The Powder Room

I've begun thinking about the powder room project and, since I'm a librarian, the most obvious thing for me to do is start researching. So, the first think I did was check out this book from the library - Domino: The Book of Decorating. I really miss this magazine, just as I discovered it, it became defunct just like those television series, you just begin to care about the characters and the series isn't renewed. One of my favorites was this show, Valentine.

I really like the book quite a bit, it talks about incorporating a focus, color interaction, all the things to be considered just like a good HGTV show. I also like how the designers incorporate rooms of their own homes to illustrate points.

As a matter of daily life on the web, I've also been stalking a number of design blogs - Desire to Inspire, the Fat Hydrangea and decor8 to name just a few.

This is what I'm starting with -

(Apologies for the poor lighting, I need to read my camera manual for this one.) Since this is a low budget project, I am keeping: the sink, oak panelling and floor, the mirror, antique lights and the mantle. This is an exterior wall, so the mantle needs to stay as insulation for the sink pipes.

As powder rooms go, I want to have an element of surprise, maybe elegance but certainly different-ness from the rest of the house which I would describe as shabby country since almost all of my (our) furniture is repurposed.

Here's my design board, courtesy of glogster.

I LOVE the fabric sample, above from Schumacher. However, it is fabric, not wallpaper. Yesterday as I was out and about, I stopped at a few paint store who carried wallpaper once upon a time, but alas, no more. So, it looks like I'm going to need to broaden my travels.

Now, if I could wave my magic wand, I would go back about 30 years when a dear librarian I used to work with, wallpapered her shabby cabin bathroom with Alphonse Mucha wallpaper in the most warm shade of brown complete with Mucha's ethereal women. I would love to have some of this wallpaper but I've been up and down the internet and cannot locate anything like it.

So, there you have it. I'm at a standstill until I can get to the wallpaper store. I need to mention, I'm not wholly committed to wallpaper at this point, paint or even stenciling is quite doable as well. Any ideas?