wallpaper removal

Mary McDonald

 Many of you read yesterday's One Room Challenge post about how I snagged $2,000 worth of Brunschwig & Fils wallpaper on eBay for my laundry room for $150. Well, it happened again!

I have been working so hard on my laundry room makeover, that I decided to take a little break yesterday and make a HomeGoods run. I have shopping ESP, do you? I sensed walking in that I was going to find something truly amazing. I always head to the lighting department first, because I have posted before about my addiction to Ralph Lauren Chinoiserie lamps I find at HomeGoods.

There it was, calling out to me - "Beth, Beth, I'm over here."

A
Huge
Ralph Lauren
Gold Leaf
And Crystal
Chinoiserie
Pagoda
Lantern

The regular price on it was $2,000 and I got it for $350.00. I have been looking for a new chandelier for my dining room for ages, and what I really envisioned was a gold leaf pagoda. I have lived with the lighting fixture I have for years, knowing it would someday appear. The one below is one I posted on that got away on eBay much to my dismay. I like mine a thousand times more.

There is one small glitch. It is missing its ceiling canopy (the round piece that hides the hole in the ceiling). I spent some time looking for replacements online and none are gold leaf and none have modern lines - lots of antique reproductions. Maybe I can find a simple brass or metal one and have my amazing antique restorer in Old Town gold leaf it for me. I have not shown you a picture of it, as I would much rather have you see it for the first time hanging in my dining room. So you can look forward to my dining room reveal and my laundry room reveal.

As an aside, I have had great luck on Etsy and eBay with wallpaper, especially high end wallpaper. Several years ago a follower of Chinoiserie Chic emailed me about an Etsy seller with 15 rolls of Clarence House Chinoiserie Baroque for $150. Here is the post about it from 2010. It is a very expensive and very beautiful and very discontinued paper worth $$$$. I snatched it up and it is gorgeous in my dining room. Here is a tour of my dining room with the existing chandelier.

Clarence House Chinoiserie Baroque

On the laundry room side, my wallpaper hanger spent all day yesterday skimming and sanding the laundry room walls and they look like glass. Today he is doing still more prep work and priming them, so the hanging won't start until tomorrow. Quite a perfectionist. Tomorrow he wants me to work with him positioning the layout of the design.

The one that got away on eBay, not mine

Thanks for stopping by to check out my progress. I hope that you tuned in to the launch of the One Room Challenge this past Wednesday and plan to follow along with the makeover of my beastly laundry room into a blue and white Chinoiserie beauty. The inspiration board above gives you an idea of the direction I am headed. These photos below are rooms that are inspiring me as I fine tune my plans.  The painter and electrician were here this past week and the wallpaper hanger is about to arrive. Let the games begin!

Black and white floor with blue and white and Chinoiserie

Another black and white floor with blue and white and Chinoiserie

Miles Redd - Ikea striped rugs sewn together as a runner

Overlapping rugs as a runner

Lots of blue and white Chinese porcelain and I love the symmetry (and the pooch)

I like this style table and the idea of stools

A palette of all blue and white and Chinoiserie

Blue and white in bold patterns and Chinoiserie

A beautiful soft blue and white palette

My Tibetan Spaniel Isabella (Izzy) did a very good job supervising the painter and the electrician and both jobs were done to her satisfaction. She is the watch dog in chief.




These lights were installed and they look great.


Now for the big news. I really wanted the Brunschwig & Fils "Ironing Bored" wallpaper and needed about 14 rolls because of the large room, high ceilings and huge repeat, about $1,500 worth. I was skulking about on eBay a while ago and someone was selling 18 brand new rolls of it for $150. Yes, you read that right. This will even make Linda, the Queen of Craigslist, envious. My wallpaper hanger starts prepping the walls today and I am so excited to see the paper go up.


I am also shopping this week for a new washer and dryer. I read the serial numbers off my old Maytags and checked online and found out they are from June of 1983 - 30 years old! After lots of research, I have decided on a Whirlpool Duet front loading washer and dryer in white.

It's a funny thing with me and white. I am not a white fan at all when it comes to cars, wall color, decor, or clothes. But I only like white sheets, towels, woodwork, kitchen appliances, and washers and dryers. I saved a Washington Post interview with the interior designer Draza Stamenich who did this laundry room that is my inspiration and here is what he had to say about laundry rooms and the subject of colors for washer and dryers - it's worth a read -




Thursday, April 16, 2009
Laundry would not seem like a chore if you were washing clothes in a space dressed with hand-painted wallpaper, custom storage and a designer chandelier.

Draza Stamenich, the young McLean designer who created the show-house laundry room in a minuscule space tucked off the kitchen, says it's time to upgrade life's everyday doings in these grim economic times. "Today the luxury is going to be the things we do at home," Stamenich says.
You may notice the GE front-loading washer and dryer in old-fashioned white. ("The colored ones are tacky for some reason," he says. "Only get stainless steel or white. These are modern and special in their own way.") But the key element in this room is the Gracie wallpaper, a nature scene with intricately painted birds, butterflies, branches and flowers. Calling it wallpaper underplays its beauty, Stamenich says. He describes it as artwork.
Whatever you call it, it's flanked by two floor-to-ceiling white wall cabinets designed by Capitol Closet Design. Stamenich ordered aviary wire online and used it on the cabinet doors. Polished beige travertine tile makes a solid surface for folding laundry.
Enough with the high-end details. Here's an upgrade you can easily emulate: "Get a beautiful jar and a scoop from the Container Store," and fill the jar with detergent powder, Stamenich says. Or buy two glass jars and fill the second one with dryer sheets.
Now that's a room I could spend time in.

Liz Seymour, Washington Post Writer

Next week I hope to show you the room wallpapered and the new washer and dryer. Then my fun begins with the workers gone and the house to myself and I can start decorating. A big thank you to my Chinoiserie Chic sponsors and supporters for providing pieces for my room you will be seeing soon -

Anne Hepfer Designs

As part of my One Room Challenge Laundry Room Makeover, I'd love to incorporate a mud room area, as this is the way the family enters the home from the garage.

These mud rooms all have wallpaper, as will mine. The one above even has a blue and white porcelain piece - I wonder why they don't show it with umbrellas in it? I'd also like a place to stylishly store boots, raincoats, and umbrellas. These are great inspiration. Make sure to come back tomorrow to see my progress in the laundry room.

a Nantucket cottage

Palmer Weiss

CWB Architects