Paradise Lost Mural and Crete Wallpaper Install

Lena Fransioli and Brooke Sheldon painted this 20 foot long mural a few years ago for a Wiccan meeting room in New Hampshire. The other walls in the room really needed to be upgraded from the primitive sponging on the walls. It was unanimous that our "Crete" wallpaper pattern had the look, color and style for the mural and the room. Our friends Greg Kahler and David Morse of Paper Hanging and Design do the super fast wallpaper install you'll see at the end of the video.

I reproduced the columns on either side of the mural to complete the corner and added a drop shadow over our Crete pattern to wrap the room. Everyone is completely happy with the end result. Thanks to PHD for an excellent installation.

Bringing Nature Inside

Some of you may have seen this in our "news letter", forgive if I am repetitive.

We have owned a small lake side cottage in Maine for about 15 years and every year we add little improvements. Sometimes it is the necessary roof or septic system and others we get to use our design skills to improve the looks and feel of the place. 

Last year we did the roof and we refreshed the bathroom with a river stone floor and Marmorino walls. 

This year we have continued the biophilic theme by installing one of our mural papers in a bedroom. It is a scenic mural originally painted by Lena in Lincolnshire, UK depicting the fresco "Villa of Livia" (Circa. 30-20 BCE) housed at the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, Italy. If you would like to see an 18 second virtual tour of the room, on Youtube, click here.

The original mural, painted in Lincolnshire, UK, looks like this:

Villa Livia Fresco - Repeat : 28' 6" W. x 8' H. Delivered on 15 - 24” rolls.

Villa Livia - Detail

As time permits, we will be adding wallpapers to the other rooms in the house. All will have the “natural world” theme. We are thinking of what we call “Passion Flower” for the master bedroom. This paper is re-created from a fragment of antique wallpaper.

Passion Flowers (DE2813) - Repeat : 15.4” W. x 41.3” H. Delivered on 36" rolls.

In the kid’s bedroom we can’t decide between the “Cherry Blossom” and “Lilly Panels”. If you have a strong opinion please leave a comment or reply with your choice.

Lilly French Panels (Detail of Panel #3) - Hand painted by Lena Fransioli and Brooke Sheldon, with faux molding and filigree surround.

Lilly French Panels (Panels 1-4) - 7 Panels of various widths, all are 71.5" H.

Lilly French Panels (Panels 5-7)

Cherry Blossom

For the living room, we are planning to use “Shagreen”.

Shagreen (NA1409) - Created from the leather hide of a shark. Repeat - 23” W x 23” H. Delivered on 24” roll.

And finally, for the tiny amount of kitchen walls and the hall to the bedrooms we will hang our “Fall Leaves”. "Layered" over the sink, "Random" across the room and "Scattered" in the hall.

FALL LEAVES (Layered-NA4124) Approx. Rpt. - 41”w x 24”h with 1/2 drop.

FALL LEAVES (Random-NA4123) Approx. Rpt. - 24”x24”

FALL LEAVES (Scattered-NA4122) Approx. Rpt. 24"x24". Delivered on 24” rolls.

It is great fun having this on going project turning this small cottage into a gem.