Renter's Dilemma Update: Tile Wall Progress

Alternate title: "Operation Cover the Brown Tile Wall." 

Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions on how to lighten up the big ole wall o' tile we've got at the back of our living room. In case you missed the first post on this dilemma from last week, head over here for some background info. I made a decision on what to do with it and had a chance to make some progress over the past couple of days. So let's take a look, shall we?

As a reminder, here's what that wall o' tile looked like originally:

And here's where we are today:

Beadboard won out, my friends, and I am so happy with how it's looking!

It's not quite finished, but I wanted to give y'all an update and little knowhow on how I added this beadboard right over the existing tile without damaging it. I don't have a full step by step tutorial today because I'm still waiting on a couple of supplies to finish it properly, but here are a few pieces of info...

To keep things simple and DIY-able without breaking out some major power tools, I grabbed a $20 roll of allen + roth beadboard wallpaper from Lowe's rather than sheets of wood beadboard. I had never worked with this stuff before, but it worked great for this application! It's easy to cut with a box cutter or scissors, and I was able to install it all by myself while my husband was studying. Although I will say, it would be a little easier with two people working on it.

I started by cutting one strip to go over the mantle and then worked my way out from there. I made sure it was level vertically since our walls are definitely not straight after standing for nearly 150+ years!

The photo above is deceiving since I actually placed my first piece on the far left side of the mantle... (it's the one that looks taut in the photo below) and worked my way out from there to the left and right sides. I cut the pieces long so I would have room to adjust them, and then I trimmed the excess with my box cutter. That allowed the wallpaper to fit nice and snugly.

Eventually I got them all up there and wow, what a difference it made for the look of that side of our living room!

So much brighter. I don't even mind the tile surrounding the fireplace anymore. I was considering continuing the beadboard down there too, but I'm leaning against that now I think (opinions?).

Now, you might be asking how I attached the beadboard to the tile in a damage-free way. The answer? Right now, it's hanging up there with painter's tape! Yep, regular blue Scotch painter's tape. It's temporary though because I've got something else coming to replace it that I think is going to work even better. It'll hopefully smooth out any little wrinkles and keep it looking crisp. It's a product that's being delivered to my house as we speak, so once I know it works, I'll fill you in on all the details.

I'm really pleased with how it's turning out, and I can't wait to finish it up and then style up that mantle for fall! I've also got a couple of ideas on how to deal with the yucky vertical blinds situation, so stay tuned for an update on that soon.