Wallpaper | bossy color blog

Accent wall update part deux! Trends in wallpaper accent walls

February 21, 2013 8 Comments

I wrote about wallpaper accent walls last spring, but since we’re seeing them EVERYWHERE, I think we should examine the latest trends. Don’t you?

But first, a reminder: follow the same rules you would for PAINTED accent walls. Accentuate unbroken, prominent walls. The best wall is usually the first one you see when you enter the room.

Trend #1: more wallpaper accent walls behind beds…as headboards, really.

Trend #2: framed wallpaper.

Trend #3: Wallpaper accents in nooks and insets. Below, the wallpaper (which I’m pretty certain is by Manuel Canovas) turns a potentially awkward space into an interesting feature.

Trend #4: Wallpaper on fireplace walls. I have mixed feelings about this one. I don’t generally recommend wallpapering a fireplace wall; I think the fireplace provides enough of a focal point. But the wallpaper is a sweet addition here…

…and here, where it frames the fireplace most effectively.

Seeing as how I seem to be on a one-woman campaign to bring wallpaper into every single house on the planet, I’ll leave you with a few more thoughts:

Remember that wallpaper accent walls are especially terrific if you don’t have a lot of art.

Wallpaper accent walls can be particularly interesting in a stairwell. Try this instead of hanging family pictures up the stairs, as so many of us do. That’s a fine look, but unless each photograph is double-hung, they’re going to get knocked off-kilter every time your toddler (or teenager, or Goldendoodle) bounds down the stairs. How fabulous is this Osborne & Little dog wallpaper? It’s called, appropriately, “Best in Show.”

Osborne & Little black and white dog wallpaper

And of course you remember Nina Campbell’s Paradiso wallpaper in bossy color’s stairwell.

Finally, do not do a wallpaper accent wall in a really tiny space, like a powder room. Go big and do the whole room, or leave it alone.

Wallpaper, Gentle Readers. An accent wall is the easiest way yet to make it your friend.

Many thanks to everyone who submitted questions to The Washington Post’s Home Chat last week with Jura Koncius! An excerpt ran in yesterday’s Local Living section of the Post. Thank you!

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

Filed Under: Accent wall, Bedroom, Color, Stairs, Wallpaper Tagged With: Nina Campbell wallcovering, Osborne & Little Best in Show, Osborne & Little wallcovering, Osborne and Little dog wallpaper, wallcovering accent wall, wallcovering on staircase, wallpaper accent wall, wallpaper around fireplace, wallpaper headboard, wallpaper in stairwell, wallpaper inset, wallpaper nook, wallpaper on fireplace wall

The hippest nursery: black and white, not shades of gray

February 5, 2013 7 Comments

Have you noticed that GRAY is the in color for nurseries these days? Yep. If you’re preoccupied with what’s “trending” (hate that word), get yourself a gray nursery, pronto.

What’s that? Sorry — I didn’t hear you. I was yawning

Can I be honest with you? In addition to striking me as just plum uninspired, gray and white nurseries make me sad. The yellow saves the gray nursery above, but what about the first one, where gray is the…the what? The “pop of color” in the room?

BLACK and white nurseries, on the other hand — or better yet, black and white with dashes of color — are edgy and awesome. We’re finishing up a nursery right now with Quentin Blake’s ABC wallpaper on one wall (you read correctly, Gentle Readers: a WALLPAPER ACCENT WALL!).

All the other walls are white. There are green, black, and orange stripey FLOR carpet squares on the floor (Sound Check in Lime…you know I’m a big fan of FLOR), a modern orange glider (not, alas, an Eames plastic molded rocker but the Eames doesn’t come in orange), and a green Roman Shade with white trim. I hope to post a picture when it’s 100% finished, but in the meantime, here’s a cheat sheet in case you, like me, want to take a stand against blah in the nursery.

Stay tuned, Gentle Readers. We also did a purple and orange nursery recently, so I’ll try to get that up, too. These kids are going to be bossy, no doubt about it.

1. FLOR Tile Made You Look in Kiwi; 2. FLOR Tile Sound Check in Lime, the one we used; 3. FLOR Tile Rake Me Over in Clementine 4. FLOR Tile Rake Me Over in Lime, which we used in another child’s bedroom; 5. Giggle Fitted Crib Sheet, but Etsy is another great resource for amazing custom crib bedding; 6.Mustache Pillow; 7. Mini Library; 8. Classic Crib; 9. Eames Molded Plastic Rocking Chair; and 10. Osborne and Little’s Quentin’s ABC Wallpaper.

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

Filed Under: Accent pillow, Children, Color, FLOR, Kids, Modern, Rugs, Trends, Wallpaper Tagged With: black and white kid's room, black and white nursery, black nursery, gray nursery

Happy New Year, Emerald Green! Bossy color’s finished powder room

January 10, 2013 7 Comments

Yes, Gentle Readers, the rumors are true. Emerald, aka 17-5641, is Pantone’s color of the year for 2013. Hooray!

Pantone color of the year 2013 Emerald 17-5641

I’m going to be honest. Emerald green as “emerald green”, emerald as I think of it, a true jewel tone, green with a little blue in it, really saturated, really deep…

It’s not my fave.

Greens of late have been yellower, mossier, kiwi-er. You know…hipper.

“Emerald” is, well, I’m just going to say it: ’80s. It looks ’80s, ok? Sue me.

And then I keep thinking of Elizabeth Taylor. Even though I know she’s all “Diamonds” and all.

But those Pantone pictures seem to be sorta liberal in their interpretation of “emerald.”

Shades of green emerald green Pantone color of the year 2013

Just to show you what a team player I am (there’s no “I” in team, no “I” in imerald, I mean, emerald), I did, in fact, finish my powder room over the holidays. Yep, FINISHED it. Strong word, I know. But that sucker is GREEN. Maybe not totally blue-y emerald green, but it’s GREEN.

Emerald green powder room Farrow & Ball wallpaper

When we last discussed my powder room, it was a heckuva lot better than it had been. (I’ll say it again: a full bathroom off a dining room? EEEEWW.)

But it was painfully obvious that despite our removal of the shower, gutting of the floor, and replacement of the window and fixtures, the room wasn’t done. It needed green trim (not white), a window treatment, and artwork.

Check, check, and check.

Shades of green emerald green Pantone color of the year 2013

The awesome painting over the towel bar is by Elizabeth Brown, aka Dragon’s Appetite on Etsy. What can I say? She’s a favorite of mine. She’s all over my living room, too.

Shades of green emerald green Pantone color of the year 2013

An 8-year old friend of my daughters’, Lizey, was at our house a few weeks ago. She went into the powder room, and when she came out, she whispered into Ruthie’s ear, “Your bathroom is fancy!”

That’s the look I was going for, bub. Glad you like it.

Filed Under: bossy color's house, Color, Farrow and Ball, Pantone, Powder room, Wallpaper Tagged With: 17-5641, Emerald green, Pantone color of the year 2013

Mixing patterns, and thanks, FLOR!

September 1, 2012 7 Comments

You know I love FLOR carpet squares, right? I do. Have for years. I was an early adopter.

So imagine my delight when the FLOR folks invited me to give a presentation about pattern at their brand-spanking-new showroom in Georgetown last Thursday. Thanks so much to all of you who attended – it was super fun! (Naturally I meant to blog BEFORE the event, but, well, I was preparing my presentation and didn’t get to it. Sorry about that!)

A long time ago, I told you that patterned wall-to-wall carpeting was making a comeback – which it has, sloooowwwly but surely. If you haven’t had the opportunity (courage!) to embrace this trend yet, consider patterned FLOR squares. They’re less of a commitment, given that they’re not permanently affixed to your floor.

During the talk, I said that to mix patterns successfully, there has to be at least one unifying element:

- Color palette,

- Scale, and/or

- “Feel.” By which I don’t mean style, such as “mid-century” or “traditional,” I mean, “earthy,” “fancy,” “informal,” “luxurious.” You know, feel.

Ideally, a successful mix of patterns will have at least 2 of these elements, but one is better than none. (With apologies to Candice Olson, we all know that design rules were made to be broken, but let’s get you comfortable with this guideline and then you can riff all you want, ok?)

Here are a few examples of mixing patterns using FLOR tiles. Imagine this on the walls…

Manuel Canovas Como Flock flocked wallpaper

Como Flock wallpaper, by my main man, Manuel Canovas

This on the floor…

FLOR’s “Full Kilt” pattern in Smoke

And this in a pillow somewhere…

Arbus fabric in Ebony, by Romo

Or this rug…

FLOR in the pattern Cambium, colorway Geranium

With a sofa upholstered in….

Romo’s Sarona fabric in Rope

And some big, down-filled pillows in this small-scale pattern…

Picus fabric in Rocoto, by Romo

You get the idea.

So remember: one unifying element when mixing patterns. Mix away, Gentle Readers! Mix away.

Filed Under: Fabric, Floors, Pattern, Rugs, Wallpaper Tagged With: flocked wallpaper, FLOR, FLOR carpet squares, FLOR carpet tiles, FLOR event, FLOR Georgetown showroom, FLOR pattern, Manuel Canovas, Manuel Canovas Como Flock, mixing patterns, pattern, Romo Designer Fabrics

Kitchen renovation, Chapter 1: A slippery slope

June 16, 2012 11 Comments

Last summer, our back porch started to collapse.

Wardman row house back porch renovation

“It did not.” (That’s my husband talking.)

“Yes, it did.”

“We could have fixed it.”

“Yes, but we would have been spending money to fix something we didn’t want.”

(Silence)

“John. We talked about needing just a teeny bit more space in our kitchen. Remember? Just enough for a table and chairs?”

Saarinen chairs and tulip table in kitchen

Fiorella Design in Houzz

“Well, yes.”

“Well, if we fixed the porch as it was, we couldn’t have bumped out the kitchen.”

Sunny kitchen in a Victorian house with white painted cabinets and rug

Sheila Bridges in Elle Decor

“Well, right.”

“Well, then.”

“Well.”

Kitchen banquette with windows and upholstered benches, wooden table

Allegra Hicks in Elle Decor

As I was saying, last summer, our back porch started to collapse. This actually was good news, because:

- What I really wanted was a new kitchen.

- But to expand the kitchen one millimeter, we had to rebuild the porch to support it.

- And to rebuild the porch, we had to build out the basement first to support IT.

- And if the porch was already collapsing (“No, it wasn’t.” “Can it, Darling.”), we HAD to get the ball rolling on the whole darn project, because, well, it was a SAFETY issue. (“Sigh.”)

The bad news was that Phase I – the basement expansion and new porch- was going to take about a year and cost a whole lot of money.

Black and white tile floor in Swedish style kitchen

Apartment Therapy

Fast forward to now. I’m pleased to report that we have survived! A bit weary and financially battered, but we survived. I didn’t even drag you through it. I didn’t want to live it; why would you want to read about it?

And now, we begin Phase II: the kitchen renovation.

This, Gentle Readers, is the fun part.

Black and white kitchen with herringbone tile floor

Tommy Smythe in decor pad

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The New York Times to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: bossy color's house, Cabinetry, Kitchens, Renovation, Wallpaper Tagged With: Allegra Hicks, banquette, black and white tile floor, kitchen remodel, kitchen renovation, Saarinen chairs, Saarinen tulip table, Sheila Bridges, Swedish style, Tommy Smythe, wallpapered kitchen

The wallpaper accent wall

May 28, 2012 24 Comments

Here’s my final push for wallpaper.

If, after all my eloquent, experience-based research, you’re still unsure about wallcovering, let me confess something. Whereas I have VERY mixed feelings about The Accent Wall when it comes to paint, wallpaper accent walls are another story.

Red and white wallpaper accent wall in kitchen

Alex Papachristodis in Elle Decor

A wallpaper accent wall is less expensive, less difficult to estimate and install, and less risky than tackling a whole room. And it can be very effective.

Blue and white floral wallpaper accent wall in dining room

From the blog Retropolitan

Remember, though: even though you’re using less wallpaper, you still must decorate responsibly!

Wallpaper the most important wall in the room: the wall with the fireplace, the wall your desk faces, or the wall the sofa or headboard leans against.

Wallpaper accent wall in child's bedroom

Peter Pawlak in Elle Decor. Alphabet wallpaper by Alexander Girard.

Wallpaper the wall with the fewest – if any – window and door openings.

Blue and white peacock feather accent wall in office

From the blog buckboard hill interiors

Or if you feel you’re without an appropriate wall to cover, wallpaper the back of a built-in bookcase with a faux textured wallpaper or grasscloth.

Grasscloth wallpaper accent wall behind shelves

Elle Decor, via Maria Killam's excellent blog, Colour Me Happy

If this doesn’t convince you to try wallpaper, Gentle Readers, I’m out of ideas! Well, I’m not, but I said that for dramatic emphasis, with a foot stamp and hand fling for good measure. Give it a try.

Filed Under: Accent wall, Bookshelves, Built-ins, Color, Wall covering, Wallpaper Tagged With: Alex Papachristodis, Alexander Girard, buckboard hill interiors blog, Colour Me Happy blog, Maria Killam, Peter Pawlak, Retropolitan blog, wallpaper accent wall, wallpaper accent wall in bedroom, wallpaper accent wall in office, wallpaper in bookcases

Wallpaper. It’s time.

May 19, 2012 17 Comments

If you went out to lunch with a friend and you had spinach stuck in your teeth, you’d want him or her to tell you, right?

Or if you went to a site meeting with five construction workers and you had a gigantic rip up the back seam of your skirt, like practically right up to your underwear, you’d want the pervy foreman to let you know, right? (Why did I not feel a breeze back there?)

Green Farrow & Ball strie wallpaper in living room

Farrow & Ball strie (dragged) wallpaper in a bossy color client's living room

The point is, I’m more than your go-to design chick. I’m your friend. And as your friend, it is my duty to tell you: you must have some wallpaper in your home.

Wallpaper is now more than a trend. It’s de rigueur. People are embracing it. They’re recognizing its potential. They’re unleashing the power of patterned walls!

I think I’ve identified the 3 main reasons you’ve resisted wallpaper. You think it’s expensive, complicated, and permanent. I’m going to shoot these down one by one. (As your friend.)

EXPENSIVE? Not necessarily! Look online: Graham & Brown is very reasonably priced at about $45 for a European roll (which equals two American rolls…but that’s a whole other blog post)…

Graham & Brown's "Frames" wallpaper

Amy Butler's "Lacework" through Graham & Brown

If you’re pattern-averse, grasscloth is everywhere, and it adds such warmth and grace to any space – especially foyers and stairwells.

Brown grasscloth wallcovering in foyer entryway

From the blog Belle Vivir

Your local paint store probably has some good wallcovering options. Look for Shand Kydd, Ashford House, and Printers Guild’s Vivace collection, for starters.

From Printers Guild's "Vivace" collection

COMPLICATED? Ok, I’ll admit that wallpaper can be a little complicated to calculate, but that’s why we have wallpaper store people (and wallpaper hangers) to help.

Before you go to the wallpaper store, measure your room, each wall, and get the total square footage. To be safe, I recommend NOT subtracting windows and doors unless you have an entire wall missing. Then bring those dimensions to the wallpaper store and they’ll help you calculate how many rolls you’ll need.

York Wallcovering's "Tropical Birds Magnolia"

If you have a powder room and you’re using my installer, you will need six single (American) rolls, or 3 double (European rolls). He ALWAYS tells me that’s how much we need. ALWAYS. Sometimes we have leftover wallpaper, but we’ve never run short. For what that’s worth. (If the powder room is teeny tiny and you’re using a small pattern, 4 single/2 double rolls should do it.)

Farrow & Ball wallpaper in a bossy color client's powder room

As for the installation, Google, YouTube…there are lots of resources to show you how to hang wallcovering if you want to try it yourself. It’s no messier than painting; it just requires a large flat surface, different tools, and more precision. The last room I wallpapered myself was a bathroom when I was about 14. If I could do it then, you can do it now.

If you can’t stomach hanging wallpaper yourself, hiring someone doesn’t cost as much as you’d think. We’re talking hundreds, not thousands.

Nina Campbell's Paradiso wallpaper in MY foyer! Which I most certainly did not install myself.

PERMANENT? Definitely not. This is the biggest difference between today’s wallpaper and wallcovering of yore: this WILL strip off easily when you’re ready.

Have I convinced you?

Remember that I’m doing this because I love you, Gentle Readers. The truth can be hard to hear. But the truth is that it really, REALLY is time to wallpaper. Like, right now.

Filed Under: bossy color's house, Color, Powder room, Trends, Wall covering, Wallpaper Tagged With: Ashford House, Farrow & Ball, Farrow & Ball dragged paper, grasscloth, parrot wallpaper, Printers Guild, Shand Kydd, wallpaper, York Wallcovering

The green wallpapered powder room, concluded (or almost)

March 26, 2012 12 Comments

Where were we? Ah yes: changing the powder room strategy from blue to green.

This is the living room I’d just finished for a client:

Living room with blue velvet sofa and green Farrow & Ball dragged wallpaper

I fell in love with that wallpaper. I mean, LOVE. All those months of focusing on yellow and blue and pink (oops – spoiler alert: pictures of my living room coming soon!)…I was feeling the need for some green. This wallpaper just needed to be in my house – somewhere.

Thus we began the powder room adventure.

Again: I know it's totally gross to have a powder room off the dining room, but there's nothing we can do about it.

Removing the shower.

Possibly the only thing grosser than a powder room off of a dining room is a full bath off of a dining room. You could actually see the basement bedroom through the floorboards. Wow.

Under the tile floor was...not much

Larger window = more light

Bye, window. See you again soon.

Carrara marble tile floor

Welcome back, window! But goodbye, floor.

I didn't choose great trim here. Too wide, I think, and vaguely Colonial. (How did that happen?) Love the Alexa Hampton light, though.

Farrow & Ball dragged paper in powder room

Getting closer...

Farrow & Ball green dragged paper with Carrara marble floor

Wallpaper with the floor tile

Accent lamp with Farrow & Ball green dragged paper

$12 lamp from an antique shop with Farrow & Ball green dragged paper. Talk about high/low.

Powder room with bachelor's chest and Farrow & Ball wallpaper

The reveal!

Whew! Lest you think that *I* think the room is really finished, here’s my punch list:

- Paint the window trim and baseboard green. I think. That window trim is really bugging me!

- Receive replacement mirror from One King’s Lane; the first one was cracked.

- Find kick-ass fabric and make a fantastic Roman Shade for the window – for 59 cents, since that’s about what I have left in the budget.

Once those things are done, Gentle Readers, I promise you a wider shot!

Filed Under: Baths, Before and after, bossy color's house, Color, Powder room, Renovation, Small Spaces, Tile, Wallpaper Tagged With: diamond-shaped tile, Farrow & Ball, Farrow & Ball drag paper, furniture in bathrooms, marble tile, powder room, strie wallpaper

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Farrow & Ball green wallpapered powder room, part one

March 17, 2012 1 Comment

Yay, spring! Even though I barely busted out the parka this winter, I’m ready for a change. 78-degree days in February are spooky. But in March, they’re fabulous. And they smell better.

Could it have been a yearning for spring that led me to green for my powder room? My Irish heritage?

We’ve been doing a lot of work on our house recently, all of it expensive; most of it behind the scenes; none of it fun. How absurd is it for an interior designer to choke on construction dust for 6 months but not supply a single paint color?

I mean, you can rebuild the back porch all you want, but you can’t WALLPAPER it.

A powder room renovation became my consolation prize.

Granted, the shower provided good storage

We live in a house in which the powder room is located, revoltingly, off the dining room. (Even more revoltingly, it’s actually a full bath.)

I didn’t do much to improve it when we moved in. Yeesh.

I didn’t mind the little sink, but I do heed the advice I give my clients: if you replace one fixture in a bathroom, your whites will clash unless you replace all of them. Sad but true. So out it went.

Red bathroom with Crane wall-mounted sink and wallpaper samples

I fell in love with this wallpaper from Farrow & Ball:

Farrow & Ball blue and silver wallpaper, The Ringwold Papers, BP 1650

Farrow & Ball, The Ringwold Papers, BP 1650

That gray color is silver, Gentle Readers. Metallic. It freaking rocks.

I picked up the silver by choosing a light fixture by Alexa Hampton with flat shiny surfaces…

Alexa Hampton's Sophia star ceiling light fixture

Alexa Hampton's Sophia flush mount light fixture, in polished nickel with frosted glass

A faucet with flat shiny surfaces…

Grohe's Eurosmart single-hole faucet

And a towel bar and paper holder with flat shiny surfaces.

The Vero paper holder by Delta (I know: Delta?! I used to be snobby about them, too)

But then, I wallpapered a client’s living room in THIS:

Farrow & Ball's dragged / strie wallpaper, DR 1254

Green. It made no sense on our first floor, but I had to have it. Mmmmmm….greeeeeennnnn…

To be continued.

Filed Under: Baths, bossy color's house, Color, Powder room, Renovation, Wallpaper Tagged With: dragged papers, Farrow & Ball, green, Grohe Eurosmart, Grohe faucet, powder room, St. Patrick's Day, strie wallpaper

Dramatic wallpaper: where does it all end?!

January 15, 2012 10 Comments

I’m THRILLED that so many of you approve of the bird-a-palooza that’s taken place in my foyer. Thanks so much for all the words of support.

Some of you asked a very good question: “So where does the wallpaper end?”

The answer wasn’t obvious.

For some reason, there’s a long horizontal bump dividing the wall along the stairs.

Wallpaper over bump in the wall

I don’t know why it’s there or what it does…well, it does nothing, but you’d think there would be a reason for it, wouldn’t you?

Peacock wallpaper in stairwell

I thought this might be a natural stopping point for the wallpaper. We might have had to run a small line of trim along the top of it to give it a nice clean edge, but it seemed like a logical stopping point.

Nina Campbell wallpaper in stairwell

My installer disagreed. He thought we should bring the wallpaper all the way up the stairs and stop it at the first corner.

Ultimately, I allowed it, but I did so because of the wallpaper itself: the pattern is so large and dramatic that I thought it would look goofy to cut it off in the middle. Plus I didn’t want a bunch of decapitated birds hanging out in the middle of the stairwell.

Wallpaper in stairwell over bump in wall

This way, when you’re standing in the foyer, your eye follows the birds all the way to the top of the stairs.

Nina Campbell's Paradiso bird wallpaper going up stairs

If the pattern had been smaller or more monochromatic, I might have stopped it above that bump. If our stairwell wrapped tidily up to the third floor (this is a row house, remember), I probably would have carried the wallpaper all the way up. But the second floor is an open family room.

Plus, that’s a lot of birds.

In every project there’s some compromise: I don’t love seeing the peek of wallpaper in the context of the second floor. But you really only see a sliver of it from the family room, so it’s ok.

Nina Campbell wallpaper from second floor

The walls on the second floor are light yellow – as they were in the foyer. They don’t clash, but it’s not ideal. I’ve been thinking that it might be time to paint those walls anyway…maybe pick up on the soft gray of the lattice in the wallpaper…

Nina Campbell wallpaper from second floor

I believe this is called, “project creep.” Isn’t that right?

Peacock wallpaper in stairwell

Filed Under: bossy color's house, Color, Foyer, Hallway, Stairs, Wall covering, Wallpaper Tagged With: bird wallpaper, foyer, Nina Campbell wallcovering, paradiso, wallpapered foyer

Accent wall update part deux! Trends in wallpaper accent walls

The hippest nursery: black and white, not shades of gray

Happy New Year, Emerald Green! Bossy color’s finished powder room

Mixing patterns, and thanks, FLOR!

Kitchen renovation, Chapter 1: A slippery slope

The wallpaper accent wall

Wallpaper. It’s time.

The green wallpapered powder room, concluded (or almost)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Farrow & Ball green wallpapered powder room, part one

Dramatic wallpaper: where does it all end?!

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