Dressing Room Adventures Part #2 - The Wallpapering Begins (or does it?!)

So here we are - Saturday morning of the wallpaper weekend.  My parents arrive carrying wallpapering tools, a sewing machine and other assorted home reno goodies.  I couldn't believe this was finally happening!!

Sure - the whole 'paste the paper' issue was still there, but I'd kind of just accepted it and realized the day would be long and hard but so worth it.

Now here is where the whole thing gets. so. darn. fun.

You know how there is always that part in a movie where there is a slow motion montage of the main character's face when he/she realized that his girlfriend has been cheating (and he's missed all the signs) or that his life will never be the same? Or that scene in the Simpsons where you can see the moment Ralph's heart broke?

Well the next step in the wallpapering process felt a bit like that.

I should tell you first that my dad is a very straight guy. Professional. Mature. Intelligent.  He would NEVER do what he did as I was running down the stairs to get the camera to document the process for the blog as the first piece was about to be cut.

Dad: SH*T.

Janice: (stops dead in her tracks). What. (Insert moment of panic - Dad NEVER swears).

Dad: There's a ????.

Janice: (Not able to hear because he is CLEARLY whispering). A WHAT?

Dad: (clears throat). A flaw.

Janice: A flaw in what?

Dad: The wallpaper.

Janice: (runs up the stairs two at a time).

Seriously people. I didn't even know what a flaw in the wallpaper was! I get into the room and see 3 long anxious faces waiting for the impending doom of my reaction.

3 anxious faces and this:

Ummm yeah. Can you see that? That lightened area on the right? Yeah. That is a flaw. That is a pretty big flippin flaw.

Maybe we can just trim that part off right? Sure I might be short in wallpaper, but I can live with that as long as I get most of it done this weekend.

Enter roll #2. 

Roll #2 is a close relative to roll #1, but he's like the unathletic dorky brother of the captain of the football team.  What a let down.

Since I don't want to censor myself on here and always intend to give full disclosure, let's just say I only opened one more roll (that's 3 of 5) before the tears started.  These are the dark days of DIY home decor.

I think I did well - I cried a little (so embarrassing to say) but as you know, I had been planning this for MONTHS and everything culminated in this weekend. However on the inside, I wanted to throw things. I wanted to call the supplier and have an absolute, uncalled for conniption on whatever poor soul happened to answer the phone. Luckily for that person (and for me), both the seller and the supplier don't work weekends. 

This is probably why.

I wondered whether this could be my fault in any way. I checked the batch numbers (they all matched). I kept them in their packaging so as not to damage the paper/bend it/rip it. I did everything I could so that my wallpaper weekend would go smoothly.

Guess I didn't realize I should open up each roll to check for flaws. 

This was the beginning of a bad day. And it was only 9:15 in the morning.

Next up - phone calls, mad dash through crazy traffic and a decision. Stay tuned!

Dressing Room Adventures Part #1 - How Not to Wallpaper

So as most of my lovely readers will recall, I have been talking about and planning my dressing room for some time now. I gathered ideas, thought about layout, and got excited. Way back in December, I went looking for wallpaper advice and was turned on to Graham and Brown's "Darcy" by Wanderluster of Rambling Renovators.  I loved it - the geometric pattern style I loved and the colour was great - she had suggested the purple version but I ultimately ended up falling for the pearl colour - basically white with silver circles like this:

Here goes - here is my lesson on how NOT to wallpaper.

1. Fall in love with an expensive wallpaper. 

2. Look around locally and realize that nearby stores charge 3 times the price per double roll than what it is sold for on www.grahamandbrown.com.

3. If you are a deal hunter like me, search around to see if anyone has any coupons or if you can find a cheaper price.

4. Find a great price on www.designyourwall.com. Check around for reviews, find nothing negative, and order!!!

5. Have 5 rolls shipped to your mom in Florida and wait until she comes back after a winter away.

6. Wait some more. In the meantime, plan out how to organize your dressing room. Tell everyone who will listen about your plans.

7. When everyone who you tell says "ugh - wallpaper!? What a pain!" brag about how the wallpaper you bought is "paste the wall" and so much easier to put up and take down.

8. Prep the room - prime, sand, and paint the trim.

9. Organize a time when an experienced wallpaper hanger (like my dad!) can come to show you the ropes. 

10. Send your husband to the local hardware store to buy the necessary things to help you hang the amazing gorgeous "easy to hang" wallpaper that you purchased months prior. Paste, seam roller, big sponges etc. Before he leaves, look online to see if there is a recommended brand of paste.

11. Feel your stomach drop when you realize that not all Graham and Brown wallpaper is "paste the wall".  What do you mean? Isn't that their claim to fame? That all you do is roll the paste on the wall and slap up some beautiful, expensive paper? Oh wait - you mean that just some of the paper is that type? That I have to click on a very small button and read a very small section that says "paste the paper" on my beautiful, lovely paper?

12. Realize it isn't the end of the world and get your mind wrapped around the fact the installation will be more difficult than you realized, but that it will be totally worth it. How hard can pasting and hanging wallpaper be? Didn't most of our parents do it to every. single. room in their house? Yeah - seriously. How hard can it be?

To be continued ...

Giveaway WINNER!

Okay - so first off, thank you to CSN Stores for hosting such an awesome giveaway!! I rarely see these on Canadian sites so I'm even more thrilled that my little ol' blog got to be involved.  Second, thanks to all of my lovely followers (and new followers!) for entering!

I'm excited to announce that...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6

Timestamp: 2010-05-06 22:35:37 UTC

Lucky #6 is the big winner! That means that Kerry of First Time Fancy gets to put $40 towards anything that CSN Stores sell - and that is ALOT! Looks like you'll be getting that new duvet set!!

Congratulations Kerry! I will email you info about how to collect this awesome prize!

In the meantime - having a giveaway was so fun that I will do another when I reach 50 followers!!

I Know it is Trendy, but...

I can't get these images out of my head:

How gorgeous are these black doors?! I know it is trendy - but I'm itching to do this to my doors!!

Do you think I would be crazy? What about these doors?:

Or our front door?

Would black work with the front of our house?

Comments welcome!!!

And if you haven't already done so, it is the last full day for entering MY GIVEAWAY. C'mon - who doesn't want $40 to use at any CSN Store!?

Giveaway Reminder - Have you Entered?

Just a reminder - the draw will be held on Thursday for the $40 gift certificate for CSN Stores. If you haven't already commented to enter, CLICK HERE to enter!!!

Sunday Update and a Purchase!

So I know I said I was starting the dressing room ages ago, but this weekend I FINALLY got going.

I started by emptying out piles and piles of clothes. The closet was never big enough so invariably clothes ended up on chairs, hanging from the steamer, etc.

Notice the lovely pale green walls.

I had patched holes and sanded earlier, so I decided to prime the walls.  People say it isn't always necessary before wallpapering, but I figured it might be worth it to ensure the wallpaper doesn't ruin the walls if/when it comes down. I had some extra primer so thought I'd take the extra time and go for it.

There is a small closet in the room that was put together for the previous owners' baby girl. Unfortunately, my clothes are a bit longer than the onesies that used to hang there, so the shelving is coming down.  J is going to put in a bunch of shelving for all of my clothes that need to be folded. Here is a picture of the closet before the shelving was taken out and the holes patched. The rest of the room is primed though.

The trim is getting painted out today and the wallpaper is going up next weekend!!

Today I had brunch with my girlfriends near Yonge and College, so of course I took a wander through Winners and came home with THIS!

Ignore that it is still in the box - I just put it up there to get the idea. It was on sale for 29 dollars!! I assumed when I picked it up that I would paint it, but the colour kind of works, don't you think? Or should I paint it?

Anyways - so that is the Sunday update!

Not Every Craigslist Find is a Winner

I'm so sad :-( I know that CL is usually a place for great steals and super finds, but I was sorely disappointed today.

I found someone selling the coveted (by me, at least!) closet system that is earmarked for my dressing room on my local CL and after two weeks of emails with the seller who was busy/got sick/unavailable, I finally made plans to meet with him today.

I went to the bank and pulled out cash and went with an insane amount of excitement at the prospect of getting 90% of the system for less than half price.  

When I arrived, I was SO disappointed. Everything was in super rough shape. A few scratches here and there I was prepared for. But every shelf had bits of laminate that had pulled off because of tape. The drawer unit was terrible.

If it wasn't Ikea laminate, I'd think about painting it but with all of the rough spots etc it just didn't seem worth it (or necessarily possible). So hubs and I walked away with a wad of cash and no closet system.

The search continues.

Craigslist - you failed me today but one out of ten ain't bad :-)

Anyways - if you haven't entered the giveaway yet, get to it! $40 gift certificate to use at any one of CSN Stores' 200+ stores seems pretty sweet to me!