Odi et Amo: Ruffling Design Feathers

Monday, February 9, 2009

Ruffling Design Feathers

Wallpaper can be something of a touchy subject around my house. I love wallpaper and am dying to paper at least one wall (or room), but my husband can't get past the time and expense involved in both the installation and -- as my husband sees it, anyway -- inevitable removal processes. So far, I've not pushed the subject too hard rationalizing that we'll probably sell our current home in the next two or three years anyway and that in light of the possibility of a near to mid term sale, a recognition that potential buyers may not love wallpaper as much as I do. I keep telling myself, however, that when we move on to our next house, our "forever house", I will not be so easily deterred.

I am particularly covetous of Ferm Living's "Feather" wallpaper (shown above), a popular pattern that has made appearances all over the blogosphere. Both Apartment Therapy and Design*Sponge have showcased house tours in which the home owner has incorporated the wallpaper:

(via Apartment Therapy's House Tours)

(via Design*Sponge's Sneak Peeks)

Because the pattern is so high impact, I think it works particularly well (as so artfully demonstrated above) as an accent wall or in a formal dining room, where dramatic walls somehow seem more appropriate. To break up all the pattern and to minimize costs, I would install the wallpaper below a chair rail and then paint the remainder of the wall in a coordinating shade of peacock blue (for a higher contrast, you could go with white, gray or even a completely contrasting color like chartreuse). I could also see this in a large walk-in closet -- the peacock blue would make you feel like you were getting dressed inside a lush jewelry box.

If you're a commitphobe or a renter, wallpaper can also be used in smaller, less permanent projects like framing smaller cuts as wall art or gluing remnants ontp storage boxes or containers as Anna did over at Door Sixteen:

Also, if you love Ferm Living's feather pattern, they also have it available (in the reverse colorway) in bedding. I actually think doing up a bedroom with both the Feather wallpaper and the Feather bedding would be a really bold move. Obviously it's matchy-matchy, but I think you can get away with that in a bedroom. While using coordinating wallpaper and fabric is very reminiscient of the 1980s -- a decade rapidly becoming en vogue again anyway -- the modern and graphic pattern would definitely keep the look updated.