I’ve been struggling with the color that I chose for the home gym closet area for a while now. This wasn’t a new problem that arose with the dresser makeover. But I’ve also been struggling with deciding what to do with the closet area. As far as I can see, I have three options, and all three will have drastically different impacts on the room.
But before we get to those options, let me show you the dresser. As I showed you on Tuesday, I gave the dresser a makeover (you can see the whole thing from beginning to end here), and this is how it looked after that makeover.
Then I came across some fun, inexpensive furniture legs on Amazon (they’re only $20, and you can find them here), and decided to try them on the dresser. The swap was very easy. Removing the original base with the walnut trim and walnut legs was a very simple matter of loosening six screws, and then whole thing came off as one piece. Then I just screwed the new feet on, and voila! A whole new look.
I honestly can’t tell which way I like better. I like that the walnut trim and feet show up better against the carpet, but I like the light and airy look of the new feet. Anyway, let me know your thoughts.
But now back to the main topic — the walls in the closet area. Here’s the irony of this whole thing. The colors on the walls of this room are in a very specific order. They’re in a gradient from the darkest coral color (Watermelon Punch) to the darkest teal (Summer Dragonfly) and then back to the coral. (You can see all of the colors here.) And I very painstakingly measured and figured so that the pattern of the strips would just be perfectly planned, with the wide stripe behind the Swedish ladder being the darkest teal, and the back wall of the closet being the darkest coral. And, I mean, it landed perfectly, which you can see in this photo.
I was so proud of how perfectly my plan turned out, but the longer I live with this big wall painted in that darkest coral color, the more I’ve come to dislike it in such a large dose. I absolutely love it in the narrow stripes. But I can’t take a whole wall painted that color. (As much as I’ve made strides in adding warm colors to our home, my heart still belongs to my beloved teals and greens when it comes to large doses of color.)
So that brings me to the options that I’ve come up with for this area. First, I very randomly came across some floral wallpaper on Etsy that caught my eye. I was amazed at how the colors in the wallpaper seemed to perfectly complement the colors of the stripes. For days, I kept going back to look at it, so I finally ordered a sample to see it in the room. And yep, the colors are perfect. They’re not all exact, but they’re very complementary.
I know from your comments that some of you have a hard time with so much color and pattern, but I love a lot of color and pattern, so the combination of a floral wallpaper and the striped walls seems right up my alley. I also like that it would be a lot of color and pattern, while remaining light and bright with its white background. And before you ask, Matt doesn’t care if I cover the walls in floral wallpaper. As long as he can see the TV, he’s fine with me doing whatever I want, just as long as I don’t paint the walls hot pink. 😀
I had wondered how my new “Sweat The Crazy Out” neon sign would look against wallpaper, but then yesterday, I saw this picture on my Instagram feed, and I love how that looks! So the wallpaper is definitely in the running.
The only drawback is that it’s the most expensive option, but it’s also a relatively fast option that I could get finished in an afternoon once the wallpaper arrives. I do kind of hesitate to spend that much money on wallpaper only to cover up so much of it with a dresser, TV, two full-length mirrors, and a neon sign.
The next option would be to continue the stripes onto the back wall of the closet area. I tried to do a mockup using the exact colors that would be used on the wall. I had a hard time with the width of the stripes (naturally, they’d all be the same width), but these are the colors that would fall in line on that wall.
That would be a cheap option, but it would be the most time-consuming. I do love it, though! It keeps things vibrant, colorful, and interesting.
The final options is obviously the easiest and fastest, and that’s to paint the entire closet area one solid color. It would have to be one of the cool colors (teals or greens). I have to admit that while it’s easy and fast and could get done today, it’s the option I’m the least excited about. It just seems so dull (which is one issue I had with the solid coral wall), and really doesn’t do anything for me. But the fast and easy aspect of it appeals to me, for sure.
What do you think? Should I head to Etsy and buy some wallpaper? Head to Home Depot and buy a few rolls of painters tape? Or just get out the paint roller and get the quick and easy job done this afternoon?
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I hope you’ll join me on my DIY and decorating journey! If you want to follow my projects and progress, you can subscribe below and have each new post delivered to your email inbox. That way you’ll never miss a thing!
