Decorating inspiration

[Feltwell]

Dangerous territory here for me......

Mrs F and all the little F's are off on holiday with Mrs F's mother later this year, whilst Mrs F's poor down-trodden husband has to go to work (Not that I'm overly upset - much as I like my mother-in-law, a week in close proximity all the time would be a bit much!)

Being the nice man that I am, I thought it would be a nice surprise for Mrs F if I re-decorated our bedroom whilst she was away. If it's a nice surprise or not also of course depends on the wisdom of my decorating choices.......... Scary! :shock: It's also practically a good time to do it as I can sleep in one of the kid's bedrooms and put our bedroom furniture in another. No danger of this post giving the game away, Mrs F does not browse here.

Any good sources for not-horrifically-expensive period-style wallpaper? Preferably Victorian era? My natural inclination is to paint, but I should look at wallpaper first really. Tastes are definitely at the less ornate end of scale, however woodchip and magnolia would see me sleeping in the car for some time upon her return.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I don't have recommendations. I am planning to buy William Morris paper, but at £40 a roll it isn't cheap, but at least my little house has small rooms and picture rails. If you come across anything more reasonably priced please let me know.

 

[LadyArowana]

You are an exceptionally brave man.

 

[Feltwell]

Foolhardy, I suspect you'll find mi'Lady!

 

[Carol]

Why not do all the messy parts, preparing, priming, gloss or eggshelling the woodwork, ceiling and other stuff and get an array of paint samples and wallpaper choices for her selection when she returns? Wallpapering can be done with less disruption if you have done the rest and won't leave her incandescent at what she might see is a not ideal choice! Or get her to choose exactly what she does like beforehand?

 

[Feltwell]

Might end up being that way Carol. The ceiling needs work - it's water damaged from where the roof used to leak. Not badly so, more cosmetic than anything, it's covered in lining paper at the moment that needs stripping as it's peeling off where the ceiling has been damp in the past, some cracks repairing, new lining paper and then painting. That will probably take a while.

Mrs F has always said that room is the lowest priority, as we've been sorting out the kid's bedrooms - I thought it would be nice to surprise her with a room that is more for her. My usual problem is that I never want to decorate as I know I have so many other things to fix that, in doing so, will damage the decoration!

Any suggestions for wallpaper sources would still be gratefully received.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, I think you should involve Mrs F, the offer of the work whilst she's away is romantic enough without the dubious addition of it being a surprise. I'm sure she'll want an input, and even the joinery colours can't be chosen until the paper is.

When your house was young several competing moods were co-existing. William Morrisy, full on raging chintz, and Gothic. Architectural motifs and trompe l'oeil were much more in evidence than nowadays, have a look at David Skinner's papers in Ireland for reproduction ( though they are ££££) I like the Gothic trefoil papers you can get ( little Greene do one, which I seem to recall is Bayham Abbey), and I like the Morris look very much. The chintz is harder to live with and very unfashionable right now, but a more subtle flowery paper, like some of those by Sanderson, would sit well. Avoid metallics and stripey foil looks if you want it to look period.

Some of my favourite papers are the pretty Toile de Jouys by Marvic, and the lovely Hummingbirds by Cole and Son. But it's Mrs F who must decide.

In general I'd say cheap wallpaper, such as those by B&Q, really isn't worth bothering with. It's a lot of effort for an ugly paper, when plain paint is nice.

www.wallpaperdirect.co.uk is very good, though my favourite is fabricsandpapers.co.uk

Good luck, about a billion to choose from :wink:

 

[LadyArowana]

I found myself thinking about your dilemma today ( Monday is cleaning day and my mind tends to wander away of its own accord ). My suggestion is to plan on just doing the ceiling nicely while the boss is away. Finish that with a very plain colour and then let her choose the paper and paint for the next phase. That way she still gets a nice surprise, but there is no risk of coming home to an unfinished project, or something that is not what she wants. From my perspective I would be "very displeased" to return to a situation like that. Not that there would be any danger whatsoever of that, His Lorship knows that stuff is not to be messed with.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Agree, but even the ceiling colour is a bit of a minefield. Grey blue is very 19th C, and darker reds or plums ought to be paired with warm creams or beiges. A paper with a bright white background would need a white ceiling, whereas a warmer magnolia ought not to be with bright Pure Brilliant White.

 

[JoceAndChris]

So lovely to meet Feltwell yesterday, and he is even lovelier and more heroic than we could have imagined, battling through the snowed in lane to get here. Thank you for the visit yesterday!

Following our discussion and you saying neither of you are wild about trawling through wallpaper or decorating ideas, some prints to flick through that seem quite Victorian to me and I think might look nice in your grand town house. Other colours available.

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/4209-lomasi-wallpaper/category/floral-wallpapers

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/5377-albertine-wallpaper/category/floral-wallpapers

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/chrysanthemum-wallpaper/category/floral-wallpapers

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/3624-india-paper/category/floral-wallpapers
http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/1255-tulip-willow-wallpaper/category/floral-wallpapers

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/1112-starflower-wallpaper/category/floral-wallpapers
http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/3505-thistle-wallpaper/category/floral-wallpapers

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/387-les-oiseaux-wallpaper/category/toile-de-jouy-wallpapers
http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/9101-Archway-Toile-wallpaper-Aqua/category/toile-de-jouy-wallpapers

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/425-carnival-toile-wallpaper/category/toile-de-jouy-wallpapers

 

[dalivar]

Whilst I love the romantic idea of coming back to a newly decorated room - I'm so fussy that the chances of himself getting right is small! I like carol's idea of doing all the messy prep stuff ready for her return. Then she can enjoy the fun bits!

 

[vicky whitworth]

I know what I'd like. I'd like all the fun and excitement of choosing the decor beforehand, and then to go away knowing when I come back it will all be done and all the mess cleared up. It sort of happened to me once when my parents redecorated my bed room when I was about 14, only they didn't ask me beforehand and when I came back they'd gone for green paint work with green wallpaper with daffodils, matching light shade and brown bed linen. When my Dad moved house 30 years later it was still like it.

 

[88v8]

OMG... 1991, we'd been in the house eleven years, hadn't got round to decorating the sitting room, with its 1960s paper - orange flowers one wall, pink squirls the others, grubby paintwork, 1920s ceiling paper... The wife was going away three days on a business trip - teambulding thingy - so here's me that never does a room in less than 3 months, deciding to decorate it while she's away.
Deep red paintwork, with the doors cream, floweryish paper. I made a plan. Every task, every stage of every task, timings to the minute.
First problem, the ceiling paper that looked OK at a quick glance, was coming unstuck at the seams and was torn where the ceilings and walls had moved... well the paper was 70 years old... ... I restuck it, fiddled about, then painted the ceiling...
By the end of evening one - this was during the week - I never got home before 1930h - I was about four hours adrift.

Despite working until 4 or 5 in the mornings, when she got back the furniture was everywhere, some of the paintwork was done except the windows which never did get painted, the walls were prepped, and one drop of paper was up. :shock:
I think it took about another month to finish, and by my standards it was all pretty much of a bodge. Never did get around to redoing it.

Brave man, you are.

Ivor

 

[Feltwell]

Thank you all for the comments and ideas. It's still unbelievably hard this choosing how to decorate lark - I should stick to easy things like electrics, plumbing, roofing................

I know what I'd like. I'd like all the fun and excitement of choosing the decor beforehand, and then to go away knowing when I come back it will all be done and all the mess cleared up.

I can't do that. Mrs F would go on a monumental guilt trip if she thought she was going away for a break and I was decorating, a job she knows I hate. Anyhow, I suspect the "finished" result could be much closer to Ivor's experience!

Maybe I should repair the ceiling, paint the ceiling and woodwork off-white and leave the walls stripped & prepped, as suggested - then pass the really tough bit of deciding what it should look like to Mrs F.........

 

[LadyArowana]

Nice elephant there Ivor. He looks quite vintage, and Asian, bit difficult to tell from such a small photo though!

 

[Feltwell]

So lovely to meet Feltwell yesterday, and he is even lovelier and more heroic than we could have imagined, battling through the snowed in lane to get here. Thank you for the visit yesterday!

Thank you the tea & company! Heroic isn't quite the word I'd use - I'll cope with lovely though :wink: Joce coped very well with an invasion from a big ugly bloke who is patently not of the size her very lovely house was designed for. She did threaten to take a picture for "t'other place", of which I am not a member, but luckily her phone was out of memory and I escaped!

Thanks for all the wallpaper suggestions. This one I could live with - it's a bit pricey mind :shock: - but I guess you get what you pay for......

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/1112-starflower-wallpaper/category/floral-wallpapers

 

[Feltwell]

It's murder this. Just looked at Laura Ashley wallpapers - all the plain-ish ones look a bit dull, all the fancier ones look too risky. The knowledge that whatever I choose we'll be looking at for a good few years is frightening.

Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen I am not. If I was a bachelor I can see that magnolia would feature prominently in my life!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Laura Ashley is terribly modern and rather common these days, I'd avoid it, it's used in the barratt boxes and I'm afraid I've become terribly snobby about it. The paper is rubbish quality too, about a quarter of the thickness of the FnB papers. It sounds to me like you hate colour and pattern (my brother is the same) and can't imagine living with it! Why not start with the curtains, choosing a colour you both like -plain silk always looks lovely in bedrooms, full length, interlined. Then match that to a very plain wallpaper. You could choose two colours that go nicely together - yellow and white, duck egg blue and soft cream, green and cream, soft salmon and biscuit, washed-out terracotta and Wedgwood blue, pale grey and darker grey - those colour combinations are classics. If you make sure the curtains carpet wallpaper and woodwork are in your chosen colour scheme it will all work nicely, I promise.

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/sprig_and_spot_green/category/small-design-wallpapers


http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/7485-Celestria-Wallpaper/category/small-design-wallpapers

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/8141-Mikaela-Wallpaper-Grey/category/small-design-wallpapers

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/item/view/7496-Clara-Stripe-Wallpaper/category/small-design-wallpapers

Here's the FnB trellis- the scale of the design is probably better suited to your room than the small designs I've linked to above. High ceilings can take a large scale pattern.

http://www.farrow-ball.com/toiletrellis/wallpaper/fcp-category/list?resetFilters=true

This http://www.farrow-ball.com/toile-trellis-bp-668/toile-trellis//fcp-product/200668, with the panelling of the door picked out in Pale Powder and Pointing within, Pointing ceiling, with this fabric made into curtains!
http://www.kingdominteriors.co.uk/catalogue/ClarkeampClarke/fabric/Dupion/42647

Love the FnB wallpaers because they tell you what colour paint to use alongside.

All very difficult I know!

 

[Feltwell]

Very sweet of you to trawl through all the choice for me Joce. They are more my thing - by'eck, they ain't half pricey though! You get what you pay for I suppose.

Ahh decisions, decisions........

I love the "How many rolls do I need?" guidance on the F'n'B website. It advises you "The best way to work out how many rolls of wallpaper you require is to ask your paper hanger".

Silly me. I should ask my man. Clearly no F'n'B customer is so dreadfully common as to actually put the paper up themselves :lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Goodness no! :lol: We've always bought 7 for our rooms and it's always been 2 too many. You need that back-up though with wallpaper, and the maddening thing about the FnB ones is the 3 roll minimum order which is just taking the pee really. Are there chair rails or picture rails in your bedroom? They're very of the period. If so you could just wallpaper up to chair rail or pic rail and paint above picking out one of the colours of the wallpaper. The theory is darker colours go below the chair rail.
I was in John Lewis yesterday and they're quite a good source- do you have one nearby? There's nothing like actually seeing them, the screen only gives a vague idea really. I also noticed they had a book of Lincrusta, which is an acquired taste, I know, but is very Victorian looking and could be quite plain

http://www.lincrusta.com/TheLincrustaCollection_Product.Asp?CollectionName=Wallcoverings