Intersting ideas. First: pink is definitely out. Her little sister has pink and that's way too childish for this one.. I like the feature wall idea. But she thinks the idea of a totally different colored wall is weird. I will keep working on that! She is interested in the tree decals from etsy. Thanks for that one. Toys are in another room. The bedroom will eventually include a desk, but not yet.

I'm not a fan of wallpaper, though I'll admit there are some powder rooms on Houzz with beautiful, two-tone wallpaper that I love. The last time we bought a house we had to choose between two equally desirable, quite similar vintage houses--one with wallpaper on every wall (even in the hallways!) and one with painted walls throughout. In both cases we planned to repaint in colors of our choice, but we bought the house without the wallpaper because it was simply less work to repaint the painted walls than to strip a house full of someone else's tacky, outdated wallpaper. So by all means use wallpaper if you love it and will be in the home for awhile, but don't expect anyone else to appreciate it when you sell. Wallpaper (like patterned fabric) is just too individual a preference to translate easily into someone else's aesthetic.

Emily, with being a renter, I'd definitely check Pinterest for temporary solutions. I've seen DIYs where you can starch fabric to walls with an iron. Also try temporary wall paper/decals, but I'd test a small area first. Cabinet makers or even yourself would be able to create a flush vanity without attaching it to the wall. Plywood, especially hoop pine, has received a lot of traction. It really gives a clean, organic look that you could have custom cut to fit in the area. You could also use it on the wall – it could be stained, left natural, or painted for a feature. Have a look at EchoPanel. It is a decorative, acoustic pinboard that would add a splash of color/design. If it is above your vanity, you could pin pictures, inspirations, etc.

I'm sorry. It's guesswork a lot as what seems obvious to the poster isn't necessarily to the reader. It seems as if there might, might, be potential for 'go for it' to turn into 'expletive deleted this stuff is dirty/discoloured and won't peel off, how do I fix my kitchen, I'm sending my ex-friend the bill for this mess'. I mean we don't know how long you're going to be living there, whether your friend is thinking to renovate longterm, whether preserving resale value is important since the kitchen looks fine as is, whether either of you have thought that far ahead. And something like 'how to brighten' in the title would of sounded better than 'awful'. One person's too dark is another person's cosy and colourful.