The Restoration Hardware Sale

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been thinking about redoing my guest bedroom.  When I first moved in to the house, I thought it would be fun to turn my urban cottage into a vintage farmhouse.  I don't know where I get these ideas.  

The first room I gave a facelift was the guest room and I put up this wallpaper.  It seemed to say "vintage farmhouse."  But now that the outside of the house is almost done, I'm not feeling the farmhouse interior anymore.  So I'm now lamenting my decision to install wallpaper that I no longer love/want. 

I've seen a lot on the blogs about the new look at Restoration Hardware, most designers feeling that it's a past-due look.  Love it or hate it, have you seen their linens?  I think they're gorgeous.

I've always loved the gray-brown color combination and they've got a lot of it.  Aren't these handsome? And they were having a 20 percent off everything sale this weekend so I thought I go find something from which to take inspiration for the guest room.  

But before I take down the wallpaper, I think maybe there's something I can do to it that will make it work.

So I pasted some pieces of wallpaper onto some large pieces of cardboard and while they were drying I ran to Ben Moore to get some paint samples to experiment.

Photo:  DecorPad

I thought if the walls were gray, I could paint my old dresser...

Photo:  Lone Ranger Antiques

...to look like an old Gustavian piece.

The bed is the Ethan Allen Quincy bed but it a brown finish so with linen that looks like this...

...it might look great.

So here are a few samples of Amherst Gray glazed over the wallpaper.  The first (on the left) is straight paint brushed on really thinly.  The second (on the right) is 50/50 glazing liquid and Amherst Gray brushed over the wallpaper.  

And here's another test (on the right) using the paint color (White River) that I've used throughout most of the house.  I kind of like how this tones the pure whiteness of the wallpaper and minimizes the pattern at the same time.  This might work.

I took my samples outside so I could photograph them for the blog and I was really captured by the reds...

...on my Japanese maple...

...my old chimney on the house...

...and the leaves on the ground.

But I have to get to Restoration Hardware.  So I go back in the house to get ready to go...

...and one of the cats was sitting in the perfect light to take a few glamor shots.  (You have to take advantage to these opportunities when they present themselves)

And I'm finally out the door to Restoration Hardware to buy some new bedding at 20 percent off to jump start the project.

I'm so excited about my new purchases.

This is what I came home with.

I stopped into the garden center to see I could find some urns for the front porch and I saw these most beautiful dwarf hollies called "Little Rascal" and a Red Twig dogwood. 

 I moved a little azalea called "Parade" from the side garden to the left side opposite the dogwood.  The shrubs I can easily keep pruned to stay below the line of the deck.  

The holly have the most beautiful reddish mahogany colored tips on the branches that look beautiful with the deck and the dogwood.

Dogwoods I know can grow like weeds but I believe you can cut them back to almost nothing in the spring to keep them under control.  I just love their red color in the winter.  And if it prove to be too much, I can always move it.

I wasn't planning to do any landscaping until spring but having a few things here really make it look much more finished.

After planting everything, I realized I hadn't eaten today...

...so I made the potato soup I saw on The Gardener's Cottage blog this morning.   The soup took all of about 10 minutes to make and it was great!  Janet's version is vegan but I used real milk and I didn't bother to peel the potatoes.  Super easy and it hit the spot on a gray, chilly afternoon.

I never made it to Restoration Hardware.  

But I had a great day.