The Nook: Before & After

I recently moved to the country, wallpapered my kitchen nook and adopted the sweetest little puppy named Otis. So basically all my dreams have come true. Well, mostly :)

When I moved in the nook did have a sweet, floral wallpaper, but I wanted to go a bit more modern and graphic, but still floral with some country vibes, and definitely wanted to do all for walls plus ceiling to really accentuate the feeling of separate cozy nook space. Florebela (Navy) was the obvious answer, since I've loved it from day one.

Now for some process pointers: At first I thought I'd try removing the wallpaper, but quickly discovered that the wall underneath was basically cardboard. So I stopped that and just covered the walls and ceiling with wallpaper primer (Zinnser's Sheildz) and then crossed my fingers!

That did the trick! The trim was also a nightmare around all those curves. I just ended up pushing the edge into the curves to create a fold and then cutting along the fold line. It was far from perfect, but good enough for me. Just don't look too close! And, of course, wallpapering the ceiling might not be a one person job. That said, it might cause a lot of friction in a relationship... It's hard to say what the best answer is... Either way (a panic attack in which you feel very alone vs a break-up) it is totally worth it!

I decided to put up some curtains to have more privacy from the other house on the property, so chose a red patterned fabric since red is my favorite color and I love it with blue and white. I sewed this myself, so again, don't look too closely. This corner spot is Otis's favorite in the house. He loves to sit and look at the window or take a nap there in the sun. He'll soon grow too big for that spot right? So I don't technically need to train him to not sight there? Okay, phew.

One of my favorite additions to the nook (right after Otis and the wallpaper), is this beautiful lighting from Schoolhouse Electric. I'm a sucker for a graphic pinstripe, so this was perfect. And then I added touch of metal with their Otis base in natural brass.

Couple more angles...

See, I told you he loved it up there! Who could blame him? :)