When we first saw pictures of our house for sale, it looked good except this one wall looked like it was covered in plywood, or cork, or something. It was the one thing that put people off, but I knew to keep an open mind before seeing it person.
Listing Photo of Family Room
I thought it might be wallpaper, based on the vertical stripes I could see in the photograph. And I was right! It is a medium brown wallpaper, that I’m sure was very nice in the 1990s. It’s got a little bit of a sheen to it and is very thick, like fabric. But it’s not really our style, so eventually the plan is to get rid of it, and to repaint the wall and doors. However, I’m not quite ready to do that yet as I am still trying to decide how I want the room to look and what other renovations we might do. So I wanted to do something to minimize the brown for very little money. I’m thinking curtains!
Old Master Bedroom
In the last house, I had bought these ikea curtains to hang in the master bedroom. They are very long (98″) and I had a total of 8 panels at 57″ wide, I knew they would fit the bill. I also liked the hanging hardware I had bought at ikea, as it was very easy to put up, and actually felt really strong compared to other hardware I’ve bought in the past. The rods are about 1″ in diameter, and the best part is that they are inexpensive as well.
Curtained Wall
For the rods (3 along this back wall), mounting brackets (7), and curtain rings (5 packs of 10) I think the total came to about $45. At night (when the above picture was taken) it helps create a sense of privacy from the outdoors, even though none of our neighbors are really close enough to see inside. I think it also creates a nice visual effect of removing the brown wallpaper. There are still hints of it, but it’s mostly gone! I took the mounting brackets from Ikea, and secured them as high on the wall as I could (it helps to have an angled ceiling). The two brackets on either side are positioned with electrical boxes in mind. On the left side, it’s the outlets for the TV and other entertainment equipment. On the right side, I mounted the brackets directly over the switches for easy access.
Light switch
One other thing I just thought about that’s nice about the Ikea hardware brackets– they have a cover that you put over the screws/lower bracket and if you wanted to, you could paint that to match your wall so the rods look more like they are suspended in space.
During the daytime, we’ll leave the curtains open for maximum light.
Open Curtains
And of course, for Peanut, who loves to watch the birds.
One other thing that I bet you can barely see is that the middle rod was not quite long enough. I thought I had measured everything and it was all going to fit, but I was off by about 4″. I did not want to re-mount any of the hardware, so I thought maybe a PVC pipe would work in “extending” the rod. I just had to be the right size to fit both ends of the rod. I measured everything, and took my tape measure with me to the hardware store and found that the 3/4″ PVC pipe was perfect in size. The smallest length they had was four feet (I think) but it was less than $2 so no problem. I didn’t even bother cutting it down in size, I just slipped it in the rod, and hung it up.
Easy peasy! Fairly fast and simple cover up for the wallpapered wall!
Linking up to these parties!: Thrifty Decor Chick, Remodelaholic
Speak Your Mind