DIY: Wallpaper?

Wallpaper in kitchens is a classic, even old fashioned design choice, but lately I've seen lots of updated versions with a fun, fresh look.  

The Kitchn

The Kitchn

This post from Apartment Therapy highlights the benefits of using a little wallpaper to go a long way--over the kitchen cabinets.  If you don't have custom, to the ceiling cabinets in your home, then a fun, low maintenance way to incorporate some pattern into the room and to fill up that empty space is to use wallpaper.

Since we are renting our apartment, and before we leave we'll need to be sure all of the walls are white again, I really wasn't interested in investing in a whole room's worth of wallpaper.  It can be very expensive (all of those rolls you need for a big space add up quickly!), and it's a huge pain to remove again when you leave.

BUT we had finished settling in, and the kitchen/dining room desperately lacked some pattern and color.  One option was to go for window treatments, and the other was wallpaper.  What made the decision for me was a trip home to my parents' house in NC and Mom sweetly digging out her stash of extra rolls of wallpaper from their house for me.  Jackpot!  I crammed three rolls--one from three of my favorite patterns from home--of free wallpaper into my suitcase and headed back to Vienna for some projects.

I chose a bright yellow paper with a subtle yellow graphic background almost like a Greek key pattern with bright, multicolored butterflies in the foreground.  My parents have this pattern on the walls and ceiling of their first floor powder room, and it makes such a statement!  For us it's the perfect shot of color and pattern in an otherwise plain room.  

I used a wallpaper adhesive to mount the section I needed, tucking the edge behind the IKEA stainless countertop and trimming around the other edges with a knife.  Since the paper is right where we do all of our chopping, snacking, etc, I decided to roll on a coating of clear water based enamel that you can wipe down when the inevitable spots and splashes happen.

Thank you, Mom & Dad!

Normally I would caution you about tackling a wallpaper project for an entire room yourself, since it's notoriously difficult and tedious work, but using a little bit as an accent in a room is quick, easy and lots of fun.  And you only need one roll!

Liza