TV corner beautified

This is a fun project I finally finished. I've been meaning to do this for ages, because I'm always inspired by pretty painted boxes I see on Flickr. As you may have guessed it started out life as an IKEA box, that has five smaller boxes for drawers.All I did was prime the box, paint it white and then add decorative paper covers for the drawers. I used some vintage wallpaper I bought from this shop on etsy (it was a gorgeous collage pack - so much fun to get and sort through the bits of fabric, ribbon and paper) and glued the paper on using PVA glue from an art shop.Also in the picture is a little quilted coaster I made from bits of fabric from the workroom fabric swap. I really do use the little bits of fabric I find here and there!

I'm not sure where I'll put the box, as I had originally planned to mount it to the wall beside the bed. That way I can have a book and my water bottle next to me since we only have room for one bedside table (and it's not on my side). But then I took the picture here on our white cabinet that has the t.v. and I really like the way it looks there. I just wish the boxes were big enough for the remotes, that would be really useful.
But practical or not it brightens up the spot so I think it's staying.

p.s. the water bottle is from The Japanese Paper Place, I bought it because it the design was so pretty but it turns out it's so great, because it's the thermos version and it really keeps my water cold, and tea hot!

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Wallpapering

Lately I've been getting kind of obsessed with wallpaper. I've looked in paint & wallpaper shops, online and of course on ebay. I love vintage wallpaper but that's mainly because I love vintage design, not authentic old wallpaper specifically. Many of the modern designs these days are gorgeous and I do like those as well.

The main inspiration has been seeing wallpaper in magazines and decorating books. I was haunted by a magazine photo featuring Neisha Crosland's "anemone" paper and finally found out whose design it was. I also notice wallpaper in movies occasionally. I could not believe how gorgeous the silvery bird and branch wallpapered bedroom in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was. (Which incidentally was an adorable movie with many of my favourite actors.) And finally my friend Jaimie used an inspiringly gorgeous modern floral paper in her newly renovated kitchen, and another friend, Andrea, papered her bathroom in anthropologie "Blossom" paper and it looked so perfect.

While searching around I found a few sites I really like. Plus Jaimie (who works at Canadian House & Home) sent me some fab links, such as ferm living, walnut wallpaper, and Thibaut (very traditional). I found one site that will mail you samples and it seems like a very practical (and affordable) way to buy wallpaper. I bought a few samples and it really does make a difference if you can see them in person.

the secretaries with new (vintage) bentwood chair - needs repainting!

I'd love to paper some walls but I think wallpaper is more personal than paint, and it might be hard to leave behind if we sold the house (+ effort + expense). Which we might do in a few years. I keep flip-flopping on that, because the more work we do the more lovable our house becomes, but it does have certain aspects that are limiting - such as its size. So we probably won't be here for many years. But who knows. See? Flip-flopping.
So I decided the best way to indulge the wallpaper fixation was to decorate a cabinet. And I found some lovely vintage paper on ebay. It has a lattice pattern (which I love) and flowers (which I love) and the colour scheme is fresh with light green and lots of white. It's a bit on the sweet side but I'm ok with that. Luckily when it arrived it was even nicer than in the photos. Vintage paper is a bit fragile so when cutting it I recommend a fresh blade and doing the cuts slowly.
I was planning to line the inside of the fabric cabinet, and I still may but I'm not sure about painting it still.. In the meantime I was thinking that the secretary desks are just a bit too cluttered-looking for the front room (which serves so many purposes). So I've added the wallpaper to their doors and it's just what they needed. Well I think so anyway. Now if only I could wallpaper my ugly printer and scanner. I'll have to make some sort of enclosed shelf for those...

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