Hand-Knotted Blue Rug / Cream Grasscloth Wallpaper / Navy Grasscloth Wallpaper (Also available at Lowe’s) / Chesterfield Couch (In “Steamboat Chestnut”) / Round Dining Room Chandelier / Foyer Flushmount Chandelier / Bench / Similar Picture Light / Gray Pillow / Similar “JOY” Pillow (in “Merry”) / Round Dining Room Rug / Dining Room Table / Dining Room Chairs (Adore Pottery Barn’s version!) / Dining Room Mirror (Also have and love this option.) / Dining Room Hutch Pulls / Iron Reindeer / Metal Christmas Trees / Hurricane Candle Holders / Newer Advent Calendar / Kitchen Stools / Secretary Desk / Red Berry Trees / Artificial Cypress Garland / Similar Gingham Pillow / Toile Curtains / New Yorker Print and Frame / Trim Paint Color: Benjamin Moore “Ivory White” #925
It took me almost a year to decide on wallpaper for the living and dining rooms. 🙈 But with that one-year anniversary looming over my head, I finally ordered it.
And I’m in love! It also feels great to not be looking at unfinished walls, with the top portion painted gray and the bottom wainscoting area messily sprayed white. It really makes the place feel like home.
The reason for this post, though, is to call attention to a new-to-me wallpaper company. I did end up going with Annie Selke grasscloth for the living room grasscloth as I’ve loved the “Cream” color for a long time and I didn’t have too much wall space to cover with it. (Serena & Lily’s “Ecru” was a close second.) But woo-ee. Grasscloth can be expensive.
However, Magnolia Home carries a grasscloth option (also available at Lowe’s) that’s amazing—and roughly a third of the price of others out there! I’ve long been a fan of the Heath & Hand with Magnolia line at Target, and my mother-in-law has actually visited the Magnolia Market in Texas! So this was a great find.
And we’re thrilled with the quality. There aren’t quite as many color options as the Annie Selke line offers, but the Magnolia grasscloth is just as gorgeous. (We obviously went with the navy blue color!)
Note: One thing to keep in mind when installing grasscloth is that there will *always* be seams. This is just something you have to be okay with. Yes, this goes against many personality types, but luckily I’m a hot mess and it doesn’t bother me! I just consider it charming. 😜
Anyway, I haven’t taken a ton of photos of the “finished” spaces, but here are a few. ♥️
And if you’re in the Chicagoland area and looking for wallpaper installation, try Rich Siepak! I randomly found him on Facebook years ago and he’s the BEST and very affordable. He wears a mask; Mitch and I simply decided to have him come on a warm day—luckily we’ve had a bunch of those this month!—so we could air the place out and also leave the house during installation. (When we were home, we stayed upstairs.) We’ve known him for years so we really trust him! You can e-mail him at wppi98@gmail.com.
Before
Before
Shop the post:
Hand-Knotted Blue Rug / Cream Grasscloth Wallpaper / Navy Grasscloth Wallpaper (Also available at Lowe’s) / Chesterfield Couch (In “Steamboat Chestnut”) / Round Dining Room Chandelier / Foyer Flushmount Chandelier / Bench / Similar Picture Light / Gray Pillow / Similar “JOY” Pillow (in “Merry”) / Round Dining Room Rug / Dining Room Table / Dining Room Chairs (Adore Pottery Barn’s version!) / Dining Room Mirror (Also have and love this option.) / Dining Room Hutch Pulls / Iron Reindeer / Metal Christmas Trees / Hurricane Candle Holders / Newer Advent Calendar / Kitchen Stools / Secretary Desk / Red Berry Trees / Artificial Cypress Garland / Similar Gingham Pillow / Toile Curtains / New Yorker Print and Frame / Trim Paint Color: Benjamin Moore “Ivory White” #925
Hi, Kelly! Love the transformation! Where did you get your beautiful baby gate? Is is made by a carpenter or purchased?
Hi Cinthya,
Thank you so much! Yes, we had it made with Home Safe Home in Chicago! They make custom gates for weird staircases :)
https://childproofingchicago.com
Mitch is publishing a whole post on it this week! Randomly found the company on the Next Door app, which has been really helpful!
Hope this helps!
Are your baby gates custom? I’ve considered custom for a long time because we have an oddly shaped house/stairs. Seems a bit overboard I know but the reality is we’ll be in this stage for several years so it might be worth the investment.
Love the grasscloth!! A great kid-friendly option that we have is Thibaut Bankun Raffia. It’s actually vinyl but you’d never know it. So despite being Thibaut it’s actually affordable (and seams aren’t visible if that bothers you…)
Hi!
Yeah, we were in the exact same boat. We tried a ton of gates, but none *really* worked because of the weird format of our stairs; there was always one part that wasn’t fully secured. I was starting to have nightmares and was so on edge all the time because I kept on imagining disasters. :(
A post on baby gates came up on my NextDoor app, and so many people recommended Home Safe Home for problem staircases in the city. Mitch wrote an entire post on it and we’re going to publish it tomorrow or Tuesday, but in short, the whole process was amazing. It took some convincing on Mitch’s part because yes, they were expensive. But our lives are so much calmer and we’re no longer having panic attacks about the stairs.
I also feel like they came out really beautifully?! (You can get them in white, too, but they couldn’t match our ivory white so I decided to go dark.) I don’t mind them!
Here is the company in case you’re interested:
https://childproofingchicago.com
The guy’s name is Hal Norman, and he’s a really nice gentleman who’s been doing this for years. He really listened to all my concerns and he came up with a bunch of different solutions for us to choose from. :)
I hadn’t heard of the Thibaut Bankun Raffia!! THANK YOU! I still might install grasscloth in our upstairs hallway, so I’ll have to look into it. No visible seam are huge because clearly you can see ours!
Thanks so much! <3
This is amazing!! Thanks for all the info. At this stage in my life I think I’d rather have a custom baby gate than a custom closet :) I agree about the safety aspect – peace of mind is so important. Looking forward to Mitch’s post tomorrow.
We just installed grasscloth wallpaper too and I wasn’t prepared for the seams! But I’m used to now and love the subtle texture, but definitely a good warning to have Looks great here!!
Oh man, right?! Before our guy installed in the basement, he was like, “OKAY, LET’S HAVE A TALK ABOUT GRASSCLOTH” haha — He said so many people are unhappy afterwards. But since I know it’s just part of it, I’m fine with it now! :) Thank you!!
Wow! It looked good before, but that’s a HUGE improvement. Great column, thank you!
JUDITH! We miss you. :) Hope you and your family are having a good holiday season! Thank you for your kind words!