Redecorating

So, anyone living in a rented home knows that there are one or two things you don't love. I think the number one curse of rented-living is wallpaper. Wall paper is always a very personal choice. Whatever you love, the next person is bound to find awful. Below is example one. (Mind you this is far from the most awful wall paper in our house.) 

It's feminine in a way that screams "tea room." I can't look at this room without thinking it should be covered in teapots and decorative ceramic plates with kittens on them. 

Here's a close up. The little details around the flower are gold. 

So, taking a cue from Immokalee house and my own dislove of this room, I started to redecorate. Of course the design in my head was way better than the final execution but when it's all said and done it turned out all right. On the two main walls there's denim blue fabric with a celestial pattern. ( It's darker than it looks in this photo and the wrinkles have since been smoothed out). I dyed white fabric with good old RIT dye. Then I used a spray bottle with a low concentration bleach solution to make the shooting stars. (The wallpaper underneath was vinyl. You definitely wouldn't want to bleach over classic paper wallpaper.)

I made a sunburst!

Then I covered the contrasting walls with slightly aged trade paper back book pages. 

This is the best light switch cover ever. 

I wish I could put up a panoramic shot of what the room looks like, but it's pretty cool. And the whole room smells like linen and books. I wish I'd done this *months* ago, but hopefully one of next years volunteers will love it.