My Living Room Makeover: Quatrefoil Moroccan Trellis Painted Wallpaper

My Living Room Makeover
PART 2 – Quatrefoil Moroccan Painted WallpaperFirst off, I love wallpaper. I grew up in an eclectic bungalow that my parents built themselves in the 70’s that was primarily of rough-cut lumber. There wasn’t a single wall in our entire house that could be painted, wallpapered or anything. You also had to be careful what you put up against the wall because the rough cut lumber was… well, ROUGH! Just about anything, including curtains, would catch on it and make pulls so interior decorating of any kind really wasn’t an option. “Rustic” was the style you had to work with.

Because of that, I’ve always been a little obsessed with wallpaper and couldn’t wait to get my own house someday so I could wallpaper a wall! FINALLY!

Well between children, marriage, my business and life, I haven’t had a chance to wallpaper any room in my house yet. When we decided to do My Living Room Makeover, I knew I HAD to have an accent wall.

At first I was dead set on retro wallpaper and had this very eclectic theme in mind. After about 19 days on Pinterest though, I started leaning towards Moroccan stylings and decided to go with a quatrefoil pattern.

I searched high and low for the perfect wallpaper and I didn’t find anything in my budget. I just couldn’t spend $100 on ONE roll of wallpaper! And all the wallpaper I could afford was not what I was looking for. Luckily, I came across Jones Design Company Painted Wallpaper Tutorial and after I finished reading the instructions and seeing how easy it was, I immediately downloaded the pdf quatrefoil template.

The Accent Wall

The entire living room was originally a boring and drab sage green color that I repainted to match the rest of the downstairs (so the rooms would flow better and feel more uninformed). The color “Sliced Melon” which is like a warm peach color, is absolute perfection in person. I’m so in love with this sunny, warm color.

Once I decided to do the Moroccan trellis quatrefoil painted wallpaper on the accent wall, I painted it with two coats of Benjamin Moore Regal Select Eggshell finish in Tangy Orange.

This was my first time using Benjamin Moore paint but it certainly won’t be my last. I was extremely impressed with how well this covered with just one coat. I only did the second coat to cover a few areas and to make sure the color was really perfect and BOLD. Really awesome paint though.

The next morning, after letting it dry overnight, I got right to work stenciling the wall with the template I downloaded here.

It took me about 2 hours to stencil the whole wall and I only had to stop and erase a small portion of it. It was challenging doing the pattern around the smoke detector hole and electrical outlets. Had there not been so many obstacles to work around, I think it only would have taken me about an hour and a half.

I spent the entire day on Mother’s Day painting in the lines and doing this wall. It took me approx 13 hours total from start to finish. I stopped for a 20 minute break around lunch time and a 45 minute break at dinner time. That was it! I was extremely sore, tired and burnt out after painting that long. I was going up and down the ladder, my wrist was getting sore, my eyes were fried from staring at that orange color for so long, but when it was finished, I felt SO SATISFIED!

It was probably one of the most satisfying and fulfilling things I have done in a while. I listened to music the entire time and that is probably the most music I have listened since I was 17 years old. That was probably my favorite part… I felt like ME again. Weird what music can do.

I can’t show you the whole room yet because I still have SO MUCH left to do, including

1. Painting the trim and doors glossy white
2. Painting the rest of the walls “Sliced Melon” – the peach color
3. Updating the fireplace
4. Paint the side tables
5. Hang curtains or shades
6. Put in recessed lighting in the ceiling
7. Buy a new couch or refinish an old one
8. Find a moroccan style area rug I can actually afford
9. Spend at least another 78 hours on Zulily and Joss & Main

Well, at least I can check the Quatrefoil Moroccan painted wallpaper off the list!

Back to my work in progress… So much left to do! It feels like my living room will never be done! At least the hard part is done.

Check out PART 1 of my living room makeover to see how it all started and stay tuned for Part 3 to see what else I accomplish in my living room!