Pepper Design Blog

Office Makeover: Wallpapering Open Shelving

I drove up the coast of California to visit family this past weekend, but I managed to finish step 1 of making over the new credenza before taking off. As mentioned in this post, I found the perfect sized credenza for the new office (and all of that storage that we’ll need!) on Craigslist.

The plan was to paint, add paper to the open shelves and change out the hardware to give it a brand new look.

Once the piece was home and in the space though, I immediately knew that the painting portion of the project wouldn’t be necessary. Once out of direct sunlight, the rich walnut tones were beautiful. When paired with the lighter woods of the desk and bookshelves, the credenza’s color lived up to it’s mid-century modern shape (which is known for rich walnut stains) and was no longer as honey/yellowy as it appears in the above pictures.

The top of the credenza could use some love, and I considered sanding and restaining to see if I could get rid of a couple of stains from long ago. But when it came down to matching the color to the rest of the piece, I knew that restaining could open a bag of worms that might have led to redoing the entire credenza. So we’ll leave it as-is for now with the hope of one day really focusing on the nitty gritty details.

With painting crossed off of the list, I moved right along to wallpapering the open shelves.

The shelves were screaming for some attention. I’ve added fabric backing to shelves before and I love the look of a pop of pattern and color in an unexpected location, so I began searching for a wallpaper, wrapping paper or sheets of decorative paper (check out the selection at Paper Source) that were large enough to line the back of these shelves without seams.

I settled on this wallpaper from Lowe’s because it has just the right amount of subtle color/pattern to work with a variety of future fabrics that we haven’t quite settled on for the room.

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Applying Decorative Paper to Shelves

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Materials: decorative paper (wallpaper, wrapping paper, handmade paper…), glue stick(s), straight edge, ruler, knife, scissors

{1.} Carefully measure each ‘wall’ of your bookshelf/credenza and cut paper to fit. I’m glad I had an entire roll of wallpaper, I had to recut several times, definitely buy 50% more than you anticipate using because of silly and unforeseen mistakes! I would have hated to have halted the project to run down to the store for more paper. Because the inside of this credenza has varied levels for different shelves, I opted to only line the most inset points. Once the shelf is back in place, I think that that will provide the cleanest look.

{2.} In my search for a non-permanent adhesive, I settled on a glue stick (the standard, kid’s crafts version). I could have pulled out the wallpapering glue from this project or even used double sided tape – but my goal was to have edges that wouldn’t roll up over time and to still create an adhesion that would allow me to replace the paper with a new pattern some time down the road. Cover your paper liberally with the gluebefore adding to the walls of your shelves (but don’t wait too long between applying glue and sticking up or you’ll have extra creases and bubbles).

{3.} I used a plastic triangle from my husband’s architectural-supply box for school (though a wallpapering broad knife or smoother – even a standard ruler – would have done the trick) to smooth the paper firmly against the walls of the credenza as I slowly added the sheets of wallpaper. Moving out from one corner across the paper provided the best results and the least amount of bubbles to ‘smooth out’.

{4.} Use a utility knife to clean up any edges that are not directly up against your corners… and then repeat until all walls (and the ceiling) are lined!

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Next step is finding some neat hardware to replace the older brass pulls. I’m on the hunt.

More visual inspiration of paper backed shelves from this way-back-when post!

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress,  inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300, inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.

Living Room Update: New ‘Invisible Zipper’ Cushions

So the sun has been shining with full force and the weather has been warm! and then just like that the switch was flipped and this morning we have grey skies here in San Diego. Oh funny weather…

A way while back I had mentioned finishing up a couple of sewing projects that involved zippers, one being new throw pillows for the living room. And these aren’t just any zippers, they’re the infamous invisible zippers! I accidentally purchased a ton of these for a few new projects around the house, and then realizing my mistake (and being a bit stubborn) I set out to tackle the invisible zipper rather than return for the regular version.

You’ll find invisible zippers on most store bought cushions and pieces of clothing, they’re great because when applied correctly, the zipper literally disappears within your fabric.

The new bathroom project is hiding there in the background. We’ve had to pause that guy temporarily while we wait on permits and Kevin works on summer school.

I found a few clearance napkins at West Elm that fit with my color scheme and I knew they’d be perfect for the project at just $4 a pop. That plus left over fabric from my favorite nursery glider makeover (that awesome tan ikat) left me with three new pillows that were quick and easy to sew up.

I researched a few slipcover pillow ideas but settled on adding a zipper because I knew that I wanted these pillows to really stand the test of time. Plus, I was dying to experiment with zippers, something I haven’t tried in ages. The first pillow was a challenge (think twisted, inside out fabric and thread), but as soon as I had the ‘invisible zipper’ down, the other two were easy peasy. It looks difficult, but I promise that if you go that extra step to hide your zippers, you’ll love the results.

For stuffing, I usually cover up an existing throw pillow. You can also purchase bags of filler at your local fabric shop for a few dollars. If you go that route, I recommend making an insert for your pillow as well so that you’re not constantly fighting clumps and wisps of filler material as you zip and unzip your covers.

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Sewing Throw Pillows with an Invisible Zipper

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Materials: 2 19×19″ squares of fabric for one 18″ pillow OR a set of cloth napkins, an invisible zipper (two inches shorter than one side of your pillow, though you can always shorten a longer zipper by sewing across the zipper, too), zipper footer for your sewing machine, complimenting thread, threaded bobbin, pins, scissors, pillow stuffing/inserts

1. To sew an 18″ pillow, cut your fabric into two 19×19″ pieces. This should allow a 1/2 hem on all edges. Remove one set tags if you’re using a napkin – I like to keep one set hidden inside with washing instructions for the future. Baby + dog + dinner parties = definite spots . Cloth napkins are great because they’re already hemmed and provide a clean finish on the underside of your new pillows. Plus, they’re the perfect size!

2. Pin the fabric/napkins together at the corners with the top sides facing each other (we’re going to do this first step with the pillows inside out).

3. Add a pin roughly half way between each corner.

4. Sew three sides of your pillow together, leaving just the edge for your invisible zipper open.

5. Now comes the tricky part. The easiest way to add your invisible zipper is to pin it in place as you imagine it functioning. Go ahead and pin your zipper in a couple of inches from the edge so that you leave yourself a little working space. We’ll close that up at the end.

6. Then flip your pillow right side out and try it. If the zipper opens and closes correctly without twisting any fabric, great job – you nailed it on the first try. It took me a couple of times of pinning, flipping, repinning to get this just right. Note: if you’d like, you can iron your invisible zipper flat before pinning to help you get as close of a stitch to the zipper part as possible.

7. Add your zipper foot to the sewing machine. It usually comes with your machine in that little parts bag below the main compartment, but you can also pick a plastic one up from the store for a few dollars. Sew your zipper edges to the fabric running that little zipper foot right up against your zipper.

8. If you flip your pillow inside out now, you’ll notice that your zipper closes (yay!) and that your fabric edges are hidden.

9. This picture illustrates the end of the zipper which has been left open – that’s the extra ‘working space’ we left from step 5.

10. Lifting the zipper out of the way, pin together the two loose ends of the pillow.

11. Now sew the two pinned pieces together, don’t forget to repeat on the other side (don’t worry about the loose zipper portion, it’s hidden inside your pillow).

12. Flip the entire pillow inside out and you should have a clean, finished end and an invisible zipper!

Stuff your insert in your cover and your throw pillow is done!

Love how the new pillows look, the added patterns were just what the space needed.

Office Makeover: Go Bold or Go Home

We’ve made great strides on our new office/guestroom, and to be quite honest, I’m still absorbing the drastic changes (woah! chocolate brown). After much debate and after much oogling over these dark brown inspiration rooms, we decided to go bold in (at least a part of) the office.

The to-do list currently includes:

1. Paint guest portion of the room chocolate brown (we opted to not paint the entire room a saturated color since it’s so narrow and might read too dark). The rest of the room will receive a soft tan that matches the new grasscloth wall (see to-do list item #2!).

2. Grasscloth one accent wall in the office area.

3. Carpet mismatched hardwood floors for a cohesive look.

Want a peak in on the painting? Don’t judge yet – once the room is finished in crisp white molding, patterned fabrics adorn the windows and bed, the wall artwork is hung and all of the other decor is added, I know it will look awesome. But right now? It looks like a bear cave. Our guests will be sleeping in a bear cave.

Family and friends reading this? Welcome to our guestroom/bear cave. This is where you’ll be staying.

Here we are finishing the room late at night… when we work best . Bonus to family visiting from out of town? Extra painters. My little brother wasn’t anticipating a night of painting but he was game.

If after accessorizing and decorating the space still feels like a cave, we’re considering boxing out the round ceilings or adding a trim (like a picture rail) and white ceiling to lighten it up. Sort of like one of these rooms:

Or, maybe I’ll pull out the paint brush at midnight three months from now, we’ll see.

Since our office has those beautiful original arched walls, there was really no way around not painting the ceiling. Unless we do one of the above. But first we decided to go all out and see how it goes… to be continued!

PS Thank you everyone for your comments! I love and look forward to your thoughts and ideas.

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress,  inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300, inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.