Dramatic Bedroom Mural

Our guest bedroom got a new look with a photo mural.  

We updated the room because our son's best friend, Kai,

 is coming to live with us while they start their college freshman year

together at our home, because of the Coronavirus situation. 

 The boys will be taking over the second floor of the house, 

which will serve as their college dorm!

I wanted the room to have a completely new look for the guys.

These murals are actually photos that are blown up and made into wallpaper strips

 to fit the exact dimension of the wall you want to cover.  I was excited to

collaborate with this Swedish company, PhotoWall, and selected a rustic brick

arch wall called "Arch Ruin" as the backdrop for our guest room

 from the thousands of images they stock. 

Look for my 25% discount code at the end

of this blog post for your own order from Photowall!

The wallpaper mural comes with a package of powdered wallpaper paste. 

Mixed up with a gallon of water in a bucket, it was ready to use in  5 minutes.

  I also ordered the $18 wallpaper tool kit so that I would be all set 

when it was time to rock and roll. 

I have hung a ton of wallpaper in my life yet this set up from PhotoWall is a little bit 

different than anything I had seen before.  The roll of wallpaper is continuous, yet has 

each strip numbered, and you cut it with scissors when you are moving on to the next strip.

Simply cut along the dotted line....

You apply the paste on the wall where the strip will go first, 

so I measured out 18" and made a small pencil mark to give 

me a rough guideline for the paste.

                     Apply the paste with the brush to the section of wall next to the strip you just hung.

                        The paste has some globs in it but they brush right out with the wallpaper brush.

This wallpaper was the easiest paper I had ever hung, 

and I was finished with the wall in just two hours. 

Now it was time to style the room....

First I decided to put the bed on the angle so

we could take in the dramatic backdrop of the wall mural.

But wait....do you remember what it use to look like?

When last used this room it had the dollhouse  as well as the pastoral murals

I had painted on the walls giving the room a feminine romantic artistic effect.

It was very pretty, but wouldn't work for a college guy.

So, before I began my wallpapering I painted 

 over the lilac stripe at the top of the room as well as the murals so 

they wouldn't show any trace of pattern through the wallpaper mural.

And two hours later I had a whole new wall of brick!!!

Everyone loves the new look! 

I was able to reuse many of the things we already had in our home, 

including lamps with burlap shades, some Ralph Lauren beige linen pillow covers

my modern office desk chair, and the grey and white checked curtains from Ballards.

Piper gives it a thumbs up too!

Use  Photowall if you want to create a dramatic new look with ease.

All my readers can get 25% off any order of Photowall products

 until the end of August 2020 by using the promo code

amymaisondecor25 for your discount. 

With everyone at home more than ever now because of the coronavirus,

this is an awesome way to improve everyday spaces in your home.

I am already planning my next mural!

Read more »

My Cottage Kitchen

 Welcome to my cottage kitchen, I am excited to show you around!

 Its a very tiny space and so "Cottage Style" works best.
I love French style, and so let's say its French Cottage Style!

I am joining some French Country bloggers in a one room home tour,
which is such great fun. Check the links at the end of the post!
My kitchen is the room I rarely share, and so 
I hope you enjoy getting a peek at it today.

It is in the center at the back of our home and is connected by three

hallways which makes it a busy place. 

 From our front door you can see our kitchen at the end of the hall 

where I recently hung up some vintage botanical prints.

The butcher block island by John Boos company is the workhorse of the kitchen,

and its where we do most of our meal prep and also where I like to display things,

like fruit and vegetables in pretty dishes, like this purple transferware.

Part of my transfer ware collection is in an open cabinet space above the kitchen stove.

Various collections are found in our kitchen, like these vintage fruit 

and vegetable molds that I bought at the Brimfield Antique Fair last year.

By the way, I will be a vendor at the Brimfield Fair this year with my son, 

Justin Power, and I hope you come see us at the New England Motel Field #40

 if you plan to be headed there this May10-15, 2016!

You can find all kinds of awesome things to decorate your own home with,

like I have done over the years. Although our home is newer, I switched out

our sink for an old drain board style porcelain sink, and I think it is one of

my favorite improvements that Mr. Maison Decor and I ever did.

Our countertops are the Formica FX brand that looks like marble, but isn't,

although I wish they were....

And lastly, my kitchen cabinets are maple, and I painted them 5 years ago 

with Annie Sloan's Old White Chalk Paint and then I clear waxed them

and they have held up very well indeed.

Our dining room is on one side of the kitchen, and that doorway you see

leads to our basement where we have an apartment that our various kids

have lived in over the years.  There is one unpainted section of wall next

to the door that has all of our son's heights and names with dates.

I cannot paint over it...its too meaningful of course, and its fun to see how

 much our youngest in particular is growing these days!

Then to the right you can see the front hallway again and the room to the right

of the photo is our family room, which is really "man town".  A room filled

with leather couches, a giant tv, burlap curtains, a dog kennel and 

lots and lots of cowboy hats hanging on the walls.

Its a hop and maybe a skip, but not a jump to come into the kitchen 

to cook popcorn on family movie nights!

 Our newest addition to the kitchen area is this fantastic farmhouse style mirror.

  I am in love!  Its called the Reproduction Louisville Mirror
 and I got it from AntiqueFarmhouse.com.  
They have home decor accessories 
with so many things for your pretty cottage or rustic farmhouse look. 

 I have a thing for mirrors and use them for wall art, more than any other kind of item.

Big statement mirrors are so versatile, and while I first thought I would put it in the dining room

I decided it looked perfect with my white kitchen cabinets and its rustic distressed finish.
Statement pieces are usually large items that denote a decided style to a space.

I can see putting seasonal wreaths on the mirror during holidays,

or just tiny accents, like this cute burlap and moss bird.

See how our kitchen is tucked into the connecting hallways?

You can see into the dining room from here, where we just added our French doors.

And my fun new addition, the old French day bed that is waiting to

be put out into the courtyard....but that is for another day!

I hope you enjoyed this tour of our tiny but charm filled kitchen.
When you don't have grand rooms, makeup for it with charming
and personality filled accessories.  That's what I do!

To visit the Antique Farmhouse online shop, click here.

It was so much fun to join with my design blogger friends for this 

French Country Blogger's House Tour.  
I am off to see what rooms they are highlighting today,

and you can visit them as well by clicking on the links below.

Cedar Hill Farmhouse

 Confessions Of A Plate Addict

 Designthusiasm

Dixie Delights

Edith And Evelyn

Eleven Gables

Housepitality Designs

Maison de Pax

Savvy Southern Style

Shabbyfufu

Slightly Coastal

Note: This post is partially sponsored by the AntiqueFarmhouse.com however all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Read more »