Graham and Brown, you have done it again!

Today's Agenda:  Figuring out where these lovely wallpapers can go!! 

I love Graham and Brown wallpaper.  Okay, I love a lot of wallpapers but their paper is such good quality, designs beautiful and price point great for the quality.  And their samples are fantastic -- I'm like a kid in a candy store the day they arrive! (my poor husband...)

I'm not sure which one is my favorite but I know that if I had a little girl that pink plaid would be my starting point for her room...

While wallpapering a whole wall or room may either not be what you want to do or not in your budget, there are some other fun options to work wallpaper into a space.

Recently, I worked wallpaper into a space by making a coat rack.  This was the inspiration.

 

I had found some ready made coat racks at Target and Ikea but they were just so boring and not terribly sturdy.  Plus, we really needed as many hooks as possible for coat hanging for this client's awesome parties.

So, I went to work finding a wallpaper that was perfect for the space and hooks that were above all sturdy and great for coats and reasonable. 



I found this wallpaper from Graham and Brown (through Target so if you end up not liking it it's easy to return to the store).

And, these cute (and inexpensive!) hooks from Ikea that went well with the style of the house and coordinated with the hardware that was in the kitchen which is just down the hall from this space.  

Then went to Home Depot and picked up the rest of my supplies -- (1) two pieces of plywood cut to the exact measurements I needed and (2) some brown little screws that would blend in better with the color of the hooks (but you can easily just paint the screws to match with a little sample of paint or a permanent marker). 

I already had wallpaper paste at home so I then laid out all of my supplies on our kitchen island and went to town covering the plywood with the wallpaper and measuring the space between each hook (definitely the most tedious part of the project!)  

Just a little bit later I ended up with this!

I couldn't wait to get them up on the wall and see how they looked! 

The next day, we went to install them.  This is what was there before. 

And, now!  {We've made changes to the living room as well but am saving those for later!}

The hooks worked out really well!  To install the boards, we removed one of the hooks on each end and drilled through there so that there would be no visible signs of how it was hung.  See?  Seamless :)

As you can tell from the after photos, we made some additional changes to really max out this space and to try to keep all "entryway clutter" -- shoes, hats, coats, etc." in one spot.  In DC, it's really important to use every bit of space smartly to eek out a bit more storage!

To max out this space, we went vertical using all of the available wall space and I chose things that used all of the depth of the wall as well.  I used a simple white shelf and some brackets that mimicked the scrolls in the wallpaper for additional storage for things that you don't use every day -- hats and gloves for really, really cold days, sporting equipment, etc.  The baskets are from the Container Store and are made of a plastic woven material that is water resistant and really durable and they are slightly oval so that I was able to fit two on the shelf instead of one large one to be able sort the items a little bit more and make it easy to find things. 

Below the coat racks, I hung one of the most versatile items out there -- the Ribba picture shelf from Ikea.  In the morning, you can set your phone, keys, important piece of mail here while you are putting your coat and shoes on and in the evening, you can empty out your pockets when you are hanging up your coat at the end of the day.  I had to be sure to put something there that had a narrow enough profile so you could still sit on the bench and the coats could hang over and the Ribba shelf is perfect for that. 

We then found this great storage bench from Grandin Road that fit perfectly in this nook.  I was a little hesitant about the storage bench -- most of the ready made options I found online looked a little cheap to be honest and I wasn't sure how they would hold up.  I then found this one at Grandin Road and while he was a little bit more expensive than some of the other options out there he is really sturdy, has a safe opening mechanism and looks classic -- I was psyched about how well the molding on it went with the molding in the house! 

Look at all that storage in there!  

 

Finally, I added a runner that will hide dirt and be easy to keep clean but still look nice enough to finish off the space. 

This is what you see when you first walk in to this home.  I think it really maximizes this space but still looks pulled together and will be easy to keep neat.  

Yikes -- I need to go run a few errands for clients but I'll post a step-by-step how to and some tips that I learned along the way tomorrow!



**PS Did you know that Graham and Brown has a pretty decent sale section on their website?  Check it out here.  This could be dangerous...