A while back, my good friend, Lacey, showed me this gorgeous wallpaper that she’d spotted on West Elm’s blog, Front & Main. She’d contemplated putting it in several spaces and (being the supportive friend that I am) I wanted her to also put it in several spaces. To be quite honest, I wanted to use it in my house from top to bottom, but it was definitely her thing, and wallpaper is so damn expensive that I thought I’d live vicariously through her.
That was literally two years ago and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. When I showed off my new home bar, I told you guys that I wanted to use it in there, Finally honing down the need to use it on every square inch of my walls.
So I decided to just go for it. I hopped online to order and after doing some quick math, realized that it would take me six rolls (and $200) to do my tiny little 8 x 3 room. And that didn’t even count the adhesive, the tools, and the labor to get it up. I backed off of the ‘checkout’ button and gave this some thought.
Could I do a similar effect with paint? Would that be crazy hard? I would get to choose my own colors if we went that route. It would also save me over $175. Could I really pull this off? Do I even want the words faux finish looming in my house?
So here I am on a Thursday. Weighing my options, racking my brain, wondering if I’m crazy for not just going for the real deal.
Tell me… Am I nuts to consider painting this effect? Or should I give it a go?
P.S. If you love home projects as much as I do, you’ll die over the fact that we’re doing our last summer renovation giveaway with Home Depot and we’ve teamed up to give away a $500 gift card to the Home Depot! GO ENTER NOW!
jacquelyn |lark&linen says
Oh man, if you attempt that you will totally be my hero. In my eyes, the amount of time it will take you will be WELL worth the $200 it would cost for the material! That said, I’m kind of lazy and though I love the idea of DIY, once I actually tackle it I get all crazy and unhappy. hahaha
Erin | House of Earnest says
haha! We’ll see if this one makes me all crazy and unhappy
Erin | Holtwood Hipster says
Girl you be crazy! First, let me say If anybody could tackle this, it would be you Erin. I have full confidence in your skills! That said, I imagine you’d realize within the first hour that you probably should’ve just shelled out the $200 for the paper. Go for the splurge on this one, grab a cold drink and then spend all the extra time you would have spent painting relaxing on that back patio.
Erin | House of Earnest says
haha!!! I might be a little crazy to consider it, but it’s looking more and more like I’m going to go for the DIY!
Mandy Pellegrin // Fabric Paper Glue says
It’s a beautiful paper, for sure. In fact, I’ve been struggling with this exact same question lately. I see papers that I love, look at the price tag, and then think, “I could totally just paint that.” In the end, though, I just shelled out the cash for the paper that I really wanted ($250 for one freakin’ wall!), but I think it will be worth it. While I have no doubt that you could pull this off, I think you should just splurge on the paper.
Erin | House of Earnest says
oooohhhhh! Can’t wait to see your paper!
Lorilyn says
Ooh tough question! Definitely pros and cons to each! Pre baby/working/in school I would have totally attempted a DIY, but now I’m so short on it would only ever get done going the wall paper route – so for me time is my deciding factor! I often get stuck in the “No im not going to spend money on that i could do it myself” but then i never actually end up doing it. I mean worse case scenario you DIY it, it looks not up to par, then you can just wait a little longer and save up and wall paper it right?
Erin | House of Earnest says
Lorilyn – I think that is exactly what I’ve decided to do!
Erin || Sewbon.com says
Swoon! This wall paper is AMAZING! I can’t wait to see if you DIY or splurge on the paper. Either way, I’m sure it’s going to look fab!
Alicia says
I think you (of all people) could make this work. I’m a diy rookie, but I imagine a large-scale stamp with a mix of tone-on-tone paints could get the job done fairly well…
I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!
Ashlee Spear says
I think you could pull it off. Look through your blog and be reminded and inspired by all the awesome DIY work you’ve done. You’ve got this!
Christina says
I’m just befuddled by HOW exactly you would DIY that… but by all means if you have a plan I say give it a go.
Erin | House of Earnest says
Hi Christina – I did it! It’s here!