I think I’m in love with wallpaper. Years of growing up in England – where the wallpaper adorns millions of homes and can be beautifully frightful in combination with unmatched patterned carpet. For years I painted any wallpaper I came into contact with – covering what seemed such a dated mode of decorating. I’ve been converted over the last few years, and this month – even bordering on obsessive. The choices available are spectacular and with the help of the internet shopping experience – a game changer to even the most boring box like room – such as our bedroom, which, despite the rest of our creative renovation to our modest 1940’s ranch house, remains simply a white box in which we sleep with electrical cords coming from the ceiling and fabric remnants hanging over the curtain rods. (This being the official unveiling of my bedroom secrets).
As an environment where love should bloom and we should rest and in which we spend a good 8 hours a day – this is the one room in my life that desperately needs help. We recently purchased a Tempurpedic king size bed (which does take up much of the room) – so we are sleeping well – but alas – I lay in the most comfortable bed I’ve ever owned (really – it is) and look around me and sigh with despair at the great lack of love our bedroom reflects. This does not show the love that goes in our household – in fact its an out and out misrepresentation and something urgently needs to be done about it.
And so it is, I start dreaming about colour – yes dreaming in my sleep about colour – not day dreaming as you might think. The other night it was blue, gold and purple (wallpaper included) and then last night it was what my family lovingly refer to as “Nicky Green” – a colour I love and use often in our numerous abodes- its really more the colour of young baby poop – an acid green bordering on jaundice. Its an absolute favorite in my palette – who knew baby colored poop could be so delightful on the walls.
Dreaming is usually where I find the answers for many of my creative meanderings, concepts and designs and the colors are so vivid that I have come to rely on my dreams for many of my inspirations. It is also a place where I travel the world, play great guitar on stage with famous musicians (Jerry Garcia and I have played some fantastic music together), designed many of the products I’ve produced as well as conceptualize fabrics, so isn’t it only right that our bedroom should be a reflection of such inspiration.
After a burglary at our house last year, we spent our hard earned home owners insurance funds last summer giving my 10 year old son a bedroom makeover – his too is the same size box as ours and it was sad and unloved, painted a hasty fiery red when we first bought the house, but never really finished (I even felt sorry for Mr. Placostymus, our pet 10” fish that lives in his room with an oversized goldfish who looks more koi like each month). We used old pine shelving from our favourite salvage yard – Gersons – for the floor, painted the walls “Alien Green” – a rather neon happy color with white trim, and drove 90 miles to our nearest Ikea for shelving and window treatments which we squeezed into the back of the Element with only inches left to sit – and we lovingly gave him the rug my father shipped me from Marrakesh a few summers ago. His room is hip and beautiful now – but he still chooses to climb into our bed every night to sleep. His reasoning – the Tempurpedic bed. It’s certainly not the décor, but it is the family together time ( add the two cats and the 90 pound dog that he insists join us). It is an island of love in a bland sea of nothingness. My husband and I secretly talk of moving out of our boring white box and into our sons redone room, leaving him behind in the California king size tempurpedic bed to enjoy with the cats and dog. But perhaps just perhaps – floral wallpaper might just do the trick!
here’s one wallpaper company worth checking out:
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