Under a Blue Moon

A few months ago I saw a post on Centsational Girl about hanging beadboard wallpaper.  I never knew such a thing even existed.   I knew it would be a perfect project for our teeny laundry room quarter-bath (just a commode – the sink is in the laundry room proper).  

It is near impossible to get a good photo of this little bathroom because of how small it is.  It is about 3 feet x 5 feet.  

Here is a composite before picture:

Not bad.  Just kind of boring.  

I bought the wallpaper at Lowe's and the brand is Allen & Roth.  It is an unusual "paper."  It is actually a very thin foam like material with a paper backing.  I'll give you my tips for working with it in a minute.

Here's my random pet peeve of the day – I hate seeing pictures of people's bathrooms with the toilet seat up.  It takes 1/100th of second to shut it and looks so much better in photos.  

I used to hang wallpaper for a living.  That gave me just a teeny advantage for this project but honestly it was pretty easy to work with.   If I was brand new to wallpapering I don't think I would tackle a bathroom as my first project.  I'm tempted to do my eating area in the kitchen and I know that would be a breeze – all flat walls, no tight places and no toilet to wallpaper behind.  

As you can see by the top picture our walls are pretty heavily textured.  I hung a sample piece first to see if the thickness of the wallpaper would cover it.  It did not.  So I hung blank-stock first. Blank-stock is just a heavy paper that covers texture.  You hang that first then hang your decorative paper over it.  

I used heavy duty wallpaper paste for the blank-stock but the beadboard wallpaper is pre-pasted.  20 some odd years ago when I did this for a living I would not hang pre-pasted wallpaper.  It didn't stick very well.  I would just treat it like regular wallpaper and use thinned down paste.  However this pre-pasted worked brilliantly.

Here are a few tips for working with this particular paper:

• Use a fresh blade for every cut – I used a snap-off Olfa cutter and after trimming each piece I would snap off the top so I had a fresh blade.  Otherwise you get a ragged cut.  
• Since the paper is a foam like material it dents and dings very easily so take your time and be very careful.  Take off your rings and make sure your nails are short.  
• The paper is paintable (and I would highly recommend painting it) but make sure you scrupulously clean off any paste residue before painting.  Otherwise you end up with a crackle paint like finish.  

I am really pleased with how it turned out and, like I said, I may do the eating area in our kitchen.  The laundry room is off the eating area and I think it would tie it all together nicely.

 

 

On my birthday, back in April, my sister Kate and I braved the biting winds of Alameda and hit up the Alameda Antique Fair.  It seemed as if our favorite vendors were not as brave so the pickings (at least the ones we were interested in) were rather slim.

One thing we did see was a pair of lovely birdhouses made from odd bits and bobs and painted a lovely, chalky white.  Of course they were just part of a vendor's display and not for sale. Other than a skeleton Kate coveted (too expensive) and small table I bought (which Kate helped me lug the 18 miles back to my car) the bird houses were the only interesting thing we saw that day.

On Saturday Rick and I spent the entire day building a bird house in an effort to try to replicate the ones I had seen.  

We either used materials we had on hand or inexpensive items from the craft store.  The pillars on either side of the opening were made from a stool leg, cut in half.  The opening was a small frame.  The finial on top was from a curtain rod that has been in the garage for the past 11 years.  The blue knob came from the craft shop.  

The interesting detail along the roof line was cut from a picture frame. Rick also had an assortment of trim pieces left over from various remodelling jobs that we used for the base of the bird house.  The house itself was made from scraps of left over lumber.

Because there were so many different components the entire thing needed a good, color blocking, coat of primer before I could paint it. Once that dried I just sprayed it with flat white spray paint.  

I know the bird house in the background is crooked but we just hung it there temporarily and next thing we knew a bird was making a nest in it.  We didn't want to disturb it after that.  So pathalogically symetrical me is just going to have to deal with it until the bird moves out.

Anyway – I'm pleased with how the new bird house turned out.  And to Kate – who spent a cold, windy Sunday morning with me so I wouldn't have to brave it alone on my Birthday – Thank you.