long and dramatic laundry room story part 1

Typically, I work and plan with great efficiency in all aspects of my life. However, when it comes to design, there are some things that just have to wait, some dreams that don't come true. Exhibit A: My laundry room. 

You may recall a post, if you love me long time, about a possible laundry room re-do. 

Post #1 from 2012: here

Post #2 from 2014: here

In post #1, I discuss a possible updating of the laundry room with MacKenzie Childs knobs. This update did not happen. (Interestingly enough, this MC inspiration has stayed with me for five years.) 

In post #2, I did finally get new knobs, but realized Scalamandre wallpaper was never going to be a realistic option. 

Here's a pic of the laundry room with the original white ceramic knobs, the french country yellow paint, the Brunschwig & Fils laundry themed border, and the french country decor pieces... I've loved this laundry room for the past 18 years!

And the second set of knobs...

So what's a girl to do, when a Scalamadre wallpaper dream (see Post #2) is squashed by monetary restriction reality? Paint! I was so sick of this drab yellow paint color. That Bruncshwig & Fils laundry room border was my dream come true 18 years ago, but I was sick of it. After calling Andy Moore, painter extraordinaire, the excitement began, and that 2012 MacKenzie Childs inspiration resurfaced.

I started on eBay, and found enough knobs to make a splash on one section of the laundry room cabinets ~ front and center. Then, I went through my own collection of MC fish and platters and plates, and pulled some for color inspiration. 

I removed the Quimper plates and other french items sprinkled around the room, with a planned to add MacKenzie Childs pieces in their place.

I was all set to paint an aqua color, but my painter, Andy Moore, suggested I go with something different. Something closer to "tangerine" because... the french tangerine. I searched Pinterest for coral painted walls...

I get very excited about color, you guys. We chose a coral color, and it was a good match to what I had found on Pinterest. 

(Left side)

But when the whole room was painted, it felt neon. Perfect for Key West, but not quite right for my house. I definitely had an Oh God, what have I done? moment.. 

To take down the neon quality, Andy added an oatmeal color to the neon coral, which created more of a Pepto Bismol pink. This sounds horrible, but with the MacKenzie Childs pieces, it seemed to work. 

Except it didn't. (Another Oh God, what have I done? moment)

Andy, who can become a helpful designer while on a paint job, thought maybe I needed all MC knobs to really pump up the room, and make the pink better. So I got to work on eBay. While in search of knobs, I also found a set of 20 MC tiles and another fish platter. I was really going to turn that laundry room into a MacKenzie Childs Palace!

The ceiling had Brunschwig wallpaper with clothespins, and although I was sick of the yellow paint color and the border, that ceiling wallpaper still made me happy. So Andy suggested adding color to the clothespins design... Music to my ears. 

So the leaves turned green...

(Yes, Andy painted tens of thousands of leaves green.)

While the ceiling was being painted, and eBay was being searched, the pepto bismol pink continued to bother me. I was losing sleep.

And then, at 2:30am, I found this!

Stripes is just what this pink needed. We all agreed. But then...

You guys, I tried and tried to stay excited about this pink. I talked myself into loving it with the stripes, but the bottom line is, the pink paint just wasn't right. Did I really want to keep this story going with the addition of stripes? No, I did not.

~ More sleep loss ~

Finally, I have resorted to taking a loss, and doing wallpaper over the pink paint. I've held up the Scalamandre (if autocorrect changes Scalamandre to Salamander one more time...) wallpaper sample, wrinkled at the edges from years of love and dreams, and I still adore it, but do I really want to spend that much on wallpaper for my laundry room? Certainly there are more reasonable options. What will I do with all the MacKenzie Childs pieces I purchased on eBay? What about the ceiling wallpaper with the new green leaves? 

I confessed to my husband. I told him I hadn't made very many mistakes in decorating, but I went big on this one. I told him we had to fix it. Now that the panic has passed, and the confession is complete, relief has swept over me, and I'm going back to the drawing board. The Pinterest board of wallpaper! 

I've revisited some wallpaper ideas, requested some samples, and am finally able to sleep. The possibilities are endless!This one from Galbraith & Paul would certainly work with the MacKenzie Childs pieces...

I plan to make my way through wallpaper samples, and I will let you know how the next phase of this exceptionally long and dramatic laundry room story ends. 

Stay tuned, and wish me luck with the wallpaper search!

In the mean time, I will be living with my Pepto Bismol pink walls!