This is the story of my checkered wallpaper. When I saw the dark and dusty hallway in our new West Village rental I immediately thought it needed something dramatic. I love removable wallpaper for rentals because it doesn’t harm the walls. I looked for a while and I couldn’t quite find a design I really wanted. (I have a weird thing where I don’t like how repeats look on large walls.) Meanwhile I started following the indie brand Bode and became obsessed with a one of a kind vintage sweater they posted on instagram last year. Something about the checkered pattern *just felt right.* And that’s when I got the idea to make checkered wallpaper. The nice thing about a pattern like checkers or stripes is there is already a repeat in the design.

We had worked with Spoonflower before (on this awesome custom wallpaper of my kids’ drawings so I was familiar with the process. They have several kinds to choose from (Prepasted Removable Smooth Wallpaper, Peel and Stick Removable Woven Wallpaper, Non-Pasted Traditional Pebble Wallpaper) and after designing a pattern in Photoshop we uploaded the file and ordered a sample.

I’ve wallpapered our apartment before but this time I hired it out. After a few days of installation it was finished. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. It is the first thing you see when you come in our house. It brightens up the dark hallway and makes it happy. I was a little nervous it was too colorful (I kept joking that I was making an experiential exhibit in my entryway!) but ultimately I’m glad I didn’t make a more conservative choice with color.

You can order this Oh Happy Day design in our Spoonflower OHD Shop as wallpaper or fabric (thinking about making pillows next).

First and last photo by Dane Tashima from Domino.

This post is sponsored by Spoonflower.