MetaChat - A beiger shade of beige

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17 September 2010

A beiger shade of beige Some time back I posted about choosing a wallpaper for my upper and lower hallways, which I plan to start work on in October. I was in love with this wallpaper, and now that I am finally ready to order the wallpaper, I have found that it is discontinued [pauses to sob heart-rendingly before carrying on]. Since I must accept that my true love is lost forever, and find a new wallpaper, I’m dating browsing around looking for a new one, but I’m not finding one that has the same appeal. →[More:]

Here’s what I liked about the old one: it was neutral but not bland which was great for the neutral hallway I want, had the “Art Nouveau gone modern” feel I’m trying to create in my 1912-built house, and was nice and light which is good for hallways that have very little natural light. Also it was relatively practical as it was scrubbable, had a straight match pattern (meaning no waste and fewer rolls to purchase), and though I thought it was so expensive at $23 a roll it turns out that was a pretty good price. I would like these qualities in whatever wallpaper I choose. My hallway, again, is to have a cream background wallpaper, with painted ivory trim, doors and stair cases, honey oak wood floors, with some touches of colour, like the red door which I plan to paint a warm rich red, and maybe a bit of red in the stair runner carpet. Here are some of the contenders:

No. 1 Not sure I like the medallion-style motif — seems a little clunky

No. 2. I rather like this one — it’s probably the closest I’ve found to the one I loved.

No. 3. I like this one, but it’s maybe too heavy looking — something more subtle might be better.

No. 4. Attractively inexpensive but really bland.

No. 5. Okay, but doesn’t grab me.

No. 6. I like it, but it seems a little too old-fashioned — what my sister might call “old lady”.

No. 7. Simple and pretty.

No. 8. Love the Art Nouveau-ish design, but this might be too pale and too brownish in tone — I need more of a yellowy cream.

No. 9. This one’s also Art Nouveau-ish, is more striking, and the colour’s maybe better.

No. 10. I like the touch of blue in this one, but do not see how I can make it work with my (planned) red front door. Also maybe it's just a little too pastel and prissy to work.

No. 11. Like the design, but it’s rather drearily brownish, or at least it looks that way on screen.

I’m going to look some more, but as things stand I believe I will invest in some samples of 2, 7, 8 and 9 and see how they look in context at Swan’s End. I'm not in love though. I really wanted to fall in love again. Sigh. Back to more browsing biege wallpaper.

post by: Orange Swan at: 11:57 | 7 comments

I really like 8 & 9. They're the two that have a really strong Art Nouveau feeling to me. In general, I'd stay with the more flowy, round-ish patterns. Like you said, the square-ish patterns look kinda clunky.

And I just want to add, I'm glad you're sharing your fixing up Swan's End with us, OS. It's fun for this frustrated interior designer wanna-be!

posted by deborah 17 September | 13:34

It would depend on how much wall space there actually is, and how many openings there are (doors) in these walls.

Is there a lot of uninterrupted wall, or a little?

I love the big patterns, (9) but with a lot of breaks in it, one (not necessarily you) might have a hard time cutting and placing the pattern so it is harmonious. A solid or smaller pattern (2 maybe) would be better. But if there is a lot of solid wall, then the big patterns would be groovy.

I am also in no way qualified to speak on any of this, so YMMV.

posted by danf 17 September | 15:49

Love, love, love number 7.

posted by bearwife 17 September | 15:50

I agree with you that 8 and 9 are the only ones that have a real Art Nouveau feel, deborah. And I do tend towards the designs with lots of flow and curves — just out of personal preference.

There are quite a few doors. Let's see... downstairs there is the front door, two living room doors, kitchen door, hall closet door. Upstairs there is the bathroom door, three bedroom doors, the linen closet door, and the attic door. Eleven in all. There is a long unbroken stretch of wall that extends from the front door to the staircase and up to the second floor, but otherwise the walls are short stretches.

posted by Orange Swan 17 September | 16:03

I'm confident you'll be happy with just about any one of these. Probably my favorites are #2, 6, 7, 8 and 9, but #2 and #7 the most.

I like that #2 has most of the colors from the original one you picked (which is really lovely, too bad), although they are much more muted than in the original.

But the graceful sweeping slender strokes of white in #7 are really pretty too.

posted by marsha56 17 September | 22:04

I'm glad you people don't mind hearing about my renos. Writing this post really helped me clarify which wallpapers I liked best out of all those I'd bookmarked.

posted by Orange Swan 18 September | 09:27

This is probably unhelpful since I think they're all really pretty. Don't mire yourself down in what you lost, but find something that equals with sparkle, else you'll have that sense of missing out even when you could be achieving something even better! Since you took your time prepping, why not really take your time and find something new that inspires you?

posted by eatdonuts 19 September | 12:53

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