For years now I’ve wanted to wallpaper the built-in TV book in my living room:

Without travel/Jason this summer to lure me into buying art and rugs and pottery and other beautiful things I don’t need but love, I finally decided to take the plunge.

After a LOT of online shopping around, I decided on a print from an Etsy seller from Poland available on peel-n-stick wallpaper. It took about two weeks for it to arrive, showing up just before I left for a weekend trip to GJ.

Today I emptied the shelves, wiped it all down, and gave it all a light sanding while listening to a video on the history of the game Clue and other geeky snippets like that.

Trimming it to size was easy thanks to my glorious cutting table, although hanging it not so much. The instructions say it should be done with two people. Yes, it should. That would have been much easier. But, as with so many things, I went at it alone and it eventually worked out.

In a bit of intelligent foresight, I started with the bottom section of the nook as it is both the easiest to reach and the most covered with stuff to hide mistakes. And mistakes there are. There are definitely a few wrinkles in there that are 1) happily hidden by my television and 2) camouflaged by the fact that I picked a forestry picture anyway so the wrinkles kind of blend into the trees.

I then cut out holes for the electronic connections and reattached the outlet covers. The top panel was easier, even though I had to stand hunched over inside the nook to reach, and the middle practically a breeze.

Et voila!

And with books all properly sorted and restored:

(Yes, there are about two dozen less books. I restricted it to poetry, mythology, paper/sewing/weaving crafts, and a few art books. The rest got new homes on other shelves.)

I love it! In fact, just looking back at the photo of the plain nook as I pulled it up for this post evoked the sense of something missing. This addition was very much meant to be. And though I can practically hear Jason rolling his eyes in total non- surprise that I picked something with shades of dark teal, I do find that color satisfying and I like how the yellow leaves bring it forward to the color of my walls.

Let’s admire how it looks with my Egyptian lamp on, shall we?

Yup. I love it.