I didn’t have time to read all of the comments on yesterday’s post about my new floral wallpaper mural in the entryway, but I was able to read most of them. But evidently, my mom had time to read almost all of them. She stopped by yesterday, and when I asked her opinion of what I needed to do to finish out this wall, she said that her favorite suggestion from yesterday’s comments was to remove the wall sconces, use table lamps instead, and then you wouldn’t have to hang anything on the wall between the sconces.
My immediate response was, “Well, it’s too late for that. I’ve already cut holes in the wallpaper for the wires for the sconces.”
But of course, keeping the sconces meant that I would almost certainly need to hang something on the wall between the sconces for them to make any sense, and whatever I hang there (even a round mirror) would cover up my favorite reddish pink flowers in the center. As I showed you yesterday, the only round-ish thing I had on hand to test out this idea was my sunburst mirror. It would need to be hung higher on the wall, and you can see that anything that size, like a 36-inch round mirror, would cover up those flowers.
But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if there was any way I could repair the wallpaper where I had cut the holes out for the sconce wires. As someone rightly pointed out yesterday, I really should have junction boxes in the wall for the sconce wires. But I can say that this is one time I’m actually really glad that my sconce installation wasn’t up to code. 😀
I removed the sconces so that I could get an idea of what it would take to repair these holes in the wallpaper. The wallpaper under the sconce on the right has a hole that’s about 1.5 inches high and maybe 1 inch wide.
The one on the left is a bit bigger. It’s about 2 inches high and one inch wide.
And then I thought I might run into another problem if I try to cover over these holes. While my lack of junction boxes for these wires doesn’t meet code, burying wires inside a wall is most definitely not up to code, and can actually be quite dangerous. So I thought I might have to actually add junction boxes and then use those solid junction box plates to cover over these holes so that the wires are still accessible.
But then I realized that’s not necessary. As long as I completely disconnect these wires from the light switch, they can be buried in the wall with no problem. As long as they’re not connected to any electricity, and there’s no chance that someone will accidentally flip the switch and send electricity through these wires, there’s absolutely no harm in having them buried behind the wall.
So that’s what I’m going to do. The switch will have to stay, and I’ll paint the switch cover so that it blends in better with the mural. But I’ll disconnect these wires from the switch completely, push them behind the wall, and then repair those small holes in the wallpaper. And thankfully, this mural is really busy, so I think once those holes are covered over and I do a little painting to blend those areas into the mural, no one will ever notice them. And those wires and the switch will still be there if I ever decide to use sconces again.
With that decision made, I started playing around with items that I already have to see what this arrangement might look like. First, I borrowed the music room lamps. To be clear, I won’t be using these lamps in the entryway, but I only have three matching sets of lamps — these white ones from the music room, the orange ones from our bedroom, and the navy blue ones from our previous bedroom. I thought these were the best option to test out this idea because I think these are the best size to test out.
I didn’t really have anything to test out for the middle of the console table. I wish I had something like a long, large dough bowl, but this was the best I could come up with using what I already have. I also removed the baskets from the bottom shelf of the console table, as several of you suggested.
And then I wondered what it might look like if I had something long and low to lean against the wall. I didn’t have many options for this among the items I have on hand, so to test out this look, I used one of the arched mirrors that I had previously used on this wall. Of course, if this look works, I would find something better. This mirror is just a stand in to test out the general idea. I like the idea, and I think whatever I use there could even be a little bit taller. I don’t like that this mirror height is pretty much even with the bottom of the lamps shades. I think something a little taller would look better while still not covering up those flowers.
And then I thought I could even do a layered look. Again, I’m just using what I have to test out the general idea, so I used one of the bird pictures that was previously on this wall. I’d obviously use something different, but I wanted to see what a layered arrangement might look like. I think I’d need more than one item layered on the mirror, but I only had six of the same size. I’d need some varied sizes for a nice layered look.
But overall, I really like this direction. Starting with table lamps instead of sconces makes all the difference. With sconces, I feel like I have no option but to hang something on the wall between them. With the table lamps, I don’t feel like I need to hang anything on the wall, and I can let those pretty flowers show.
Now I just need to find the right lamps and other items to create the look. I think I like the general idea of white lamps, but maybe something in a simpler shape. And of course, the biggest challenge with this will be repairing the holes in the wallpaper. I might have to cover over the holes myself and then call in my personal on-call artist (i.e., my mom) to do the painting to make them blend in with the wall mural. This might be a team effort. 😀
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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.