The English Maximalista

Around the time that Mr Maximalista and I got married, we sold my Victorian farmhouse in Wisconsin. This was the home in which I had lived for over 20 years, where I had the privilege of raising my wonderful daughter. But she was heading off to University in the Autumn after I remarried, so we decided to put the farmhouse on the market. It was a bitter-sweet moment in our lives.

Some of the proceeds of the sale went into the purchase of a spectacular 38-acre parcel in Southern Colorado. This piece of property is gorgeous. Rural. Hilly. And best of all, has unhindered views of the Rocky Mountains. Beyond words how beautiful it is, out there. Mr Maximalista and I were excited to build our Forever Home on this plot of land.

Then our annus horribilis hit. Least of which was when Mr M slipped down the stairs [no, he was not pushed, how dare you insinuate that?!] and broke his leg; his elderly father was hospitalized after breaking his neck, and then broke his hip; back in England, my own father had a heart attack. 

The events of those twelve months — amongst other non-medical related events — were a real wake-up call to both of us. 

After much pearl-clutching, we sadly decided that it might not be prudent to build our new home on the aforementioned dreamy piece of property… considering it was a 45-minute drive from the nearest hospital. We could not push our luck by building so far away from civilization.

Long story short, we ended up purchasing our current home last year, which isn’t too far from the White Elephant property — we still go for walks out there, for a few hours every few months. We are so incredibly happy with how things turned out.

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In the meantime, I had a surplus of DIY supplies that I had been gradually accumulating and storing, in anticipation of using them in the house we had intended to build. 20 boxes of subway tiles for the future pantry. European-style ceramic light switches. Boxes of rolls of wallpaper earmarked for various rooms, trapped in the confines of my mind… You get the idea.

When we purchased this house [which was five years old when we got the keys], I had to be creative with the stuff I had previously earmarked for the now dead new-build project. These same items have somehow evolved into a completely different aesthetic at the new house.

I am ecstatic with how everything turned out. Not to mention relieved that we were able to use all the things I had been squirreling away!

Hence the reason we had one random roll of Scalamandre Zebra wallpaper: it was purchased initially for use in the powder room at the house we ended up not building.

So I used that single roll on the upper half of the wall, in what would become our zebra-themed guest bedroom.

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The painted furniture in the zebra bedroom is over twenty years old; it used to be in the childhood bedroom of my oldest step-daughter. She didn’t want it when she moved out, but now happily gets to sleep in her old bed whenever she visits us.

The rug and bedding (pleasant mixture of Frette, Laura Ashley, and Pottery Barn) used to be in my bedroom at my old farmhouse; I bought the DKNY curtains for our bedroom when Mr M and I first got married; the other decor is mostly stuff I have had for years, excepting the zebra-themed items, which I recently purchased to pull this room together. I think it looks swell!

When I decorated the zebra bedroom, I was on an extremely tight budget which would not allow for me to simply buy several more rolls of wallpaper. Hence my creativity with the walls, on which I painted stripes. It’s not the approach I would have taken, could I have afforded to do otherwise.

But now, it turns out that this is one of my favourite rooms in the house.

Lots of love,

M xo

Click on the link to watch a 2-minute video tour of the zebra bedroom: