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Do or Don’t: Wallpaper a Slanted Ceiling? (And the Wallpaper we got for Greta’s room!)

September 11, 2019

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The wallpaper I had been eyeing for Greta’s room went on sale a couple weeks ago and I snatched enough to wallpaper her entire room! Eeee! It arrived over the weekend and I can barely wait to get it hung. We’ll get to the choice and all the runner ups in a minute, but there are a few things on my to-do list before wallpapering, mainly paint. Paint the trim, Paint the ceilings, paint the doors! Painting is so much easier before wallpaper is up and you have to suddenly be very careful where stray paint strokes go. (Highly considering swapping out the carpet first, too) The other task–smooth out part of the slanted part of the ceiling on the sides so we can attach wallpaper to the surface.

The slanted portion of the wall/ceiling is currently textured as a part of the ceiling in here. And after a lot of thinking, we’ve decided to smooth is out and make it part of the walls. We polled our Instagram audience about whether or not the wallpaper needed to go all the way up the slanted portion of the ceiling to meet the flat, or if it should stop short of the arch and it was split but leaning towards stopping short. 

I started hunting for inspiration and an answer and the truth is–BOTH WORK AND BOTH WAYS ARE ACCEPTABLE. As with most design decisions within your home, there is not an absolute right or wrong answer. In my search, I found so many fun options and examples:

1. This clean-lined room by Caitlin Wilson got so much personality from wallpaper!

2. This fun, attic guest room (found here) wallpapered all the walls and ceiling!

3. Addisons Wonderland wallpapered just the ceiling and planked the walls!

4. This charming room  skipped wallpaper on the back wall in favor of built ins–dreamy!

5. Amber Interiors wallpapering the slant effortlessly.

Ultimately (after scrolling through all of the inspiration shots that have gone before us–like way, way more than I put here), we realized that wallpaper all the way up the arches would make the room look taller. Even at its highest point — the room is not eight feet and I think this wallpaper will help draw the eyes up!

Greta requested flowers or animals, and we wanted something with a neutral palette to grow with her. We landed on this whimsical floral paper (from here!) that’s going to add so much life to her room!

We also checked out (and seriously loved) all of these options:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

 

Can you picture it?? I keep squinting at it like it is going to magically be on all the walls, but I am definitely motivated to paint everything now! Can’t wait to take you along for the ride!

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What do you think?

  1. Tina says:

    I adore the wallpaper choice and I have a question about installation. Do you not need to replace windows first ( as trim will be removed and re installed) before you wallpaper? Does it matter? I would love to know your thoughts.

  2. Alina says:

    Hi Julia
    Being a huge fan of Addisons wonderland I do love the idea off planking a wall if you’re doing the ceiling too. Love the paper that you chose . But also love #1 and #6 they are dreamy. Love following you guys and cannot wait for the rest of the home renovations. Your kitchen looks amazing like a a kitchen from DeVol kitchens ????????????????

  3. Jen says:

    This will be just so LOVELY! Our master bedroom has slanted ceilings like this… right now they are ceilings, because they are textured like the ceiling (we have orange peel walls, and splotches on the ceilings in our home). So I’m extra curious about how you will “de-texture” the slanted ceilings! I would like to do the same thing in our bedroom, and then paint them to match the walls, instead of matching the ceiling. Hmmmmm.

  4. Lori says:

    Beautiful! Why do I feel like every single design decision you make is absolute perfection?!!!!! You have the BEST ideas and your taste is just to die for!!!!!! Love you guys, love the blog!!!!!♥️

  5. K says:

    Funny….before I even read the blog, looking at Greta’s room, I immediately thought: paper the entire room, ceiling too!

  6. Lindy says:

    I think you have to replace the carpet now, its going to take away from that beautiful wallpaper ; )

  7. Patricia says:

    Number 4 is dreamy! Love the window wall built ins. Wish I could pin it right into my second bedroom…

  8. Sam says:

    Absolutely love the wallpaper you chose! Mind sharing any factors you take into account when deciding? I want to wallpaper my kiddos room, but I’m wondering if I should go with a smaller or larger print? Color or neutral? Would love to hear if you have a method or just go with what you’re drawn to. Thanks!

  9. George says:

    It looks like the ceilings could go higher if the ducts were raised up.

    I struggle with wallpaper. I’ve been on the Anthropology, Serena and Lilly and Farrow and Ball website and used on of the ones you had below. I love the look in picture but in practice I wish there were more wallpapers with a very subtle pattern.

  10. Cynthia says:

    Love it! Love it! Love it! Can’t wait to see it all come together. Are you able to share the sources for other wallpaper you were considering? There are a couple on your list that I would consider for my spare bedroom.

    Keep up the great work! You have a great eye for design!

  11. Liezel says:

    Oooo I can’t wait to see the end-result – the paper you chose is super pretty!

  12. Andrea says:

    I love the paper you picked. Do you think that small rooms need to have small scale wallpaper patterns? My daughter has a small room and I am considering papering one wall. Should I stick to a small print or can I go bold?

  13. Devlin says:

    Inspo image #2 hasn’t my symmetry-loving heart all a-flutter! I’m also majorly on team rip out the carpet!!

  14. K says:

    Love this wallpaper! Excited to follow along and see the finished space! Please show us how you smooth out the textured ceiling…. we have a whole house of it!????

  15. Kim says:

    These pictures all look beautiful! Question- do you think this works for paint? Two of my kids’ bedrooms have slanted walls like that and we have painted them, I’m curious if painting the slants the color of the wall would make them look taller like wallpapering does?

  16. Heather says:

    Love it with the beds!

  17. Jen says:

    Team Rip Out the Carpet ASAP!

  18. Erin says:

    Love all the papers you posted! I’m sitting on two wallpaper projects myself (playroom and daughters room)…it’s hard to find a free weekend day, now that football season is here lol. We went with Priano from S&L for my daughters space and I’m itching to get it up! What paste will you use? I’ve made my own in the past and may do that again. Not sure….

  19. Melissa says:

    I really love the inspiration where they also wallpaper the ceiling, it feels less cut off

  20. Lisa says:

    Oh.my.goodness!!!! I ❤️❤️❤️ This paper!! Can’t wait now to see everything!!!

  21. Venita Dimmick says:

    I love all the inspiration pics you shared, all of the designs you considered, and mostly, the one you chose. I can’t wait to see it all together, the new paint, the new walls, and most likely, the new floor :)

  22. Cori says:

    It’s going to be so cute! But not too little-girly! I had originally voted to stop the wall paper at the slant, because I figured the room had tall ceilings like the first floor of your house – stopping the wallpaper would bring the ceiling down and feel more cozy. But with a shorter ceiling, I think wallpapering the slanted parts is the right choice – either way, it will look amazing, I have no doubt!

  23. Suzanne says:

    Soooo pretty! Her room is just going to be magical! I would have been in heaven with a room like that growing up!

  24. Tara says:

    I’m salivating! How is it possible you found a paper that is equally whimsical and sophisticated?? I can’t wait to see how this comes together for Greta!

  25. Amanda says:

    This is looking great Julia! Either way it would have looked great, but I’m glad you’re choosing to go up the slanted walls with the wallpaper. It was my vote because I knew it would draw the eye up! And who doesn’t love tall ceilings?! ???? I can’t wait to see the continued progress of this room. Thoughts on doing a rug over the crazy carpet for now?

  26. Linda says:

    I’m loving the neutrality of the paper…but still whimsical. Perfect mix! As always…..looking forward to the finished project!!

  27. Mary Lou says:

    Love it! It’s going to look fantastic. I’ve had the Anahi Woodland Fauna Animal print in charcoal in my cart for a month now as I try and decide. I want to rip the carpet off the stairs and paint the treads and bannisters charcoal and paper the risers.

  28. Meg says:

    Can you please, pretty please, Insta-stories this journey for us? I literally lived for the kitchen phase 1 reno stories. I feel bereft without a #cjlcottage reno story to watch. Thanks!!

  29. Brooke says:

    Now you have us all wishing we had slanted walls!

    With wallpaper, would you recommend doing the whole room or just one wall?

  30. Liz says:

    Sweet choice. It’s going to look great. Ill come help you pull that carpet (lol). But seriously – thanks for showing us the progress and the process!!

  31. Nicola says:

    I would put the new carpet after painting and wallpaper, so that you can glue up the wallpaper right in the room and don’t have to worry about any drips. But maybe you can already rip the old carpet out so that you can better paint the baseboard.

  32. Meg says:

    Love the wallpaper and I think its going to look amazing! Looking forward to your tutorial on how to scrape/smooth out the slants to prep for wallpaper. I have to ask….. and may have missed this, but are you planning to paint/replace the wood trimwork, or keep it wood?

  33. Caroline says:

    Love it! I bought a vintage Jenny Lind bed for my daughter and painted it white, but I’m so tempted to go with a warm gray now.

  34. BT says:

    My heart skipped a beat in panic at first thinking that it was spiders and insects! I am sure in person it is much more clearly botanical and less like spiders! I can’t wait to see how it all looks hung – good luck!

  35. Molly says:

    This is going to be GORGEOUS! I cannot wait to see the room with the wallpaper!

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