I was thinking about iron - and my wife like the "chanel staircase" look, but I'm afraid it's too decorative for my taste, and also as kswl said, it might be out of style soon. I'd like something a little more timeless. Kswl, thanks for all of your comments - the only real marble is the floor of the entryway, everything else is painted on, thank god. Lazygardens, that was hilarious - and some great ideas. Do you happen to know of a nice example of the california beach house feel? It sounds intriguing. And suer0 - my wife says the first thing she wants me to do after closing is tear down the mirrors - and I couldn't agree more. Yikes! I will absolutely keep you all updated as I go - all of your comments so far have been extremely valuable. Our closing is on Feb 16th. Thanks!

Under $30 roll is not difficult to find. There are some very nice papers available in that price range. Have a small space? Try eBay. Many times you can get high-end wallpapers in small quantities for only a little $$. I did that with a Thibault paper not too long ago (although I don't have it hung yet...LOL). If I were trying to stay in the under $30 camp, I'd go with traditional designs--damasks, toile, stripes...things that don't go out of style. Anaglypta and lincrusta papers are always interesting and not necessarily expensive--although hanging them can be a challenge! I am a HUGE fan of Bradbury papers. There's absolutely nothing more beautiful that a room full of their wallpaper. I have several friends who have used it and it's FABULOUS although pricey. They are now starting to manufacture some mid-century design papers that are way cool, too... Most notably, I love some of their new kitchen designs: They're just fantastic. I used a less expensive paper in my laundry/mud room. It's a toile and I only used it on one wall. It's much more fun that just a painted wall and adds so MUCH character to this old house (which originally had EVERY room papered). Wallpaper is great stuff. There's nothing like it for adding texture or interest to a room.

But - going back to the idea of passe. I don't think most of us arrive at style in a vacuum - something somehow somewhere influences our choices sets a pattern of ideas in motion. (And from largely lurking on some decorating forums, I see a lot of influence coming from whatever Ikea, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrell, HGTV, etc. is pushing.) If Madison Ave. in conjunction with appliance manufacturers hadn't "discovered" almond or black or stainless or cabinetry fronted appliances, etc. we'd probably still see a lot of Harvest Gold or Avocado. With a new generation of products tempting us every twelve months, it all has the potential to become dated quickly. For all of us who would prefer our painted sheetrock and our painted plaster there are thousands who have found the last piece of the decorting puzzle in a book of wallpaper patterns. Love it or hate it, I don't think wallpaper is passe. It fills a niche and has filled a niche ever since French engraver Jean-Michel Papillon started making block designs in matching, continuous patterns in 1675. Voila, wallpaper as we know it today was on its way.

In the 1986 we remodeled a ca. 1890s 2-story clapboard house in Chicago. This was originally a working class house, without any victorian details to restore inside and the whole place needed gutting. We felt free to go totally modern inside. No golden or whitewashed oak, no polished brass. No mauves or corals, no country and no southwestern themes, no valances or puff balloon shades (I also hated shoulder pads, which I would promptly remove in new clothes). In short, just like other Chicagoans in our neighborhood we just went plain modern. Alas the only pictures I can find right now are from the kitchen/dining and play area. Like nosoccermom, I was in heaven when I heard Ikea was finally coming to North America. So, for our kitchen we used Ikea cabinets that we hauled back to Chicago from Toronto's newly opened Ikea. I remember that our finish was called "Fasett" (all European metric sizes) and was part of a line that Ikea sold before they came out with Akurum. We used solid mid grey laminate counters and grey nylon handles. All base cabs had either drawers or - to save money - doors with wire pullout drawers and 2 corner pullouts that held all my pots and pans as well as my mixer and small appliances. I absolutely loved to cook in this kitchen: everything was so accessible and easily organized. We kept the newish fridge from the former owners but splurged on Gaggenau appliances which - compared to now - were a steal and way ahead of their times: an extremely quiet panel ready dishwasher, a super easy to clean white enamel with closed-burner gas cooktop topped with a strong but whisper quiet pull-out vent exhaust. We used grey tile in the kitchen and bathrooms and industrial berber carpet also in grey. I remember we added yellow and red accents throughout the house. We used the same white Ikea kitchen cabs/grey counters for the double vanity in the masterbath with white undermount sinks and white faucets to match. An extra long tall tub/shower combo with white glossy tile surround, and light periwinkle blue painted walls. (I gotta find a picture of that.) Looking at these pictures now, I cannot help but think that this 80s kitchen doesn't look that dated, or even terribly 80s (nor would pictures of the rest of that house). If I had lived there longer, we might have stacked another row of wall cabs on top of the existing ones, replaced the laminate with grey granite and we probably would have replaced the carpet with solid wood floors. Alas, we moved to a modern 60s passive solar house in the burbs when time came for our kids to go to school. The suburban house is a beautifully bright modern 3000 sqft. house. Incredibly the kitchen is (still) super tiny and utterly dysfunctional. Its best feature is a wall of windows for light (no great views) as well as gorgeous views through the open family room to the backyard. Only now, finally, with the kids out of the house are we starting to plan a total remodel and expansion of this sad little kitchen... Oh well, such is life. Here some pics of our 80s city kitchen - sorry, they're really bad quality, as I'm "digitizing" them with my smart phone. Pic of not quite finished kitchen, missing moldings around windows and doors, unfinished peninsula and "kitchen table" from our old apartment: A couple of weeks later: I do remember that I liked the plywood floors, but they were too splintery for babies to crawl on and I thought too hard for a toddler to play, so we reluctantly added carpet and tile. View from the kitchen to the back deck and back yard. The "chandelier" shade was made from perforated white metal, thus illuminating the ceiling as well as the whole dining area- very clever. Ahh, I remember now, the oven door opened sideways! It was a convection oven that baked very evenly and was self cleaning too - a dream. Ha, I still love white appliances. We never got around installing the planned backsplash... I still miss that kitchen!