Kids Room Refresh: Wallpaper

When we moved into our 1950s home 5 years ago, we opted to have every single room painted by a professional because the previous owner had an affinity for all shades of purple and it was just not going to work for us -- funny that now it is the pantone color of 2018 AND our 5 year old happens to tout that it is his favorite color in all the color land (+ what is now his bedroom was doused in it). Anyway, every . single . room - professionally painted. And at the time I was not wise enough to start with blank canvases. We selected some pretty bright colors -- all of which now I am not too fond of; funny how things change right?

Little D's room is one that I have felt the most unsettled about since day one because it housed (and will continue to house) the most transitions of LIFE -- meaning we had it painted pale yellow when we moved in because he was 6 months old and it was a gender neutral shade that felt happy and sweet. Now he is five years old and he has epic taste in antiques (especially rugs! already a connoisseur I swear!) and he just has his own little personality and tastes and SO much has changed in all of that time. The room feels that change and needs to be brought up to speed. One change that has to be noted that little M was born 2.5 years ago (side note: notice we are M + D and our kids are M + D also? It is a little bit of a family tradition that felt really fun to us in choosing names for our littles). Little M has occupied our master bedroom since birth and is officially gearing up to be in his own little bed in little D's space, meaning this room needs to feel like not just one child and all of his personality but another also! It is a challenge to me, but I am really looking forward to facing it + enjoying the process.

In another post we selected a rug and talked about goals + what items we are keeping in the space but the walls are going to be in my mind the biggest transformation. Very excited to get started with this paper-based removable wallpaper I found on Etsy via Kate Zaremba Company!

 The four samples I ordered and selected are 1. trapeze acrobats (loooove this one but little D said "this is weird" when he saw it ha!), 2. zebras, 3. intricate flower design in indigo, and 4. intricate flower design in black. I immediately fell in love with the indigo intricate flower but the problem is that little D has some sensory sensitivities and he doesn't like busy patterns. The clear winner was the zebras, and he had the sweetest things to say about it! He loved that his first toy ever was his wool stuffed zebra that I purchased before he was born that we named ZeeZee, and the zebra reminds him of Spiderman because of his favorite 1960s episode called "Rhino Man". I loved how he tried to connect zebras to Spiderman and in the end it was everyone's fave! I have begun hesitating a bit only because there is no set theme of the room and if you go zebra, it maybe can feel a little young? Also, it will only be on one wall, and surrounded by the pale yellow so I am wondering how it will look. I don't have all of the answers but for now am working on bringing in some more elements before I commit. What do you think? Should I reconsider the indigo flower? Would love to hear your thoughts!

xo,

Melissa