The Wall Paper Gone Bad....But Then Revived!

Hey Friends!! Hope you are all having a great day! I have another lovely post about my living room redecorating project!

This was actually a disaster project that turned out to be in my benefit!

First we need a back story on this one ;):

The hubs and I finally purchased a new TV! It's 46 inches of pure flat screen goodness and we couldn't be more proud ;)! This however left our wall behind the TV very lacking, so I proceeded to brain storm. The creative light bulb went off in my head....what if we put wall paper behind the TV going from floor to ceiling to add visual interest and make the design more cohesive? I will go into more detail about how this idea didn't work out later, for now: on with the story! Since we live in an apartment we couldn't adhere the wallpaper to the wall, so I thought "Hey, lets staple gun it to the wall!" (Not one of my best ideas I must admit!) I should have taken pictures but I was too upset at the time! The wallpaper was all puckered and was, for lack of a better word, HIDEOUS!!! So we decided to go to Lowe's and figure something out. We came across some plain closet mirrors and I thought "Why don't we just inlay the wallpaper where the mirror is?!" GENIUS (Much better idea)!! Long story less long: It worked like a charm and turned out better than we could have hoped!

Here's the Before and After:

{Seen that ampersand anywhere else.....? Fabric Focal Point Art HERE.}

Before:

{Blarf...That's right I am coining a new phrase! Blarf: is a hybrid of "Blah" and "Barf" ;) enjoy ;).}

After:

{The furthest thing from "Blarf"! Awesome right!!}

Want to make your own Wallpaper Art?

Here is what you need:

~Textured Paint able Wallpaper
{I found mine at Lowe's for I believe $15.00 a roll. That seems like a lot but I have a ton left over and plan on using it everywhere!}


~Paint

~Exact-o-knife

~Paint Roller

~Brackets For Hanging

How I did it:

NOTE: This contains a "how not to do this" and a "how I came to finish the project" tutorial.

1. Measure your space where you would like to hang your wallpaper.

2. Cut wallpaper to the previously determined length. Make sure that if you are cutting multiple strips that the pattern lines up correctly.

3. Now since I wanted to hang my wall paper without adhering it to the wall I went ahead and painted mine. If you want to adhere your's to the wall follow the steps that come with the wallpaper.

4. Paint your wallpaper your chosen color.

{I painted mine in Glidden's Spanish Olive, which is ironic because I HATE olives! Love love this color though!}

Ok this is where the project took a turn for the worst so instead I will be telling you how to adhere your wallpaper to the mirrors to create my ending (and much better) result.

How to make wallpapered mirror art:

1. Measure your the inlaid mirrors.

2. Cut your wallpaper to the previously determined measurements, making sure that you add some overlapping that you will later remove and create a nice edge.

3. Adhere your wallpaper following the directions that come with the wallpaper.
{I couldn't do this since my wallpaper was already painted, so I just slapped some mod podge on there to adhere the paper to the mirror. Remember: Adhere the paper BEFORE you paint.}

4. Allow to dry thoroughly.

5. After allowing to dry use your exact-o-knife to remove the excess wallpaper from the sides, creating a nice edge.

6. Paint your inlaid wallpaper your desired color.

7. Allow to dry and apply as many coats that is pleasing to you.

8. Hammer in picture hanging brackets to the back of the mirrors.

9. Hang and ENJOY!!

So what do you guys think??? Much better right? I love how this turned out. Even though it was a pain that it didn't work initially, it turned out better than what I had hoped for, and it was super easy! If you have any questions about this project since it was a little on the confusing side or just in general please let me know! Always happy to help! Thanks for stopping by! Again hope you are having a great day! Love, love.

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