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diymadness

Do you like this wallpaper?

18 years ago

I have a living room where two walls are wallpapered with a rather dingy and outdated paper. I was plannning on stripping them and painting, but I've noticed that wallpaper is starting to come back. What do you think of this paper, with the other two walls painted in a co-ordinating gold colour. I love the outdoors and the living room overlooks my tree-filled yard, so I thought the trees might work. My personal style is cozy, artsy, and eclectic (sorry, no pictures right now).

So -- tacky or not?

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: wallpaper

Comments (14)

  • 18 years ago

    Or maybe this one in the red and gold?

    Here is a link that might be useful: another wallpaper

  • 18 years ago

    Oooohhhh! I like the 1st one very, very much!

  • 18 years ago

    It's a nice fresh modern print. Wallpaper isn't tacky - at least not when it suits the decor, and while it may not have been popular lately, it's a classic choice for decorating.

    It became unpopular I think, because people are having trouble removing wallpaper without damaging the wall if it wasn't hung properly- for resale purposes it's best to have a painted wall. Some wallpaper designs also become dated and make an otherwise fine room look out of style, while other papers are so classic that they never get dated - like toile.

  • 18 years ago

    I think either of them could look really good, but it would depend on what you do around them. Just off the top of my head I think I'd put them only on one wall, but that's just a gut feeling. I can see them with substantial baseboards and crown moulding in my mind.

  • 18 years ago

    Thanks, everyone. Oceanna, I agree that one wall would look better -- as an accent wall. The problem is that there is a corner fireplace in the corner between the two wallpapered walls. So I'm a bit concerned about ending the wallpaper there, since a lot of attention is drawn to that corner.

    I might be selling in 3 or 4 years (planning on starting a family and will need more space eventually). So -- I wonder if I should be worried about resale.

    Thanks again.

  • 18 years ago

    I do like them, but I do think you ought to consider resale issues if you're considering selling in that short a time. Have you looked at the easy-peel wallpaper? Sherwin-Williams has it.

    I really don't mean to offend anyone, but I have always been a little weirded out by having wallpaper on only one or two walls in a room. To me it looks like you ran out of wallpaper, or didn't want/couldn't afford to buy all the paper that was necessary. (Oddly enough, wallpaper above or below a chair rail does not give me the same feeling.)

  • 18 years ago

    This house was FULL of wallpaper when we bought it almost 16 years ago. Now that I've been here that long, I HATE wallpaper! It's so maddening to try to get it OFF the wall! So far we've removed the paper from two upstairs bedrooms and bathroom, and the kitchen (when we remodeled). I will never use full wall paper ever again. Border or trim, maybe.

    diymadness, a story was told by one of our (now former) neighbors. They were shopping for a home at the same time we were. They looked at the house we eventually bought, and one down the street with the same footprint and features. They bought the OTHER house because of all the wallpaper in this one. They had already had the experience of trying to remove wallpaper, and said, "NEVER AGAIN!" We were less experienced and didn't think of that.

    So yes, it might affect resale value, or at least, re-sale-ability.

    DonnaR/CA

  • 18 years ago

    I like the trees. If you want to go slightly less literal, here's one I was considering for a folding screen a few years ago. It has subtle metallic accents and is quite lovely, IMO.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Susan Unger wallpaper

  • 18 years ago

    If you're thinking of resale in such a short time I think I'd avoid the wallpaper since so many people have strong feelings against it. I'd stick more with neutrals. Do you watch the shows on HGTV about staging a house for sale? Basically, they sap all the personality out of a house with the idea of allowing the buyer to more easily imagine their own personalities/furnishings/accessories in the home. Beige, tan, sage green, muted gold are all colors they use frequently.

  • 18 years ago

    Not as pretty, but much cheaper and less permanent.

    Here is a link that might be useful: tree curtain panels

  • 18 years ago

    Thanks everyone. I appreciate your advice on resale. It's tough, I find, to balance making my home my own vs. always thinking about what "the buyer" would like. I find that it can lead to trepidation about giving your home any real flavour.

    Anyway, I guess I will resign myself to wallpaper stripping. Ugh. Ugh. I've read the recent thread about it and it sounds terrible. At least it's just two walls. Then -- on the upside -- I can pick any paint colour I want.

    Daisyadair, thanks for the curtain link. Very pretty.

    Thanks again.

  • 18 years ago

    Wallpaper removal is only a nasty chore IF it's not put up right to begin with. Putting it up right means sizing the walls BEFORE the paper goes up AND giving it the proper time to cure BEFORE you paper.
    If you do it right you can pretty much grab a corner and have it off in a few minutes.
    The big problem is MOST people do not know the proper way of putting up wallpaper. They don't realize that priming new walls and sizing them is an important step. Then the next guy comes along and it's a real mess.
    Experienced homeowners who've been thru wallpaper nightmares wil steer clear of homes with alot of wallpaper unless they are certain it was done by a pro who knew what they were doing.

  • 18 years ago

    A room with one side of wallpaper can look like somebody ran out of money unless the room was built around that one accent wall but that is very tricky, a trick for decorators who are trying to accomplish a certain feel. Bold wallpapers are often complimented by having coordinating small prints or textures on 3 walls and the bold print on one, but just one wall of paper can look difficult but it can also look beautiful if done right, but "right" is the trick.

  • 18 years ago

    Just my take on it. We just bought a house we love back in July. Even the colors in nearly all the rooms are lovely, almost all newly painted. I knew that a small alcove; breakfast type area was painted-over wallpaper, (this was after the beginning of the "love affair" before buying. To my horror and dismay, I found more painted over paper in a powder room, hallway bath, kitchen, and worst of all; Master bath, with large soaring cathedral ceiling!! All this right before closing. I totally blame myself for it, for not looking a LOT more closely. But I was totally blinded by the rest of the house by then.

    Had I seen it in so many rooms when first looking, I may have walked away without a second glance.

    I want the Master bath and kitchen MY colors, but I do NOT want it painted over wallpaper a second time, I'm just too picky, and, with an arthritic neck, I DO NOT have the energy to take it all off for now, or the forseeable future, so I'll have to live with it.

    And, I just bet the painted-over-paper will be a lot worse to get off than just paper alone. :(

    But, I digress.....

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