coffee and cocoa tea: The patriotic living room

Our new house has wallpaper in a lot of areas. Most of it is coming down {plaid bathrooms? No, thank you}. However, there is this blue grasscloth wallpaper in the living room that is actually really pretty.

This picture is from the listing online - we haven't moved yet. Note the peach trim and the navy wallpaper on the right.

It has specks of blues, grays, and beiges. It's in great condition, and I was contemplating leaving it up when Handsome Hero said, "I really like this wallpaper a lot!" and asked me to see if I can work with it. Do we make a pair or what?

Here are a few challenges I've been thinking through.

1. The same wallpaper is also in the entry, the dining room, and the hall. I'm taking it down in those areas so that it isn't so overwhelming. I have never tried to take grasscloth down, so I hope it isn't too hard.

2. I love blue, but have leaned in the past toward the teal side, so most of the pillows, pictures, and other decorative items will most likely not work in here. That's fine, because they'll look great downstairs. And it means I get to make new pillows and such for this room.

3. Whatever I do in this room will have to be carried to some extent into the entry, dining room and kitchen, which are open to this space.

4. I am not sure exactly how to accent this shade of blue outside of going red, white, and blue. And while I am as patriotic as the next girl, I don't know that I want my living room screaming that. I think I will be able to tone down the Yankee Doodleness of it by putting this picture over the mantle.

This is The Singing Butler by Jack Vettriano. Our replica was painted by some poor college kid, and I love it because in this version, the woman is wearing red heels, while in the original, she's barefoot! It's in our orange living room now {funny how a picture can work with such different colors}. I can pull the gold and black from the picture to use in some spots around the room and hopefully have a cohesive {and not too overly star spangled} space.

The more I've thought about it, the more excited I get. I am starting over and I already have a plan. We've asked the seller if they would sell us the area rug you see in the picture up top. After we hear about that, we'll be a bit more settled into a scheme.

*We've also asked if we can buy an AWESOME orange leather couch in the rec room downstairs. I'm drooling over it as I ~~speak~~ write.

Here's my plan:

1 Paint the trim WHITE! I am going to hire this out if it isn't too expensive. It would take me months to get all of the mouldings and doors painted in the limited time slots I have with two little kids and a baby.

2. Pull down the wallpaper in the dining room, entry, kitchen, and hall. The bathrooms will come later.

3. Paint the entry and hall a pale gray/blue. Paint the dining room in a darker gray. Paint the kitchen in a light color, either cream or gray. We will eventually paint the cabinets white, and I want the kitchen to be light and airy.

For inspiration, here are a few pictures that follow a red, white, and blue theme that I really like.

Classic navy, with very few red accents and lots of white trim. Very clean.

Beautiful white cabinetry - I'm a total convert to white cabinets. The blue stain on the island is very cool.

I think I am going to steal the red stool idea. It's wonderful!

Very fun and a bit funky with that round red pedestal at the end of the island.

I love the drapes!

Very airy and light feeling.

All via

This is busier, but because the walls are white and the accents are black, I think they pulled it off very well.

Very elegant. I don't love that ottoman, but I've been thinking of making a tufted ottoman that could do double service as a bench and coffee table for the living room.