5.11.2010

office primping

We are notorious for moving things around in our house. Even switching entire rooms around.

Like this room in the front of our home. When we first moved in, it was my office. Then it became Ryan’s when we built out an office for me off the playroom. Then our friends came to live with us and we sort of shared the office so that we could use mine as an extra bedroom. We tried to use this room as a sitting room, but realized that it just didn’t get much use. So here we are again, and it is now my office.

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It was painted a great dark taupe color, but it felt a little too dark for me. So last week I painted it back to its original lighter color.

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I’ve always loved the idea of wallpaper, but have also always struggled to find one that I love {and can also afford!}

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The idea of painting 'wallpaper' seemed to be the best fit, so with the approval of my darling husband, I came up with an idea, sketched it out, and just dove in. It is just paint, afterall.

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I created a pattern, traced it on the wall and then hand painted the lines. IT TAKES FOREVER! I finished the window wall and we thought maybe we’d live with it for a few weeks before deciding to continue on to the other walls. But, as I lived with it for a few hours, I just knew I wanted it on all of the walls.

So tracing and painting I continued …

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I’m making progress. Slowly, I might add. But progress nonetheless.

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33 comments:

  1. oh i love it...it looks amazing!

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  2. You have a great deal of patience my dear to do this and it is turning out amazing!! Great job, can not wait to see it all done. I hope your poor arm holds out!! Good luck, Kathysue

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  3. Holy smokes! That's a great idea....lots of work, but a great idea! I love how it's turning out. What paint color is that? I'm starting to brainstorm for a boy/girl nursery and that might be a perfect color!

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  4. This is just marvelous! Big job for sure but what a payoff.

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  5. What!!! That is crazy cool. I can't believe you are doing that by hand. It is stunning. I would love to have my room like that. My office is very similar, brown and black. Nothing on the walls yet. Amazing!

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  6. Wow! That's amazing. Sure to be phenomenal when you're all said and done ... and completely worn out, no doubt! Absolutely amazing. Love love love.

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  7. Beuatiful, just beautiful! It's worth the effort!

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  8. Just gorgeous... love, love, love it!! (kudos on the new header too!)

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  9. Are you kidding me? That is crazy beautiful, but I couldn't imagine tackling that project! Kudos to you!

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  10. Wow, I'm speechless, just...WOW! What an amazing effect - I can only imagine how tedious it gets at times, but I can assure you that the effort is worth it because it looks unbelievable. :) (Oh, and I like the new header, too!)

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  11. The wall color is the one the builders painted our ENTIRE house. It is Rodda paint HFH09. Sort of a beigey - taupey - grey - nice neutral. The pattern is painted with the custom white used in our kitchen.

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  12. Unbelievable! I stenciled a toile pattern in a small bathroom when I was 8 months pregnant. Never again! You could do a whole post on the "how to's" of this project! Well done!

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  13. That is absolutely gorgeous. I would love to have that in my office. Come do it for me? ;-)

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  14. OH MY WORD. you have PATIENCE. It looks amazing! wish I had patience for something like that.

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  15. I'm blown away! the result looks so uniform; beautiful idea!

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  16. shut up! you kill me..insane and GORGEOUS! I'm not going to even ask to link this..i'll just let elle decor have this story..wow!

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  17. Oh my word that is amazing! If I would have seen the finished product, there's no way I would have believed you did it by hand. Wow, I'm just so impressed!

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  18. I love it, I love it, I love it! I wanted to do this in Amelia's closet with a print like this...but didn't know how to go about it. SO good....

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  19. Unbelievable!
    SO PRETTY!!!!

    Layla :-)

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  20. NO WAY!! you are amazing! i could never take that amount of time! unbelievable!

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  21. It's so beautiful I can't even come up with words! Your fortitude is to be congratulated as well!

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  22. Jillana12.5.10

    Amazing!! Are you free handing or using a stencil to get the crisp lines?

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  23. That looks darling!! you really have some talent and I can't believe how crisp and clean it all looks!! job well done!

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  24. Wow! That's GORGEOUS. You've got some serious patience. That will be so lovely when you're done.

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  25. That is beautiful! I would love to hear what you used to create that pattern. I really don't know how you do it with four little ones...I only have one and I can't even imagine doing something like that!

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  26. I think you are crazy for taking this on but BOY oh boy is it fantastic to look at. Way to go!!

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  27. how in the world do you do this!? THis would make me crazy but I would love it in the end. You inspire me to branch out!!

    Tammy

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  28. Emily...will you come and do my office please? Absolutely beautiful (picking jaw up off floor now)...

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  29. I CANNOT believe that you hand painted that. It looks amazing. I would have given up half way through.

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  30. that pattern is gorgeous. what patience you have. .

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  31. So awesome!! Completely speachless....

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  32. Wow! That looks SO GOOD. I would mess something like that up, I am sure of it.

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