Sunday, August 14, 2011

If these walls could talk

If my mudroom walls could talk, they'd regale you with an amusing story about the time I sponge-painted them (really badly) in turquoise, terracotta and cream - no doubt suffering from some kind of Martha Stewart- (or crack-) inspired shabby chic kick. I honestly don't know what I was thinking.
Layer 1: sponge paint; Layer 2: wallpaper and border
That phase didn't last long, the walls would add, because, just a few years later, I was back - this time with wallpaper of forest green plaid and leaves with a grapevine border that I hung upside down.
Look closely. The grape clusters are hanging UP. We discovered our mistake five minutes after we finished the job.
The paper is coming off now, and those walls will be painted a non-trendy soft gold to flow easily into the new kitchen and family room. Painted white bead board will create a tall wainscoting from the coat rack to the floor with framed photographs of Italy above. "Much better," the walls would say.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When we moved into our house, the previous owners had done the bathroom walls in sponge-painted bright green and yellow. It was clear they either had to repaint or move. Soft gold with white bead board and pictures of Italy sounds really pretty.

Cathy Hamilton said...

Thanks, Ellen. I have a much subtler sponge motif in the upstairs bathroom (where I rarely dare to go.) I don't know what the appeal was. Sponging was so much more labor intensive than just painting.

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