One of the things that has kept me busy the past couple of weeks has been stripping wallpaper and repainting a bedroom in Galena.
We bought our getaway home here about eight years ago and haven't regretted it once.
Galena is a beautiful corner of the world.
It is only about an hour and a half drive for us but with views like this it feels like we are in a different part of the country.
We bought our home here completely furnished.
I always tell people we bought groceries and margarita glasses and moved in.
They left the dishes, the picture frames - everything.
The home had hardly been used. The mattresses in the guest rooms still had the protective wraps on them.
To not have to go out and buy everything right from the start was a huge savings for us.
In the beginning I thought I could live with it the way it was.
I convinced my big guy this was the house for us because we wouldn't have to do a thing.
Well, not really.
Could we really leave it untouched?
No.
It was really pretty ugly.
The place was dripping in Waverly.
Now there isn't anything wrong with a bit of Waverly here and there.
I have fallen for more than one of their gorgeous prints
but the previous owner must have either founded the company
or had a butt load of stock in it.
This house had Waverly upholstered furniture,
Waverly drapes,
Waverly wallpaper,
Waverly towels,
Waverly bedding,
Waverly lampshades,
even Waverly pictures and bath accessories.
Every room felt like a Waverly Granimals room in a box.
Every surface was dripping in rose, yellow, and blue.
It was an explosion of florals, plaids and bows.
Bows were EVERYWHERE.
Now bows might be nice in a little girl's room or a nursery but they definitely weren't working here.
Ultimately, it all had to go.
So over the years every room has been stripped of it's ultra feminine wallpapers, floral and moire fabrics, ruffled bedding and of all those bows.
We were down to the last room.
Adam's room.
It had been papered in a yellow stripe paper.
Not a bad look really, except it was topped with a border of mini blue and yellow flowers ... definitely not what an eleven year old boy wanted in his room.
So to buy some time I painted out the border with a dark navy paint.
Added some masculine bedding,
a ski poster,
and then I hung Adam's first pair of skis on the wall.
Skiing is what he does up here in the winter months.
I forgot to take a picture before I started moving stuff out of the room but here is one with some of the wallpaper still in tact.
The room had worked for quite awhile.
Until recently when I decided I was finally ready to do something different here.
Mind you the house is plastered in oak.
Oak, oak, oak.
I'm not a fan but it somehow seems less offensive in this more rustic venue.
Still, I'd rather not draw attention to it so I paint with colors that I hope detract from the woodwork.
I considered colors I'd never used before.
That would explain the purple wall.
Actually, it is called Merlot Grape.
Galena is a small town and the paint options are limited.
I didn't feel like going into the city so I went to the local True Value and came up with my merlot number.
I think I'm going to like it.
Crown molding is coming.
This was not Adam's bedding.
Until recently this room had a queen bed.
The bedding that was here made its way to another bedroom back at home.
This bedding was an impulsive online purchase that went wrong.
It is way too short for the bed.
Amazing what flaws and failings you can crop out of a picture. :)
The other walls in the room are a taupe/sand color and this is where I'm going with the bedding.
The sandstone from Pottery Barn.
Then my Crate and Barrel catalog came last week and guess what?
It was loaded with my Merlot Grape color.
Merlot Grape sounds a lot better than purple don't you think?
I'm not trying to sound pretentious,
it's just that the word purple conjures up some nasty decorating images in my head.
Check out these pillows.
We're actually talking options here.
Something this easy never happens to me.
Then I saw this and my mind went yet another direction.
I love love love it.
It could pop the merlot grape and creamy white duvet with a bit of pattern or maybe in the colder months I put a bit of color on the bed like this.
Oh my gosh my head is swimming and these are just from the Crate and Barrel catalog.
What else is out there?
There is a bathroom off of this bedroom and you know what that means ...
If you repaint and trick out a bedroom ... you're going to need a spruced up bathroom to go with it. :)
I need to run.
Someone is coming to measure the room for window treatments.
I'll keep you posted with a reveal soon.
XOXO,
P
Connecting Here Today: A Soft Place to Land
