Julie's Nook: Temporary Wallpaper

Do you remember this post where we striped a nook in Julie's apartment with washi tape? This was the nook a few days ago:

We loved the look of the stripes, but the washi tape was peeling up in some places which was driving Julie insane.  The plan was to take the nook back to white, until we ran across these Laura Ashley drawer liners at HomeGoods:

We loved the floral pattern of the liners, and when we saw that the back was adhesive, we wondered if it would work as wallpaper.  We've always been intrigued by temporary wallpaper and didn't see how this contact paper drawer liner was all that different from it. 

Our method was pretty simple (read: we didn't have one).  We basically lined the pattern up with the ceiling, pulled it down while flattening it with a book (apparently they have tools for this...who knew?), and then trimmed the excess with an X-Acto knife.  The trickiest part was matching up the pattern on the next sheet, but once we got the hang of that, it all came together pretty quickly. Check out our sweet book method below:

A few hours later, the nook looked like this:

We love the impact that the "wallpaper" makes.  Although the background looks black, it is actually more of a dark gray-blue, which nicely pulls in the color of Julie's dining room walls (which you get a peek of in the photo below).

In terms of accessorizing, we pulled from what Julie already had.  The mirror was a $5 thrift store find, and the boxwood is also from HomeGoods (since this nook gets very little light, a boxwood is a great way to bring in some green).   The cabinet is this Ikea shoe rack-- we swapped out the black knobs for these brass beauties:

Do you spy the portrait that we posted about here? We thought the nook was a perfect place for it.

The wallpaper has held up really well, and we've "tested" a few spots to be sure that it pulls off and it really does glide off smoothly (thankfully).  

Honestly, temporary wallpaper is a renter's dream.  We love the impact it makes in such a small space! Would you go bold with wallpaper in your own home?

Julie's Apartment: Portraits

We've always loved the look of portraits when used in gallery walls-- there's something really personal and intriguing about them.  Julie has been on the hunt for some vintage portraits for her apartment for a while now (because she's an art hoarder).

Here are a few pictures Julie pulled for inspiration:

We've been scouring our local thrift stores and flea markets (which are typically gold mines when it comes to finding vintage portraits) but we haven't found any that are right for her space.  The last time we were at our mom's house, however, we hit the jackpot.  We found an old sketchbook of Sarah's from high school, and found this portrait of Julie from her 9th birthday:

We actually love that it's a sketch and isn't quite finished (notice the halfway shaded collar?) Plus, we think art that has meaning makes a space that much more special.  Now Julie has to find a place in her apartment to hang it.  We've got some plans for her nook (that we posted about here) so we're thinking it might end up there.