when I find the right pieces, I'll fill it in. All in all, I'm very happy with how it turned out.