Working With a Busy Patterned Wallpaper

Soooooo.....

HI YA!!!!!

Kris and I have big news!!!!

Yes in deedy we do!

As you know, 

we've been searching for a mirror for over her chest of drawers in her master bedroom.

Well, we (she) found one!!!!!

I had shown her two styles I felt would work in her bedroom, and the woman was like a detective and found the perfect one!

We thought we had found one at the auction we went to this past week, but it was actually a piece of #$% when we saw it in real life.

WELL!!!

We don't want no #$% in Kris's boudoir!!!!!

No we don't.

In deedy not!!!!!

Sooooo.....

Kris went back to trolling on eBay, and found a gem.

It's a Louis Philippe style.

Old Louis was the last King of France, and it was nice of him to create a style that we could use in Kris's bedroom.

The mirror was being sold by a dealer in Connecticut, and Kris was willing to drive down to pick it up.

She found it on Wednesday, and I was so pumped up about finally finding a nice mirror in a style that worked, that she agreed to go get it right away.

It's got really beautiful details.

This is a real gold leaf mirror.

You can see the red undercoat showing through the leaf.

It's beautiful where the leaf wears off and the red shows through.

There's no faking the real deal.

It had the old mirror in it, so when Kris looks at herself, she can think that the age spots on her person are just imperfections in the glass.

Sooooo.....

She drove down and back on Friday, and I hung it today.

This is how the room looked sans mirror.

The wallpaper is such a strong look that it can be overwhelming without having things on the wall to cut into the pattern.

Sooooo.....

when I got to Kris's house today, this is how far she had gotten to hanging the mirror.

The girl knows to do nothin' without me.

I am very persnickety about the height that I have things hung.

I made Keith (her hubby) and Kris haul it up, so I could decide how high I wanted to place it on the wall.

This sucker is heavy.

I made them stand there for a leetle bit.

Then I got out the tap measure and some paper and pencil, and did some math and figured out where to put the hooks.

Since it was so large and heavy, I wanted to use two 50 lb hooks.

But first.....

we decided we better weigh it, to be on the safe side.

It was 37 lbs.

Hey, that's just what I weigh!!!!!

So, I placed the picture hooks around 7 inches apart and used a level to make sure the hooks were level too.

We got it right on the first try!!!!!

Before I go any further, let me just show you how Kris paid me for my design work.

She noticed how excited I got at the auction snacking on the baked Cheetos, so she got me a bag.

I don't allow this stuff in my house.....

(but she let me take it home.....I am very happy.....)

We decided that the world is divided into two types of people: 

Cheetos lovers and those who just don't get it.

Kris supplied wet wipes for our orange fingers, so we could snack yet continue with our decorating.

That orange stuff is lethal. 

Yet, delicious!!!!!

Don't be leavin' me no comments about how bad they are for me.

I know, I ain't stoopid.

Where was I?????

Oh, yeah, DECORATING!!!!!

I felt that there needed to be more stuff on the walls around the mirror.

And what makes more sense than hanging plates on the wall in a bedroom!!!!!

Kris and I sure do like us some plates on the wall.

I had been snooping around eBay, looking at Majolica.

I had marked some that I thought would look good.

Kris didn't agree.

Kris was right.

Kris wanted light colored plates,

and just happened to have exactly what we needed, stored in her china cabinet in her dining room.

Sooooo.....

she ran downstairs and brought those babies up, and I proceeded to cover the walls with them.

We had both square and round shapes, so I mixed the two together.

I started with a square one, we stood back to see how we liked it, 

and fell all over ourselves in delirious joy.

We were having such a good time.

It is so much fun, when you do a project and every thing comes out the way you want it.

We were enjoying the moment, because we don't usually get this lucky.

Sooooo.....

I hung the rest of the plates on the right side.

We loved the way the cream color of the plates picked up the tones of the chest of drawers 

(that yours truly painted).

Then I did the other side.

Although the plates don't have any painting on them, they are very decorative because they have interesting patterns molded into the surface.

When we finished the mirror wall I didn't want to stop.

Kris had four hand painted botanicals left over from the stairs that she wanted to use in her bedroom.

Remember these?????

We got them at auction too, and there were a lot of them.

I hung one on each side of the bed.

We still had 6 plates to play with, so I hung one over the print.

I moved to the other side, and hung the next framed floral.

At this point, we ran out of plate hangers.

OY!!!!!

So, Kris will get more tomorrow.

She ran down to the living room, and stole its lampshades so I could take pictures with them on the lamps.

We still need to have them made for this room.

Custom shades are one of Kris's big splurges.

She lurves them.

We still need to find another chair for the corner.

The 20 dollar one that was hauled home, we decided isn't tall enough.

Sooooo.....

I can't hang anything else on the wall over by the little display cabinet and chair, until we get a taller one.

Then it's MORE STUFF ON THE WALLS!!!!!

We have two more prints and 4 more plates, soooooooo we be all set!!!!!

Sooooooooo,

here's just a little fun before and after before I go.

On that note,

Latah, Gatah