"IF THE WALLS COULD TALK....!"

I LOVE PAPER!  I'm a paper junkie and when it comes to wallpaper, I'm a wallpaper  fanatic.  It can change Everything and set the mood for what's to follow.  Since I decided to dress this bed the way I did, it changed the "PLANS" of how I had originally decided to finish the ARTHUR.  As Janine observed in one of her comments, it was no longer looking like ''Made in America."  The following are just being considered as possibilities, nothing is finalized but I do have some front runners.

Not as clear a pic as I would wish(sigh)  still gives an indication .  This is a tiny green on green repeat.  There is nice contrast here.  By the way, the paper is just propped up in the light box so if it looks to be leaning, It Is!  This could be a contender, because there are a fair number of American Country pieces that carry this muted green in their finish. (see blog American Country Retrospective) The scale is right and the green make the red ' 'redder' and the bed looks bigger.  The room is small but the walls will be more open with this as a lighter color on them. Do I want airy or cosy?  Or both!

Here is something unusual, don't you think?  These all are from a scrap booking pad by K & Company which I picked up at Wal-mart.  I find lots of good craft supplies there at a decent price.  Anyway, it didn't hurt to pull this weird one out and photograph it.  The camera usually has the final word.  I want to Love it in person but I want the camera to tell me the truth about it. 

This one is cute, but I don't think so.  The colors are right but the mood is too playful.  With the bed being as strong as it is the wallpaper looses painfully and confuses the viewer, confusion encourages the viewer to leave early. Also, there are too many competing patterns with no clear direction; stripes, cheques, toiles, florals, all visually fighting for attention.

This is not bad, but maybe for a different room in the doll's house.   The scale is  fine but  that is not the problem.  It doesn't have the WOW factor that I'm looking for. Plus, the color reads more orangey  than the red/coral that is on the bed

This to me is really good.  Good scale, nice harmony with the other elements in the space.  you see it but you don,t just focus on IT.  The eye moves around to all the different things in the space smoothly and without a herky -jerky stop and go movement.  This make the room feel restful even though the colors are highly active and bold.

This is very discreet with the pattern barely discernible.   There are possibilities perhaps with this paper but I"m still not sure?? Just so you know, the black and white area rug is also paper that I will transfer eventually onto fabric.  I got the idea from a designer named 'TOMMY SMYTHE ' from a Canadian design magazine feature spread where he had a blue and white striped rug.  He had stark white walls with very graphic detail embellishments using blue and black with a touch of red, threaded throughout.  Tommy was/is the right hand man of Sarah Richardson who has had a very successful design career both in print and esp. on television.  I was inspired by his less is more approach to his own home.  I think that in miniatures, unless your intent is for minimalism, that the doll's house NEEDS to be full of indicators of 'who' and 'what', with a liberal dose of accessories all related to the STORY that you are trying to tell.  That doesn't mean load it with stuff just because you own it but JUDICIOUSLY choose accessories to compliment the composition.  I seek to make the room a 'home' not just a doll's house with cool stuff in it. Does that make sense to you?

Look at this photo!  Look at how deep the wall color is!   This is the same pattern as the photo above but see how the mood has changed!  There is less contrast with the walls, so the bed dressings are accentuated and the accessories stand out more and the bed looks smaller.  This is the same paper as in the first shot that I opened with but I wanted you to see that the wallpaper choices I am considering all have their plusses and minuses and can make you see the same set of elements in very different ways.  I really like this paper  even though the over-all pattern is HUGE and I mean HUGE!  I will have to take into consideration how it will repeat and tie in with the rest of the house.  But it is a beginning at least.  Ah,... IF the walls could talk, which of the papers, would THEY choose?