How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

*This post was made possible by the generous support of Fancy Walls and features gifted product. All opinions are my own.

I’m back with another DIY peel-and-stick wallpaper project in partnership with Fancy Walls, and this time it’s all about our kitchen seating nook. This spot in the center of our home is right off the kitchen, and probably was meant to function as an eat-in dining space. Since our formal dining room is also right off the kitchen on the other side, there was no need for us to set this eat-in area up for dining. We actually use our formal dining room every night, and have bar seating at the counter in our kitchen, so instead of a dining nook, we decided to turn this kitchen off-shoot into an additional seating area. I love lounging on the couch with our fur babes while John cooks (and vice versa), plus it has become a natural gathering place whenever we have company over, so it made sense to incorporate bonus lounge-type seating.

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

One thing I didn’t love, though, was the lack of character in the room. This seating area acts as a major thoroughfare for four different rooms in our home—the kitchen (of course), our back sunroom, front living room, and the garage is also right off this room. Oh, and the basement stairs are in this room, too, if you want to count that as a room! In other words, there are lots of invisible pathways snaking through our kitchen seating area, and also plenty of doors that eat up wall space.

I tried adding personality by hanging an eye-catching gallery wall over our couch, and using a poppy blue paint color below the chair rail, but the many, many doors limited my wall space for art and other decorative accents, like wall shelves or hanging plants. Ultimately, I needed to get creative with the two flat panel 1960s doors to make them feel more like considered (creative!) parts of the room.

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel DoorsHow To Makeover Boring Flat Panel DoorsHow To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

Yes, I could have painted them a fun color, but I’m not really all that big a fan of paint, to be honest. It’s messy, I’m not very good at it, and painting also requires so many tools. It just wasn’t the direction I wanted to head in, but then I had a lightbulb moment…I could cover the doors with wallpaper! It would take very little time, would give me the instant gratification I craved, and would requite very few tools, too.

I ultimately chose the pattern “Neutral Geometric” from Fancy Walls’ collection, and immediately ordered a sample to stick up on the door. The sample gave me just a tiny taste of the splash of color this wallpaper would add to the room, and I was more convinced than ever that it was the way to go, so I went ahead and ordered all the paper I needed for the two doors.

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel DoorsHow To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

To install the paper, I measured the height and width of both doors (for reference, I intended on covering the basement door and the garage entry door), then I added two inches to those measurements and made light marks on the wallpaper sheets following those measurements. Then, I cut the paper to size, and got to work on the doors.

If you’ve been following along with all of my Fancy Walls projects to date (here, here, here), then you know I generally follow the same process. I peel back the first part of the backer paper from the wallpaper (roughly 24 inches worth), and then I line up the clean straight top edge and side with the top edge and side of my surface—in this case the top and side of the door. Once I have everything lined up, I press it in place using a wallpaper smoother tool, making sure to push all air bubbles out through the sides. After that section is stuck down, I peel off more backer paper, and use the smoothing tool again to press it in place and get rid of all air bubbles. I keep repeating until finished, then use a sharp razor blade to cut off any excess wallpaper from the sides and top/bottom.

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel DoorsHow To Makeover Boring Flat Panel DoorsHow To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

For this particular project, I also had to add in the step of removing the door knobs before wallpapering, and putting them back on afterward, but that only took about five minutes per door. The fact that my doors were both flat panel meant that I didn’t need to trim around any decorative moulding, saving me tons of time. I think the whole project took about 30 minutes total, including the removal and reinstallation of door knobs.

I had a feeling that I would really like the finished results, but I actually love how these doors turned out! The retro-inspired pattern adds so much character to this pass-through space, and I love how it complements the blue/green tones in the art and wall paint. It has a very “Brady Bunch” type of mid-century look, am I right?! Click here to order a sample of “Neutral Geometric” from Fancy Walls to see if it’s the right fit for your project.

How To Makeover Boring Flat Panel Doors

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Two Ways To Style A Bed Blanket

Two Ways To Style A Bed Blanket

*This post was made possible by the generous support of Muslin Comfort, and features gifted product for testing purposes. All opinions are my own.

There are certain parts of decorating that I feel confident doing, things like shelf styling, color mixing, and sourcing furniture. But there are plenty of things that I feel like I’m downright bad at—one of which being bed linen styling. Coming up with a creative “bed-scape” just doesn’t come naturally to me! I’m very envious of designers who can whip up a beautifully curated collection of bedding, with all the right pillows, perfect patterns, and luxurious layering. When I do it, the result tends to look chaotic, so I often stick to the simplest combinations possible.

I’m a very stubborn person, though, so this situation isn’t something I’m willing to settle for. I really want to keep experimenting and stepping beyond the “easy” route when it comes to bed styling, and today’s post is my continued attempt at evolving. The focus of today’s story? End-of-the-bed blankets.

Two Ways To Style A Bed Blanket

Two Ways To Style A Bed Blanket

I really love using a bed blanket at the end of our mattress from both a functional standpoint and an aesthetic one. Functionally, it’s so nice to be able to pull up a nice heavy blanket on extra cold nights for an extra layer of warmth. Aesthetically, I think a blanket helps give a bed some presence and personality.

I’ve been doing this styling trick for years and years, but this is the first time I’ve ever tried a true tone-on-tone look. I really love the matching shades of earthy gray here between the end-of-the-bed blanket and our everyday linen duvet. The tonal palette between the two doesn’t overwhelm the room (that vintage wallpaper really ought to be the star of the show, after all!), and gives it sort of a “hotel-inspired” elegance, I think.

Two Ways To Style A Bed Blanket

But let’s talk a little bit more about that bed blanket. We just added the “365 Blanket” from Muslin Comfort to our collection (in the color Earthy Grey), and I love the luxurious character it brings to our space. It’s been much chillier after dark here in Virginia lately, so having that breathable, temperature-regulating blanket to pull up in the middle of cold nights has been a very welcome addition.

If you scroll back and forth between all of the photos in today’s post, you might notice that I experimented with two different ways to style this oversized blanket. First, I layered the blanket at the end of the bed in an organically bunched style. This method is really easy to maintain throughout the day because it’s supposed to look a little ruffled and messy. Our pets love to lounge on our bed throughout the day, and their paws are very often messing up the bedding. The bunched look of our end-of-the-bed blanket, though, can stand up well to their day- and night-time naps and wrestling sessions.

Two Ways To Style A Bed Blanket

Then, I tried the blanket folded in a sleeker, more modern style, as you see pictured above. I folded it in even quarters right at the end of the bed, which does look a little more pulled-together, and also makes it super easy to pull the blanket up in the middle of chilly nights. Although this look is a little more susceptible to getting mussed by pet paws, the muslin blanket itself is so thick that it really doesn’t budge all that much throughout the day, unlike some lighter weight bed blankets that I’ve used in the past.

Two Ways To Style A Bed BlanketTwo Ways To Style A Bed Blanket

Which way is your favorite? I personally love the bunch, but the sleek folds option does satisfy my craving for order in the midst of all the craziness life has to offer! This 100% Muslin Cotton blanket actually functions as a full comforter replacement, too, so I’m excited to try that look out next—spreading it out all the way out across the bed as the top layer, that is. If you want to experiment with this type of bed styling, use my code “CARRIE26” to get a discount off your own eco-friendly Muslin Comfort order!

Two Ways To Style A Bed Blanket

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