Is it Ugly or is it Just Plain?
Aug 16, 2024
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I live on the coast of Maine in a very crooked 1940's Cape-style home. We bought the home to house an attached design studio and machine shop for my husband and I to run a design business from. Getting that space right for the shop was more important than the home itself, so I got what I got.
It wasn't love at first sight, not even close to a dream home, but it has now truly become my dream home.
So, I begin my first post for the Crooked Cape Guide to discuss the very real situation that a home, a room - or maybe you've been living in a home for a long time - can have a serious case of No Inspiration.
But let's think about this: "Is it Ugly, or Just Plain? "
Good example below: This is a hardworking mud-room/laundry room with a connecting door to our shop. It was doing its best, but sorta depressing, in my opinion. Since I walk through that space at least 20 times, I needed cheerful, colorful, and whimsical. Laundry and mud are none of those things.
The steps I took:
I decided on a theme: Whimsical, like a 1970's kindergarten classroom where you hung your yellow or red raincoat on your designated hook.
I love perfectly illustrated mushrooms, so finding a wallpaper with that print was a great way to honor the dampness (mud and laundry) and then I could pick a coordinating paint color from the print. I needed shelving and hooks, too.
The walls were painted paneling with who know's what behind it. I am just one woman with some limiting skills, so I decided I would trick the eye and wallpaper the top third of the wall (over the panelling - get over it) and paint the bottom (to look like classic wainscoting) and the trim this groovy golden color.
I used water activated pasted wallpaper from Etsy. With all of the moisture in a room like this, I wouldn't recommend peel and stick. I promise you, pasted paper is much easier to install because you can move it around to get your pattern matching.
The railing is a no-frills, simple flat trim wood from our local hardware store. I painted and nail gunned them in place - so easy - and filled the joints with calk. I found shaker hooks with screw-on backings on Amazon. I found a few odd ball hooks on Anthropolgie to mix in.
At that point, I felt the doors needed painting. When I paint a room, I drench it, meaning all trim and doors are the same color as the walls. It's a classic way to highlight the paint color, not crooked trim lines.
The shelving are just wood planks from the hardware store and I found wood brackets on Amazon.
After living with the room a few months, I decided the tan tile was a boring reminder of the old room and I needed to match the whimsy, so I lost my mind and painted the tile (that was stupid, because of the upkeep, but it's cute). Each square was painted individually and then I put calk where the grout was.
When I say upkeep, even though I sealed the floor after it was painted, it still got scratched and felt too fragile for this hardworking room. I put down a rug and gave up thinking about those scratches.
This room is now a happy transition from work to home to chores to cheerfulness.
This whole thing took me a few days, mostly for the paint to dry in-between coats. Turns out the room really wasn't depressing, it just was a little dirty and a lot plain.
What I plan to do with my monthly Crooked Cape Guides, is to show an easy refresh, my reasoning behind it, and where to buy some of the things I used. I have a favorite paint company, for example: Clare - woman owned and curated colors vetted by interior designers and they ship to you (it's so well done you won't believe it!).
I do all of the work myself, I have no training, just gall, so I have learned to use basic tools. I will reference everything at the end of each post.
I do offer consulting services, to help you with your space if you need more than to just read about my ideas and experiences.
Crooked Cape is my way of trying to liberate a personal style that feels stuck or uninspired.
Paint Color: https://www.clare.com/products/paint-golden-hour
Wallpaper: https://www.etsy.com/listing/994971341/vintage-toadstools-fungi-drawer-liner?ref=yr_purchases
Anthropologie Submarine Wall Hooks - they don't sell these anymore
Floor Paint: https://www.clare.com/products/paint-omgreen and
