When I posted here a while back about using wallpaper in kitchens, my mom called me and said she wanted to do that in her house and asked me to keep an eye out for a fun pattern. Then I found this Brunschwig and Fils wallpaper and my mom loved it as much as I did.
I’m so mad at myself for not taking before pictures! You can see here that my mom had done sort of like a shabby chic crackle paint treatment on this wall a few years ago and she was ready to update.
We hung the wallpaper ourselves using foam mini rollers to quickly spread on the wallpaper paste. Hanging wallpaper is definitely a two person job, but it goes quickly once you get into a groove. We did these two walls in about two hours, start to finish. (even with little ones wanting to assist)
This 12″ brush is a lifesaver for hanging wallpaper. Once you have started placing a sheet at the top of the wall, use this brush to smooth down the rest of the paper. It really helps to reduce wrinkles and makes the job go really fast.
You know how when you finish one project in a room, suddenly you want to redo a few other things? As soon as we had the wallpaper up, my mom wanted to repaint her butcher block island (you can see it to the right in the picture below) and she also was not loving the brown accent tiles in the back splash here.
The island got repainted and we also decided to try painting over the brown tiles.
We used an off-white latex paint in high gloss to cover up the brown. This tile is not in the main part of the kitchen – it’s just a decorative tile in a lower use place, so we weren’t that concerned about durability. I know that there are paints specially formulated for painting over ceramic tile though if you want a more durable solution.
The navy blue color on the island and the white accent tile make all the difference here. Also, it’s worth mentioning that we made the mistake of cutting all the wallpaper pieces in the same place on the pattern. We assumed that the wall was even, but it’s actually pretty rare for a ceiling to be completely level. We ended up being about half an inch off (as you can see in photos above). It was an easy fix though with a piece of inexpensive molding and a little sample pot of matching green paint (which we also used for touch ups other places).
We also picked up six new bar stools from IKEA as part of the revamp. So far we are pretty happy with the Ingolf stools and the ticking stripe chair pads.
The island was painted in Valspar’s Jazz Club, which I think looks great with my mom’s granite and the new art we hung (more on that later this week). The main part of the kitchen is mostly white — painted cabinets and a subway tile back splash–so this wallpaper is a really fun departure.
The kitchen is open to this family room that we redecorated a year or two ago. One of my favorite little details is a pair of decorative cornices I found at a flea market a while back. We hung the pieces in the wall corners and it sort of frames out the view into the kitchen. There’s a matching cornice on the other side too.
Lucky Mom!
Lovely kitchen and great painitngs. Nice pictures.
It all came out beautifully. Your mother must be so pleased.
I love it all–the wallpaper, the painted tile and the dark blue table is perfection!
Looks fab fab fabulous! Looove it!
So lovely!
Wow, really pretty! I'm trying to find wallpaper for my dining room, but have no idea where to start looking. What are your favorite wallpaper sources? -Renee
looks great! I'm always looking forward to your posts and they have just gotten better and better. Thank you for sharing :)
I love that you painted over the tiles. I have always wondered if that was possible! Your mom's kitchen looks wonderfully inviting now!
So amazing! Love it! It seems like you and your mom have an awesome relationship and so much fun together. Love all your projects with her. This one is really beautiful.
It looks beautiful…and so homey! I love how you painted the tiles, too…what a difference!
Wow! That looks great!
wow, what a difference! it's very pretty!
Looks great! Chic!
Looks great!! I would love to have that much seating in my kitchen! Looks like a great entertaining space! – BOO
Lovely! I love the colour your painted the island
This turned out great!
flemingfiles.blogspot.com
That looks great! wonderful job.
Whoa! Your mom's house looks great and totally different from when i was there years ago! She is lucky to have a daughter in the business. ;)
I LOVE this!
Who knew those Ikea barstools could look so good in the right space! The kitchen looks amazing, I love reading your blog. I hope that you swing by and check out my blog when you get a chance, http://www.paigeofdesign.com/
I love that wallpaper.
I think you have such a keen eye for color combining! Love it! What a great daughter :)
Lovely — I'm always drawn to damask patterns, and I think I've already overwhelmed my apartment with it. I have the two-door version of your mom's IKEA kitchen cart, but it looks like she added pulls to the drawers? Seems obvious but I hadn't thought of it!
Wow! That looks awesome! You did a terrific job.
This looks great! SUCH an inspiration!
Your mom's kitchen looks amazing!! I love the color…it adds so much! Hope you got to relax a little bit with your family! Love you!!
so much to love, but most of all the navy butcher block table sets off all the green and white and adds an interesting dimension (not being matchy-matchy).
Hi! I LOVE the wallpaper and would love to to something similar on a smaller scale for one of my walls. Would you advise wallpapering on textured walls? It came with the apartment and plastering over it is too much of a hassle.
Hi There! Think your mom would share about how painting the ikea norden island went? I'm thinking about painting ours and just wondering what worked for her! Looks great – thanks for the inspiration!
It looks so lovely, Jenny!
the room looks good, like the wallpaper inspired me to make a mood board on mydeco.com and add inspiration for future projects thanks!