With the exception of that spot on the ceiling that still hasn’t been painted (because I still haven’t had a chance to purchase ceiling paint), the bedroom foyer is now to the “finished” point I wanted to reach before moving on to the bedroom.
I got the upper walls painted teal, which is a custom color that I had matched to the grasscloth wallpaper, and I got the bathroom (storage closet) doors painted white.
It was a bit challenging to color match to the grasscloth wallpaper because grasscloth isn’t one solid color. It took a few tries to get to a color that I thought would actually be representative of the grasscloth on the whole, but I think the actual grasscloth will read a bit lighter than this paint color.
And of course, it’ll be prettier than a solid wall color, but I just wanted a solid base color on the walls before I install the grasscloth. I think the grasscloth is thick enough that nothing would actually show through, but I don’t want to take a chance and find out that I was wrong, especially since I have just enough grasscloth with none to spare. Plus, I just wanted the satisfaction of seeing a facsimile of my overall vision for this area. And I love it!
The HVAC intake vent and the current ceiling light are very dusty, so please be so kind as to overlook those for now. 😀 I have been changing the filters very regularly (sometimes daily depending on the work being done), but I haven’t yet taken the time to clean the light or the intake vent cover. I’ll get to that eventually, but first, I still need to move that ceiling light over so that it’s more centered, and that will create a bit more dust. I think that’s the last project in the foyer that will create dust, and once that’s done, I can get everything cleaned up before hanging the grasscloth wallpaper.
Overall, I’m so pleased with how this is turning out so far. But I realized that this area took me longer than it should because I did things in an order that made the painting more difficult and time-consuming.
I was so anxious to see a big project get underway in the foyer get the trim on the walls that I did the trim first and then had to go back and paint the lower walls with the trim in place. And since some of the areas were way too small to paint with a roller, I ended up having to paint everything from the chair rail down with a brush. So my excitement in getting to the trim first so that I could have that satisfaction of seeing progress on a major project ended up costing me a whole lot more time.
So I’m going to do things differently in the bedroom. I’m going to paint the walls first and get the lower walls thoroughly coated with the white paint (Behr Polar Bear), and then I’ll install the picture frame molding, caulk the molding, and then I’ll only have the molding that needs to be painted with a brush. I think that will go much faster.
And now that the foyer is to this stopping point (except for the ceiling), I don’t feel quite as anxious to jump right to the big project (i.e., the molding) in the bedroom just so that I can have the satisfaction of seeing big steps towards progress.
Obviously, I still have this elephant in the room (or rather, elephant in the foyer) that needs to be dealt with. Our router is coming through the ceiling and sitting on the floor, and that’s pretty unsightly. It used to sit on the top shelf inside the cabinet that was built into this corner of the foyer, but obviously, that cabinet is gone now.
As soon as I decide where I want to put the router, I can get it into its new home, and then I’ll just have this tiny hole to patch. So while it looks awful right now having this wire hanging down and the router sitting on the floor, it won’t be a big deal to patch that tiny hole. I just don’t know where I want to put it!
So that’s the progress so far, and I’m thrilled with how it’s turning out.
Hopefully, I can get the walls in the bedroom completely painted today, and then I’ll be ready to start installing the trim on the bedroom walls this weekend.
Also, I’m seriously considering hiring a professional wallpaper installer to install the grasscloth. I’ve been searching for a pro in my area, but so far, I can’t find one. All of the pros I can find are in the Dallas area. I’m sure they’re willing to travel, but of course, that won’t be cheap. I think it might be worth it, though, because I just don’t want to take a chance at messing it up since I have no room for error. If I mess up on any of the grasscloth, I can’t buy more. I’ve already bought all of the grasscloth in this color/dye lot that exists in the whole country.
I’m still not 100% decided on that, but I’m considering it. A professional could get it done a while lot faster than I could. And while they’re doing that, I could start sewing the draperies for the bedroom. I’ve installed lots of wallpaper in my life, and in general, it’s a pretty easy project. But grasscloth is a whole different thing, and I don’t want to mess it up. I can’t mess it up. I’d feel a lot more comfortable having that project in the hands of pros.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
