You guys really love you some Thibaut Cheetah, and who could blame you? It does feel a little Zsa Zsa Gabor on acid, which can only be a good thing. Part of me feels like I need to jump that cat and plaster it all over the place, but the other part of me is realizing how unclear my vision for this whole nutty faux Tudor house is, and how difficult it is (for me) to commit to expensive and/or permanent finishes. I have to cop to a certain fetish for the Cole and Son papers because they're easy to hang, non woven, and can be stripped from the wall in one piece -- thus saving commitment phobes like me from much hand wringing. I mean, what if I hang not-easily-removed Cheetahs all over the baby's nursery and one day the kid wakes up terrified that he/she may be mauled by rabid felines while sleeping? It could happen. On the other hand, I'm sick of decorating like a poor, itinerant loser. I'm tired of wimpy rooms that could be reshuffled into endless ho hum configurations. Isn't it nice to see a room that's dressed to the nines?

I'm trying to push myself to get crazier, and also to create more finished rooms. But that requires some serious planning.

And money.

And more wallpaper samples.

But don't discount Cheetah yet.

[via A Dreamer's Den, Head Over Heels, Jean-Louis Deniot via Material Girls, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Barrie Benson via Head Over Heels]

I just received the first shipment of wallpaper samples I ordered from Ye Olde Englande (that's what the English themselves call it, yes?) and I'm already adrift in a sea of choices. I was pretty pumped to start taping samples all over the walls until Ike caught wind of game, and let's just say I had to take him on as my assistant. Or else. Kid is either going to be a decorator someday, or he's going to design race cars made of paisley foil wallpaper. Boys are weird. Anyway, let's check out Round One of Wallpaper Sample Throwdown 2012.

Some cutie pie black and white patterns: Feather Fan by Cole and Son and Abigail Edwards' Seascape. You may recall I was pretty set on the seascape print for the nursery, but I'm not loving any of the white white fields in this house -- I feel like the walls need to go dirtier/creamier.

These are superfly powder room options. From left to right: Cole and Son Wisteria, Osborne and Little Summer Palace, Osborne Mara (fabulous with jewel tones). Any could work in there, but I was thinking of Summer Palace. However, the old teal colorway seems to be gone, and I'm still on the fence about this delfty colorway. Maybe too formal?

It's kind of... girly, and girls are weird.

Moving on, look how I am artsy AND fartsy. Embarrassing. Anyway, on the left is Neisha Crosland's Zebra. On the right is Cole and Son's Silk, which looks like a fabulous tufted fabric with this oddly tactile quality due to the layers of ink that sit on the paper surface. It's a really sweet paper. I picked these for the entry way but I think Zebra is too dark and Silk is too light. Bummers, because Silk is the one I had in mind, but like I said -- not loving the whiteyfied look. I did reorder a sample of Zebra in the stone/beige colorway. Maybe maybe.

I like these two better for the hallway. The left is Cole and Son Malabar and the right is Cole and Son Malachite. Bonus points to C&S for making non woven papers that are supremely easy for even a village idiot to hang (see my post here). Both are popular papers, but I think the tone on tone colors give them some new life. I'm not digging anything overtly graphic for the entry since you see it from both the dark teal room and the living room -- midtone neutral with a little something something is the way to go. I'm still not so sure about the metallic aspect, as I've actually been trying to cool it on the bling blung front (yeah, who am I?), but I like the way the patterns appear and disappear.

And then there's Thibaut's Cheetah. I don't know what I had planned to do with this paper... maybe powder room? Maybe upstairs hallway? Maybe paste it to my face? It's pretty amazing.