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!

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Grey and White Winter Style

With Christmas 2015 in the books, so went all the decorations.

Our decor went from full on "Christmas Holiday" to "Winter Style". 

At first, I thought I would live with the tree for a bit longer, as in a winter forest tree...

just white lights and no ornaments, but it still felt too Christmassy. So down it came,

the last of our holiday decor to get packed away.

Less feels more right about now.  My desire to pare down and de-clutter is 

pretty strong. My "Winter Style" is all about less stuff and

built around a grey and white color palette with a sprinkle of metallics.    

 Right before the holidays I got these grey and white linen panels from Ballard Designs.

They warmed up the room and since I have always been a fan of Buffalo Check pattern

I knew I would love the grey and white panels.  I bought them for the dining room, but ended

up loving them in the living room instead.  Having the white slipcovered sofa makes it

easy to switch out pillows, and so two jumbo grey linen pillows found their way into the mix.

 Using less accessories also meant using less pillows, 

so I added this simple beaded snowflake pillow.

Faux or real sheepskin fur throws add a magical wintery feeling of Dr. Shivago style.

Our normal stacks of books and candles were taken off of the coffee table trunk, 

where only the vintage silver tray remained to hold my current reading

 supply of decor magazines and a few votives for evening atmosphere.

 As you may know, our family loves dogs. A collection of vintage dogs

 that was in an upstairs room would be just the right accessory for our Winter look, 

with grey and white and metallic.  Moving things around is the perfect way

to shop your house for accessories when changing up the look of a room.

 Vintage silver mixes it up with the gold touches in the room. Our candlestick lamps

 are vintage brass, and don't have that shiny look anymore, which is really nice. 

 Its a soft dull gold that looks warm and pretty. I decorate with lots of vintage, as it gives

a room lots of personality.  No more rules about not mixing silver or gold either.

Another beaded pillow with silver and gold beads,

 sits on the velvet tufted chair next to our piano.

A mix of grey and white with just a handful of metallic accents is

what my Winter Style is all about.  When spring finally arrives

I will be ready for more color and accessories, but for now this feels just right.

Shop your own home and pull together bits from other rooms to give

your space a fresh look for the winter.  Check out how my design blogger

friends have transitioned from their holiday decor to the Winter season.

So many great ideas and there is no one way to do it~after all,

personal style should be just that. 

Shabbyfufu

French Country Cottage

 Maison Decor

 Savvy Southern Style

Stone Gable

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