The homeowner bought this townhouse in central Houston 12 years ago and has always wanted to get rid of this really blah, ditsy small print in the commode room of her master bathroom . I know the design trend for the last several years has been white , grey , grayeige , minimalist , serene , clean , sparse ,,,, but there is nothing in this gal’s home that is remotely any of that … Her home is all about color , pattern , meaningful items prominently displayed – and lots of them! (Example: notice the fancy doorknob and the tassle hanging from it.) I really enjoyed working here, because that’s pretty much my decorating style , too.So here’s continuing that ” moody maximalism ” theme into the potty room. Note the cabinet and ceiling have been painted a coordinating color . Opposite corner . The room is REALLY tiny , and the door opens inward , so it was quite a bit of a challenge squeezing myself, my tools, and my ladder all in there. Close-up. The pattern is called Artemesia Absinthium , and is by Klaus Haapaniemi & Co in Finland . I don’t know who this Klaus guy is, and have never worked with his wallpaper before, but he must be half-high on psychedelics ,,, I would highly recommend a visit to his website and checking out the various fabric and wallpaper options . If you’re into maximalism and bold drama , that is! The material was a quite nice non-woven , and was easy to work with . I did stripe dark paint under where the seams would fall, in case of slight gaps showing the wall beneath . I was a little disappointed that there was some slight paneling / shading / difference in depth of color between some of the strips – but not too noticeable . Non-woven papers are designed to strip off the wall quickly and easily and with no / minimal damage to the wall when you redecorate . I do find it interesting that this pattern is so very similar in design and name to the very popular Artemis by House of Hackney , another good wallpaper manufacturer . Like I say, for every company making a cool pattern, there are others making their own versions / knock-offs .
I didn’t get a picture of the original dull, putty-brown paint, which did nothing for this space. Here is the room primed with my favorite Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime, formulated specifically for use under wallpaper. Sink / vanity area before.Wow! This billowy cactus pattern makes a statement! Tall! The ceilings in this home are over 10′ high. This very fluid, vertical design makes them seem even higher! Your eye just swoops up toward the ceiling! This back wall is what you see when you first enter the room, so I centered the cactus pattern on this wall. I was also able to center the pattern on this sink / vanity wall. It will look nicely balanced when the mirror goes up. A new light fixture is coming, and will be installed where you see the round hole / electrical box in the wall. Close up.Milton & King is the manufacturer, and San Pedro is the pattern name. M&K makes nice wallpaper, and I enjoyed working with this. It’s a non-woven substrate, so you can paste the wall if you like – but I usually prefer to paste the paper. The surface felt like a thin, flexible vinyl – durable and fairly resistant to splashes in a bathroom. Their patterns often come as a 2-roll set, with an ” A ” roll and a ” B ” roll. It can be a little tricky to measure for these until you get accustomed to how they work. Further complicating the issue is that this design has a 51″ pattern repeat. In a nutshell, this means that, in order to match the pattern from strip to strip, you may have to cut off and throw away as much as 50″ (more than 4′ ! ). Thus, with these high ceilings and the long pattern repeat, instead of getting three strips from each 33′ long roll, I got only two. So a lot of paper went into the trash pile. It’s important to be cognizant of that and include the waste factor when calculating how much paper to purchase. Better yet – have the paperhanger figure it up for you! These homeowners had already ordered their paper before I arrived for the initial consultation. After measuring and calculating, I told them to purchase one more 2-roll set. Another odd thing is that at the end of the day, we ended up with two full unopened “B” rolls plus one full-length “B” strip,,,, that’s a total of five full-length strips. But we had only one 10′ strip left of the “A” rolls. This points out that, depending on the layout of the room, you can use more “B’s” than “A’s” or vice versa. I’m sure glad I made them buy that additional 2-roll set! This new townhouse in the Heights neighborhood of Houston is home to a young couple. They will be married in a month or two. I had originally set their install date for a week or so before the wedding. I got a last-minute schedule change, they were able to get the room ready for me on short notice, and so I got their wallpaper up today,,, and they can spend the next months focusing on their upcoming special day!
A guest bathroom with new subway tile gets an even more exciting update with this “Stalactite” wallpaper pattern by Milton & King. I love the way it works with the rug in the adjoining guest bedroom.
This is a non-woven material, and I hung it with the paste-the-wall method.
The home is a contemporary townhouse in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston.
The homeowner has loved this pattern for years, and finally made the jump to paper the powder room. Good move!
The subway tile and flowers actually have a little more blue than comes through in the photos. Either way, it’s a really cool look for this small powder room with its teeny trough sink. The large flowers visually expand the area and make the room look larger.
The paper is by Marimekko, and is a non-woven material. I hung it using the paste-the-wall method.
This a contemporary townhome in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston.
The furnishings in this home are traditional, so I was surprised when the homeowners chose this ombre (shaded, graduated, faded) pattern for their powder room. I have to say, it turned out fantastic!
This innovative look is a mural, packed as two 36″ wide panels per “roll.” It took seven panels (four rolls) to do this very small powder room.
Each panel is 8′ high. Like most newer homes, this townhouse has 9′ high ceilings. So, to shorten the wall height, the homeowners decided to add a very short wainscoting at the bottom of the wall, topping it off with a strip of decorative chair rail molding. The deep navy color works perfectly with the tones in the mural, as well as the graduated saturation effect. I like it better than having the design come all the way to the floor.
The homeowners said it was near Divorce Court, with both of them squeezing into this 3′ x 6′ space (and toss in a toilet), trying to measure and hammer and paint and agree on install steps.
They were wise enough to not tackle hanging the wallpaper themselves. 🙂
Back to the wallpaper. This is by Brewster, in their A Street Prints line. It is a non-woven material, and can be hung via the paste-the-wall method …. but I chose to paste the material, for more flexibility and for getting around obstacles like the vanity and toilet.
This wallpaper should strip off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate. The mural was purchased from Southwestern Paint / Benjamin Moore near the Rice Village, but can also be bought on-line from various vendors, including Brewster’s own website.
I love it when homeowners are adventurous and willing to go BOLD. Well, this wild peacock pattern and strong color sure do that!
I hung this in the laundry room of a brand new contemporary townhome in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. Other than this one lucky accent wall, every other wall in the entire home is plain white. 😦 A jolt of color and fun was sure called for!
One photo shows how I have rolled the paper out on the floor, to find the pattern match and plot where to place design elements.
Another photo shows the very narrow space – about 10″ ? – between the EXTREMELY heavy and unmoveable washing machine and the wall. I had to squeeze myself into that little space and reach way back about 30″ to the abutting wall, to get the first strip adhered and trimmed in place.
Rifle has been making paper goods for a long time. They have recently branched out into producing wallpaper. Smartly, and unlike many upstart companies, they researched how to make a good product, and partnered with York Wallcoverings (one of my favorite brands) to make their wallpaper. Good move!
This is a non-woven material, and I was able to use the paste-the-wall method.
I love the dark, dark green color, the vibrancy of the oranges, whites, and blues, and the luscious matt finish.
This powder room in a townhouse in the Galleria / Tanglewood neighborhood of Houston has been remodeled. When the old vanity countertop was removed, the drywall was torn.
When the old vanity, which had spanned from wall-to-wall, was removed, it revealed the original wall behind it, complete with heavily-textured paint.
The contractor made a half-hearted attempt to smooth the torn drywall. But he didn’t even attempt to cover the textured bottom portion.
Seriously? Does anyone think that wallpaper can be applied over walls in this condition?!
These young homeowners of a new townhome in the Houston Heights were originally considering natural grasscloth for this 35′ long wall in their kitchen / dining / living room. I told them of my disappointment with grasscloth’s visible seams, shading, paneling, and color variations (do a Search here). I was happy when they took my suggestion of this faux grasscloth alternative.
This is a printed horizontal grasscloth pattern on a paper substrate, with a vertical stringcloth material on top. The strings give the paper the texture that people are loving these days. But unlike real grasscloth, this product is more stain-resistant and durable. And it has a pattern that can be matched from strip to strip, so, unlike the real stuff, you don’t see the seams. (See photo) And there is virtually no shading, paneling, or color variations (do a Search here on those terms).
The end result is a beautiful, textured, homogeneous, warm and cozy living space.
The bull-nosed (rounded) corners on the windows gave me some argument and took a lot of time, but turned out great.
This wallpaper pattern is by Wallquest, in their EcoChic line, and in their Grass Effects book. It was bought at below retail price from Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.
Here is a really popular pattern by Thibaut that I have hung a good number of times. This is the first time that it came in vinyl, though. (It’s usually paper.) Do a Search here to see other rooms I’ve put it in.
The vaulted area is the rear portion of the ceiling. The homeowner and I discussed painting the “beam” dark brown – I think she should.
The 10’+ high, steeply vaulted ceiling with its weird angles and narrow crevices was difficult to get wallpaper on. Once done, it looks great.
The homeowner wanted something cute and ageless, because the grandkids will use this bathroom. It’s on the third floor of a townhouse in the Galleria / Tanglewood neighborhood of Houston.
This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, called “Tanzania,” and was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.
The townhouse where I worked today (Timber Grove area of Houston) had walls that were more like trapezoids than rectangles. Trapezoidal walls make wallpaper run off-kilter. With this rigid geometric print, that meant that the pattern would either mis-match badly in the corners, or start tracking (going downhill) badly along the ceiling line.
So I did this little trick, to keep the pattern straight and nicely matched in the corners. You’re looking at the strips laid out on my table; sorry, no shots of the paper up on the wall. But the pics will give an idea of the process. And it turned out perfect.
I split the strip of wallpaper in two vertically, using a straightedge and a fresh razor blade to follow along the pattern. When applying the paper to the wall, I was able to slightly overlap the left side of the second strip on top of the previous strip, with less overlap at the top and more at the bottom. This enabled me to keep the same design element in the corner to the right (not shown), all the way from the ceiling to the floor. When the next strip went up, the design matched perfectly.
Since the width of the overlap wasn’t more than 3/8″, the black lines of the design disguised any ridges that might be created by the overlap.
Overlapping like this caused some of the vertical lines to be closer to each other than they were supposed to be. See second photo. But the eye notices this much less than if the pattern were very broken up in the corners, which would effect both the horizontal and vertical elements.
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