Personalize your living space without structural or substantive changes. Cover accents with color and pattern using rolls or scraps of removable wallpaper.
Many cozy and inviting homes start out as boxy rooms painted in neutrals—kind of bland at first sight, but actually an ideal blank canvas for combining wallpapers such as the florals with warm tones.
Even if you’ve got nothing to hide, a folding room divider is an easy enhancement to make or embellish. Covered in a large-scale print, the floor screen creates a private corner nook or simply softens a sharp angle.
What You’ll Need
- 3 6-foot-long Whitewood boards
- Paint
- Paintbrush
- Removable wallpaper (we used Watercolor Poppy #WT4504 from York Wallcoverings)
- Scissors
- Water in a spray bottle
- Smoothing tool
- 6 hinges
- Screwdriver
Cut the boards to the width of the wallpaper and paint on all sides and edges; let dry.
Cut a 6-foot-long piece of wallpaper. Lay it on a drop cloth over a flat surface and spray with a fine mist of water. After two to three minutes, turn the paper over and apply to one board, which will be the center board. With the smoothing tool, remove any air bubbles and wrinkles.
Roll out another piece of wallpaper and match it to the pattern on one side of the papered board; cut the paper roughly to size. Butt the two boards together, wet the paper and apply to the second board matching the pattern to the side of the first board. Repeat for the third board, matching the pattern to the other side of the first (center) board.
When dry, turn the boards over onto the cutting mat and trim excess paper with the cutting knife. Repeat the wallpapering process for the back side of each board; let dry and trim.
Using the hinges and supplied screws, attach the two side boards to the center board with three hinges between each pair of boards at top, center and bottom. Alternate the direction of the hinges for each panel to achieve an accordion folding effect.
Pendant lamps in an abstract pattern continue the floral motif, adding some cool tones along with rich rosy hues.
What You’ll Need
- Lampshade
- Wallpaper (we used Poppy Field #GP5908 from York Wallcoverings)
- Kraft paper
- Scissors
- Spray adhesive
- Hinged clothespins
Spread a large sheet of kraft paper on a flat surface and place the lampshade on top, seam-side down.
With a pencil, make an X at the beginning of the seam, tracing along the bottom edge of the shade as it’s rolled across the paper. When it gets back to the seam, mark another X and keep rolling for about an inch or so while tracing. This extra allowance will be the seam. Repeat these steps with the top of the shade. Use a ruler to draw a straight line from the top line’s X to the bottom line’s X and repeat on the other side. The resulting template should be shaped like an elongated U.
Cut out the pattern, leaving at least a ½-inch allowance at both top and bottom. This allowance will wrap over the edges onto the inside of the lampshade. Wrap the pattern around the lampshade to make sure it fits, then trace the shape onto the wrong side of the wallpaper and cut it out.
Spray adhesive onto the wallpaper (test it first on a scrap of wallpaper to make sure the spots of moisture don’t show through). Carefully roll the lampshade over the paper, smoothing out any wrinkles. Fold the extra allowance back onto itself to form a seam, spray with extra adhesive and apply to the shade.
Using the adhesive, spray the top and bottom allowances and fold down over the shade to the inside. Make some small cuts every inch or so to make folding easier. Secure with clothespins while adhesive dries.
A midcentury-style table gets a touch of old-world charm from a dash of pink marble paper and a gold-painted edge.
What You’ll Need
- Round wooden tabletop (ours is 24 inches in diameter, from Amazon)
- 3 or 4 round wooden 15½-inch table legs (also from Amazon)
- 6 oz. pot Modern Masters Metallic Paint in Brass
- Trim paintbrush
- Painter’s tape
- Peel-and-stick wallpaper (we used Misty Marble wallpaper from Chasing Paper)
- Scissors
- Craft knife and cutting mat
- 3 or 4 angle-top hardware plates
- Drill/driver and bit
Place painter’s tape around each table leg about 6 inches above the metal foot. Using the metallic paint and brush, paint the legs below the tape and the edge of the round tabletop. Let dry.
Cut a piece of the peel-and-stick wallpaper about 25 inches square (our paper roll is 24 inches wide already so we cut a 25-inch length). Peel back the lining and apply the paper slowly to the tabletop, smoothing out wrinkles or air bubbles as you go. Turn the table over onto the cutting mat and, using the craft knife, carefully trim excess paper, closely following the edge of the tabletop.
Following manufacturer’s instructions and using the drill/driver and bit, attach the angle-top hardware plates to the bottom of the tabletop. We used three but four will also work, especially if you choose a larger tabletop. Screw in the legs.
Bring color to the rest of the room with vivid accents like an Otomi-inspired pillow, painted vintage frames and a vibrant floral rug from Grandin Road. Add a vase of bright fresh flowers and you’re done.
Photography by Chris Hennessey
Thanks to our sponsors: York Wallcoverings and Chasing Paper
Ellery Rug from Grandin Road, grandinroad.com; Coffee table, lampshades and terra-cotta pot from Target, target.com; Sago Palm from Costa Farms, costafarms.com.
© Caruth Studio