20 Cottage-esque Storybook Princess Wallpaper + The One Faye Chose for her Room!
November 18, 2020 — Written by Julia
We have been working on Faye’s room over the last couple weeks, adding trim to the ceiling and walls. There will be a 36″ wainscoting on the bottom third of the wall and then the top 2/3 will be wallpaper. We’ll paint before wallpapering, but we needed to choose a wallpaper before a paint color! (It’s allllllll connected)
Wallpaper can be a big investment, so it’s worth it to order samples. I ordered close to 30 samples from so many different places all with a very storybook princess , cottage-esque vibes. (Psst–wallpaper direct have very cheap samples!)
One evening, Faye lined up alllllll the samples we got on the floor in the office and nixed a few right away until we got our top 20, which I’ve rounded up below for you (that I’m definitely holding onto for other areas of the house!)
2. Farrow & Ball Brockhampton Star
4. Rifle Paper Co. Juniper Forest
5. Rifle Paper Co. Hunter Wildwood
7. Rifle Paper Co. Navy Multi Hawthorne
9. A Street Prints Tulipa Sage Floral
12. Farrow & Ball Brockhampton Star
14. A Street Prints Celestine Green Floral
19. Pimpernal by Morris Bullrush/Russet
20. Rifle Paper Co. Black Linen Hawthorne
Faye (6) definitely has the most interest in design out of all of our girls and so we really wanted to let her take ownership of this decision. After she got it down to 20, she was a little overwhelmed because she liked all of them. I can definitely relate, so we taped them all up on her walls and talked through each one and eventually got it down to 10 and then 6.
I thought for SURE she was going to choose something with pink in it or the turquoise paper with the gold brockhampton star on it, but she chose this one!:
Rifle Paper Co. Black Linen Hawthorne
When I asked her why she wanted that one, she said she really liked the white flowers. I wasn’t sure that it was the best choice, but I respected her decision and mocked it up in photoshop (above) and sure enough–it LOOKED AMAZING! I have no doubt, it will be perfect in her room and even something that will grow with our mini designer, Faye. Now to choose a paint color for the trim!! I’m thinking a cream or pale green would be lovely.
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Faye, congratulations on making your beautiful choice! Oh, how you’ll enjoy falling asleep in a room surrounding you with flowers…even better when you get the first peek upon awaking!
P.s. Julia…not sure if you have a future team mate in design or instead … competition!
She got it from her momma!! Impressive choice!!
I don’t know how you could decide between all these gorgeous options. They’re all so beautiful. Also, I totally imagine this with a dark green trim!!
Please go with a pale green trim! So much more unexpected. It will be lovely.
Beautiful! I love that Faye was able to be so involved! It feels very Belle to me, or princess in a turret!
Perfect! So pretty and oh so cottagey. Love it! Definitely has an eye for dedign and color!
Yep she is brilliant! White flowers look so good with her bedding!
Beautiful! Might not be my first pick but looking at the mock-up think it’s a classic choice that will age with her as she gets bigger. Very mature choice! Love that you’re involving her in the design since she enjoys it.
Faye! You are a design prodigy!!! ????
Looks perfect!
Maybe she liked the contrast of the white flowers?
Like you, the Morris & Co would have been my choice too. It caught my eye and feels super fairytale enchanted room to me. But I think the one she chose will grow up with her a little bit better, which impresses me all that much more! Well done, Faye!
Love it! Sioux Falls BM is a favorite transitional green.
Photoshop mock up for the win! I gasped it looked so good
Yay! I was hoping to see this one in a room. Nice choice, Faye!
Is the bedspread/quilt on the bed staying? I always struggle with mixing patterns etc.
Yes!
Agree-the pillows have a 70’s vibe that doesn’t go with the 90’s vibe of the rest of the room and house. But they are easily changeable somewhere down the line, and the wallpaper will be good for an older girl if she can accessorize it to be age appropriate – at the moment it feels very adult to me..
The room and house don’t have 90s or 70s vibes to me at all. I think it will look even more beautiful, once it all comes together!
Way to go Faye!
I was hoping she would pick that one! We’re using it in our powder room and I’m excited to see how both spaces turn out!
I agree with Faye. This is the one that my eye was drawn to immediately. I think it is the white flowers.
Love her choice!
Julia, thank you for all the sweetness and inspiration, especially during these difficult times.
So sophisticated and elegant. Faye’s definitely taking that room to the next level. You’re gonna have to keep up with her!
Secretly loved Polly’s “hotdogs”
It’s interesting how different the mock-up color is to the actual sample – it almost looks like a different colorway. The sample seems a lot more contrast-y, with a much blacker background. I’m sure it will be lovely either way!
This one was my favorite too! Great choice Faye!!
Love it! She made a great choice:)
This makes me think of the scene in Tootsie when Jessica Lange is talking about the wallpaper in her room growing up. ????
Yes for pale green! Serious Princess Anna vibes, I love it.
So cute! I love her interested for design! Truly is going to look beautiful!!
Just beautiful!
Like you, it wasn’t my first choice, but wow, that’s going to look stunning! I mean, you couldn’t go wrong with any of them but that one was a surprise! It’s going to look gorgeous! Good job, Faye!
I love seeing you leaning into the “cottage” side of modern cottage! This will flow really well from the playroom, too. Curious, if this wasn’t your top pick (until Faye led you to it, which one was?
Great choice Faye! I can just picture an adorable styled shot – tiny bud vase of Lilly of the Valley and Faye playing a uke on her bed with Baby’s Breath in her hair! ☺️
She picked my favorite one for the room! It looks like the perfect princess space.
We just did a bold flower print wallpaper in my daughters nursery. We painted the trim “mizzle” by farrow and ball. It’s the MOST incredible creamy light green. It’s so beautiful. Give it a whirl! We are obsessed!
Fell in love with that one when you storied about it right off the bat and was crossing my fingers she picked it!! Can’t wait to see it all come together!
We just did a bold flower print Wallpaper in my daughters nursery. We painted the trim mizzle by farrow and ball. It’s the MOST incredible creamy light green. It’s so beautiful. Give it a whirl! We are obsessed!
Great choice Faye!!! That’s the one I was rooting for! I’m so excited to see your room! ????
Good job Faye!! Love it! ????
Faye is as talented as her mommy! Wen you showed the picture of the last roundup my eye gravitated right towards the one she picked. Not sure if it was because it was centered or because I gravitate to decor with contrast. Great pick Faye!
I LOVE it and also picked that as my favorite. The best part? It’ll grow with her. As a pre-teen and teen it’ll be sophisticated enough to still work. Also..I’m still dying over her bedding (as is my 4 year old). So beautiful. Can’t wait to see the room finished.
So beautiful and I love that you let her choose!
Which one would you have chose?
I was thinking of one of the Morris Florals, but I’m excited for this!
I love it!! She has great style and I love that you let her have a big part of designing. My mom always let me do whatever I wanted in my room. I had a bright lime green room, a cheetah style, African style, bright colors, I even painted a pink panther on the wall with a projector and my mom wasn’t mad! I think that’s why I love design so much now. I like your approach to helping guide the design of her room. I think I’ll do a similar approach with my baby girl when she is ready to start making her own choices.
Haha She’s just like you! You choose the unpopular or hmmmm what’s she thinking choice and then boom it looks great, and surprises us all! ????Great job Faye! ????????
Gorgeous!! Faye knows what she’s doing!!
Yes Faye! Love it! I was so nervous to see what you ended up with because so many of them are beautiful, and then I realized that I didn’t even have one I was hoping would win, as I love them all! What a gorgeous collection Julia! Very excited to see your cottage princess room. X
Beautiful choice, Faye! You have an excellent eye x
I love it! Great choice Faye.
Beautiful choice Faye!!
There’s a Montessori adage: “Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”
I think this is a wonderful choice by Faye and I loved that you guys facilitated her making that choice with her own wonderful design sense! Can’t wait to see the result.
Aw! I love it! Great choice Faye.
LOVE HER CHOICE!! I love everything Rifle Paper Co and totally agree that this will grow with her so well. I want this room for myself, and I’m 30! :)
I’m so excited for Faye! Picking large parts of the room will make her feel even more proud of her space. This is the first of many decisions she will make to create beauty in the places she dwells! What a milestone ????
Love! Great choice, Faye!
I love her choice! I’m so impressed – she seems very sophisticated! A designer like her mama :)